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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

NY to Clinton: Stop Canadian Tar Sands Pipeline

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Wednesday, June 8, 2011   

ALBANY, N.Y. - Concerned citizens' groups in New York have joined with others in the Northeast to call on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to reject construction of a pipeline carrying tar sands from Canada.

The thick crude oil, originating in distant Alberta, was of little use until oil prices rose and new technology was found to extract and refine it. The planned pipeline, known as Keystone X-L, would cross the border in Montana and run to Texas refineries. The fuels, considered "dirty" by critics, would ultimately impact New York, according to Joe Mendelson, director of global-warming policy at the National Wildlife Federation.

"If New York is in the position where it's forced to import oil and gasoline in a market that opens up these Canadian tar sands, we will also be essentially wiping out all the hard effort that New York State has taken, to take this problem head-on and to be a leader."

The result, say the 38 groups sending a letter of protest to Clinton, would be rolling back progress on greenhouse-gas initiatives and clean-fuel standards. The pipeline company, TransCanada, says it will deliver a contribution to "U.S. energy security" that it says is valued at $20 billion.

Another unwelcome result of expanding the market for tar sands, Mendelson says, would affect more than just New York.

"Tar sands, when you develop them, cuts down forests and it releases a huge amount of carbon emissions that cause global warming."

While New Yorkers may not immediately be concerned about a pipeline that would run through the center of the country, Mendelson says, it puts the state's progress toward a clean energy future at risk.

"Not only will it have impacts in Alberta, Canada, but we truly will see New York be forced to swallow heavily polluting fuels that wipe out the leadership that New York has shown in fighting climate change and increasing our energy security."

The groups from New York asking to stop the pipeline include Audubon New York, Citizens Campaign for the Environment, Environmental Advocates of New York, the Public Interest Research Group, Environment New York, the Pace Energy and Climate Center, and Renewable Energy Long Island.


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