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According to Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton at an event she spoke at yesterday, she might still inclined to support the Keystone XL mega pipeline.

This news puts the breaks of the celebration that the proposed 1,980 mile long pipeline by the Calgary-based TransCanada  Keystone XL pipeline had been indefinitely delayed. 

TransCanada Corporation won approval two years ago for the first Keystone pipeline, which carries crude oil across Saskatchewan and Manitoba and through North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri and Illinois.

The 36-inch Keystone pipeline was completed in June 2010, and the TransCanada Corp. was preparing construction and the required permits for the TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline; this pipeline — at a cost of $7 billion — was designed to carry crude oil from tar sands near Hardisty, Alberta, to the Gulf Coast via Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told a San Francisco audience during an unscripted question-and-answer session that the U.S. is leaning toward widening the flow of dirty oil from Canada. This would include the Keystone XL pipeline project.

When asked about another, smaller pipeline project (the Alberta Clipper), Clinton gave an ambiguous answer to the demand to stop oil transportation to that project which already had approval. In her answer, it seemed to observers that Clinton was actually referring to the Keystone XL pipeline instead (full transcript click here).

In snippets printed in the Toronto Star: “We haven’t finished all of the analysis. So as I say, we’ve not yet signed off on it. But we are inclined to do so and we are for several reasons,” said Clinton.

“Going back to your original question, we’re either going to be dependent on dirty oil from the Gulf or dirty oil from Canada. And until we can get our act together as a country and figure out that clean, renewable energy is in both our economic interests and the interests of the planet . . . ” she added, then paused.

The Toronto Star reported that, “the inference was a vote of confidence for Canadian oil, dirty or otherwise, and the pipelines that will move it.”

A Canadian government source told the Toronto Star, “that Clinton’s remarks came as a complete surprise. And, one supposes, a pleasant one, given how hard Ottawa has lobbied Washington on the Keystone extension.”

According to an Indigenous Environmental Network(IEN) press release, “IEN has been working with tribal councils on both sides of the U.S./Canada border as it pertains to the tar sands development.  In the U.S., several tribal councils along the route have passed resolutions against this proposed pipeline.  First Nations in Canada are also passing resolutions against Enbridge Energy’s Northern Gateway pipeline, proposed to go from Hardisty, Alberta to the West coast of British Columbia to ship tar sands fuel to U.S. and China.

“IEN is working to unite the Tribes in the U.S. and Canada to stand together to shut down the tar sands” explained Clayton Thomas-Muller, IEN tar sands campaign organizer.  “Industry has used the divide and conquer technique on the tribes and local land owners, but we are all standing together and will fight them with every resource available. “

The EIN is asking supporters to check in with them to see how they can help. Please click here.

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“Speaking for those that cannot speak for themselves”

When: Oct. 27, 2010 from 7:00 to 9 p.m.

Where: University of Toronto in the Sidney Smith Hall, room 2118 – Toronto Ontario Canada

The tar sands development has completely outstripped the ability of the corporations and provincial and federal governments to provide environmental management and protection. In the perspective of many concerned First Nations and citizens of northern Alberta, the government has given the responsibility of environmental monitoring and enforcement to the corporations.

This fall the government of Alberta and the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers is responding to a sophisticated assault on its tar sands industry internationally and domestically with the “truth” campaign. As part of this campaign the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers is sponsoring invite only discussions across Canada featuring oil sands experts from industry and government agencies to dispel what it views as unfair attacks using biased information against the Tar sands development.

The Indigenous Environmental Network is sponsoring First Nations Woman’s Tar Sands Speakers Tour in response to this propaganda. This tour is profiling woman from downstream impacted First Nations directly from tar sands operations. They will speak out on the grave human rights situation playing out in their communities as a result of the worlds largest and most destructive development known as Canada’s Tar Sands.

This event sponsored by the Indigenous Environmental Network in partnership with Environmental Justice Toronto and Defenders of the Land. More info HERE.

Featured Speakers:

–Eriel Tchekwie Deranger is a Dene from the Athbasca Chipewyan First Nation of Northern Alberta, Canada.  Eriel is currently employed with the Rainforest Action Network as the Freedom From Oil Campaigner in Edmonton, Alberta targeting tar sands development and the banks that fund it.  Eriel is a long time Indigenous rights activist fighting for environmental justice working along side various organizations such as the Indigenous Environmental Network, Ruckus and IP3.Eriel Tchekwie Deranger is a Dene from the Athbasca Chipewyan First Nation of Northern Alberta, Canada.  Eriel is currently employed with the Rainforest Action Network as the Freedom From Oil Campaigner in Edmonton, Alberta targeting tar sands development and the banks that fund it.  Eriel is a long time Indigenous rights activist fighting for environmental justice working along side various organizations such as the Indigenous Environmental Network, Ruckus and IP3.

–Melina Laboucan-Massimo is Lubicon Cree from Northern Alberta. She has been working as an advocate for Indigenous rights for the past 10 years. She has worked with organizations like Redwire Native Media Society, Indigenous Media Arts Society and has also produced short documentaries, researched, and worked on topics ranging from the tar sands, inherent treaty rights, water issues to cultural appropriation. She has studied and worked in Australia, Brazil, Mexico, and Turtle Island focusing on Indigenous rights and culture, resource extraction, ICTs and international diplomacy. Before joining Greenpeace as a tar sands climate and energy campaigner in Alberta, Melina was pursuing her Masters in Environmental Studies at York University.

–Jasmine Thomas is a member of the frog clan from Saik’uz, which is a part of the Carrier Nation. She has inherited the ancient practice of traditional medicines from her late great-grandmother, Sophie Thomas. She is completing her Environmental Planning degree at the University of Northern British Columbia. She also participated in the Bolivia Climate Convergence that took place in Cochabamba to speak on issues related to the destructive tar sand developments and the Enbridge Pipeline Project that proposes to cross her traditional territories. Jasmine believes that the most power lies at the grassroots level and advocates on behalf of the Defenders of the Land and fully supports the efforts on behalf of the Indigenous Environmental Network.

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Krystalline Kraus

krystalline kraus is an intrepid explorer and reporter from Toronto, Canada. A veteran activist and journalist for rabble.ca, she needs no aviator goggles, gas mask or red cape but proceeds fearlessly...