Scientists Urge State Department to Review Climate Impacts of Keystone XL

On July 17, 350.org released a letter signed by ten of the nation’s top climate scientists urging the State Department to fully consider the climate implications of the Keystone XL pipeline in the department’s Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) for the northern leg of the project. Click here for a press release about the release of the letter. 

July 17, 2012

Dear Secretary Clinton,

We are writing to ask that the State Department conduct, as part of its evaluation of the Keystone XL pipeline proposal, a serious review of the effect of helping open Canada’s tar sands on the planet’s climate.

At the moment, your department is planning to consider the effects of the pipeline on “recreation,” “visual resources,” and “noise,” among other factors. Those are important—but omitting climate change from the considerations is neither wise nor credible. The vast volumes of carbon in the tar sands ensure that they will play an important role in whether or not climate change gets out of hand; understanding the role this largescale new pipeline will play in that process is clearly crucial.

We were pleased that President Obama saw fit to review this project more carefully; it would be a shame if that review did not manage to comprehensively cover the most important questions at issue.

Sincerely,

John Abraham

Associate Professor, School of Engineering

University of St. Thomas

Ken Caldeira

Senior Scientist

Department of Global Ecology

Carnegie Institution

James Hansen

Research Scientist

The International Research Institute for Climate and Society

The Earth Institute, Columbia University

Michael MacCracken

Chief Scientist for Climate Change Programs

Climate Institute

Michael E. Mann

Professor of Meteorology

Director, Earth System Science Center

The Pennsylvania State University

James McCarthy

Alexander Agassiz Professor of Biological Oceanography

Harvard University

Michael Oppenheimer

Albert G. Milbank Professor of Geosciences and International Affairs

Woodrow Wilson School and Department of Geosciences

Princeton University

Raymond T. Pierrehumbert

Louis Block Professor in the Geophysical Sciences

The University of Chicago

Richard Somerville

Distinguished Professor Emeritus and Research Professor

Scripps Institution of Oceanography

George M. Woodwell

Founder, Director Emeritus, and Senior Scientist

Woods Hole Research Center

Affiliations are listed for identification purposes only.