The falling price of gasoline and diesel is encouraging to those of us who oppose the expansion of Canadan oil interests.

There is no longer any economical logic supporting the Keystone XL project.

As President Obama recently stated, it’s all about Canadian oil interests with little benefit to the United States.

But the main reason it makes no sense continues to be the long-term health risks, particularly for those who work in the oil sands of Alberta. The World Health Organization has discovered links between bitumen and lung, bladder, and stomach cancers.

As if that is not enough, a study from the University of California Irvine and the University of Michigan found air pollutants downwind from the oil sands rivaled Beijing and Mexico City! Those same studies found high incidences of blood cancers among area residents. Many residents in the area actually call the area “cancer alley!”

The new national chief of the Assembly of First Nations in Canada, Perry Bellegarde, said in Winnipeg this month,

“Canada will no longer develop pipelines, no longer develop transmission lines, or any infrastructure, on our lands as business as usual.”  ~ Perry Bellegarde

First Nations have been fed up for some time with the Canadian government’s habit of developing projects on native lands without native consultation and without benefitting First Nations People.

Still PM Harper stubbornly supports black versus green against all reason.

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Author: Linda Lewis

Editor: Ashleigh Hitchcock

Photo: flickr, flickr