Foundation News

On November 6, 2015, President Obama rejected the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, further cementing his climate legacy. The Obama administration’s decision to reject the Keystone XL pipeline on the grounds that it is not in our national interest is the result of years of strategic, dedicated work by environmental, human rights, and social justice organizations and Tribal and front line communities. It is also the work of a growing movement across a broad base that demands an end to dirty fuel as we build up health and prosperity through clean energy.

Since 2009, the Sierra Club and its members and supporters have organized all manner of events across the country, staged massive rallies, launched legal challenges, and relentlessly let the President know that he had to reject the tar sands pipeline. The Sierra Club Foundation supported these efforts with funding from the Tar Sands Project and Mass Mobilizations Program.

In his announcement, the President said that we will have to leave some fossil fuels in the ground if we hope to protect the future of our planet and that approving the Keystone XL project would have undercut American leadership on climate. When the world gathers in Paris later this year for the United Nations Conference on Climate Change, we can take pride in the climate leadership the United States has shown under President Obama.