ForestEthics Asked Clinton, State Dept., to Stop World’s Dirtiest Oil

Press release from ForestEthics:

Clinton, State Dept., Asked to Stop World’s Dirtiest Oil

Future Generations to Secretary of State: Stop Canadian Tar Sands Pipelines at Border, Protect our Clean Energy Economy; Hillary Cartoon Ad in Roll Call, Tar Sands Delivered to State Department

ForestEthics Ad – Secretary Clinton Can Stop Dirty Oil.bmp

WASHINGTON- Hillary Clinton’s power as U.S. Secretary of State to stop proposed pipelines from crossing the U.S. border has put her at the center of the rapidly escalating controversy over oil from Canada’s Tar Sands.

Today, that controversy came to the State Department’s front door. ForestEthics delivered vials of Canadian Tar Sands sludge as well as red roses–to counteract the smell of the Tar Sands sludge–to Secretary of State Clinton and other high-ranking State Department officials, urging them not to issue permits for pipelines that would cross from Canada into the United States.

The vials feature labels playfully riffing on Shakespeare’s ‘rose by any other name’ line by adding that ‘dirty oil by any other name would be as risky’. Outside the State Department, ForestEthics offered passersby a ‘clean energy smell test’, with glass vials of the Tar Sands’ gooey substance on hand for the public to smell.

“Secretary Clinton can protect our national interest by stopping Canadian pipelines for the world’s dirtiest oil,” said Aaron Sanger of ForestEthics. “Future generations are counting on her to support our clean energy future: every state in the union has made investments that would be compromised by increasing dependence on dirty fossil fuels.”

Secretary of State Clinton’s likeness appeared in a full-page political cartoon-based ad run today in Roll Call by ForestEthics and Sierra Club. In the cartoon, a young girl anxious about a huge pipeline labeled ‘World’s Dirtiest Oil’ asks Secretary Clinton: “Is this my clean energy future?” Download the Ad at www.ForestEthics.org/tar-sands-hillary-clinton.

The Secretary of State possesses the authority to issue permits for all pipelines crossing into the United States, and faces decisions on several pipelines that would carry oil from Canada’s controversial Tar Sands.

Tar Sands oil production generates 3-5 times the greenhouse gas emissions of conventional oil; production of Tar Sands oil destroys fresh drinking water, pollutes the air, and razes some of the world’s last remaining Endangered Forests. Dirty Tar Sands oil cannot be made clean by technological solutions.

“In addition to our wishes that Secretary Clinton deny new Tar Sands pipeline permits from Canada, we also wish her a speedy recovery from her elbow surgery,” added Sanger. “We all know that a Secretary of State needs to use some elbows from time to time.”

Canadians — Take Action! Send a letter to President Obama and Prime Minister Harper. Let them know that you want a clean energy future that does not include dirty tar sands oil.

For more information on this press release, contact:

William Craven, cell: 415.407.3426

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ForestEthics is a nonprofit environmental organization with a mission to protect endangered forests and wild places, wildlife, and human well-being. One focus area is climate change which, when left unchecked, compromises environmental efforts. A dedicated staff can be found in Canada, the United States and C­hile.