Westchester Residents To Protest Keystone Pipeline
by Greg Maker Politics 02/16/13 Comments (14)
Westchester residents are heading down to Washington, D.C. on Sunday to protest the Keystone Pipeline. Photo Credit: www.wikipedia.org
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. – Westchester County residents are headed to Washington, D.C., Sunday to protest the building of the Keystone Pipeline.
The Keystone Pipeline would deliver oil from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. The project has seen opposition since it was proposed in 2010. President Barack Obama vetoed the legislation to build the pipeline last year but a new proposal has been submitted. Organizer Lisa Moir of the Sierra Club said that she has been involved in local environmental politics for the past two decades. When Superstorm Sandy hit the area, Moir said, she couldn’t sit back anymore and decided to be vocal on a national level. “I feel like we have to have our voices heard by the legislators in Washington if we are going to do something about climate change,” Moir said. “They can’t keep approving dirty fossil fuel projects if they say they are committed to climate change. They can’t say they simultaneously want renewable energy when they are just going about business as usual. The Keystone Pipeline is one of the dirtiest oil projects put on the table."
Moir said that she started from scratch by calling local environmental leaders. Moir called the Westchester People’s Action Coalition (WESPAC), which provided two buses to accommodate the 110 people ready to leave from White Plains on Sunday morning.
“People are still calling to see if we are full,” Moir said. “We have a bunch of random people going from all over Westchester, from parents with 10-year-old kids to environmental and religious groups. We’re saying to Obama not to approve this bill. If you look at the details, the manner they get the oil is not environmentally friendly.”
