The bill, written and co-sponsored by CalSERVE Senator Caitlin Quinn, opposes the construction of the extension of the current Keystone pipeline that could harm the environment and the economy due to the harmful nature of extracting and refining crude oil from tar sands.

The bill, which passed by an 18-1 margin, instructs ASUC President DeeJay Pepito to write a letter to President Barack Obama formally expressing the ASUC’s position on the Keystone XL pipeline.

The pipeline would be harmful to the “environment, agriculture, native peoples, farmers in the Midwest, the health and safety of Americans, unionized workers, and the American economy,” the bill states.

The bill addresses concerns that pipeline construction will harm the environment without helping economies. It states that the Keystone XL pipeline would create only 35 permanent jobs and that 85 to 90 percent of the temporary jobs created by pipeline construction would not go toward job creation in local communities.

The Amalgamated Transit Union and the Transport Workers Union have also expressed opposition to the construction of the pipeline, according to the bill. The workers’ unions stated that rather than investing in the pipeline, jobs should go toward energy conservation research and public transportation improvement.

Jennie Yoon is the lead student government reporter. Contact her at jyoon@dailycal.org and follow her on Twitter @jennieyoon_.

Correction(s):
A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that the ASUC Senate passed SB 11 unanimously. In fact, the bill passed on a vote of 18-1.

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The ASUC Senate’s University and External Affairs Committee approved a bill at its meeting Monday that opposes the construction of Keystone XL, an extension of the Keystone Pipeline, which is now pending approval of the entire senate.

The pipeline, which would transfer crude oil from tar sands in Alberta to refineries in Texas, is politically controversial and has raised concern among students due to its potentially detrimental effects on the environment. According to the bill, SB 11, the process of refining oil from tar sands requires more energy and water than refining oil from traditional sources and generates more greenhouse gases.

The bill also reflects concern that the extraction processes will occur near the homes of indigenous populations. Many indigenous communities, particularly those in Alberta, not only have been removed from their lands but also have seen increases in diseases such as cancer, the bill states.

“It is a major issue that is killing people and has the potential to kill even more people,” said CalSERVE Senator Caitlin Quinn, who authored the bill. “Clearly, it doesn’t stretch to California, but it is a major issue we should address.”

ASUC Executive Vice President Nolan Pack authored a similar bill last year that urged the UC system to divest its funds from fossil-fuel companies. He said he applauded Quinn for her work with the environmental community to author this bill.

“Fossil-fuel divestment and defeating Keystone XL are two parts of the same movement to free us from the chains of an outdated and toxic energy infrastructure,” Pack said. “Keystone is of particular importance because if built, it will enable the release of enough CO2 to guarantee catastrophic climate change — it’s been referred to as a ‘game over’ moment.”

Proponents of the Keystone XL pipeline say it will improve the economy by creating jobs while ending the need for overseas energy imports.

“While developing cleaner sources of energy should be a long-term goal, today this country still depends on imported oil,” said Brendan Pinder, president of Berkeley College Republicans. “In addition to creating jobs, this pipeline would help shift our dependence from the volatile Middle East to Canada, a stable country with more responsible environmental regulations.”

If the full senate passes the bill, ASUC President DeeJay Pepito will write a letter to President Barack Obama asking him to oppose the Keystone XL pipeline for the reasons outlined in the bill.

“As a research institution that actually gets a ton of money from BP and Chevron, we should still have the autonomy to take stances on these issues,” Quinn said. “There’s been a lot of activism on (the Keystone Pipeline) recently, and I prefer to address things proactively instead of waiting until after Obama’s decision.”

UC Berkeley professor of energy Daniel Kammen agreed the tar sands represent more of an environmental threat than traditional sources of petroleum.

“The ASUC is correct in wanting to block this, because the pipeline will make the climate worse,” Kammen said. “If the U.S. was starving for energy, maybe I would understand, but the thing is, we’re not starving for fossil fuels.”

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Contact the opinion desk at opinion@dailycal.org.

The post This is not a pipe appeared first on The Daily Californian.

At the rally, CalPIRG initiated a petition addressed to President Obama to halt the construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, a project that would carry about 700,000 to 830,000 barrels of oil per day from Canada into the United States but that remains controversial due to environmental and energy-dependence concerns. CalPIRG hopes to collect 500 signatures within a two-day period.

“There are lots of issues with this pipeline being built,” said Allison Hughes, campaign manager for CalPIRG’s efforts to stop the construction. “If it spills, it will cost a lot to clean, and we would be investing in a resource that we don’t need, and we can use cleaner sources of energy that would be more beneficial to the environment.”

According to a statement by TransCanada Corporation, the energy corporation responsible for the management of the project, the pipeline would create jobs for about 9,000 Americans. However, CalSERVE Senator Nolan Pack believes that these jobs will not have a long-term impact on the economy.

“These jobs are not in the long term because the pipeline will be built and then it’s done,” Pack said. “No one has realized that even though this pipeline will create jobs for people, it is also taking land from farmers, and by taking land, you are taking the livelihood of many people.”

TransCanada said in the statement that it will implement a detailed emergency response plan if leakage occurs and will be held responsible for the cleanup of the land where the oil spills as well as compensation related to oil released from the pipeline.

Pack said that the building of this pipeline is a step backward and called for an increased focus on the usage and development of new energy resources. Last month, the ASUC Senate passed SB 10, a bill that directs the ASUC to divest from the fossil fuel industry.

“(SB 10) shows how we are trying to divest from old energy resources and use new energy resources,” Pack said. “The Keystone pipeline is deeply investing us in an energy source that is outdated, and we are trapping ourselves in this form of energy when there are so many other options.”

Contact Seif Abdelghaffar at sabdelghaffar@dailycal.org.

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