Kevin Grandia
Some of United Airline's most valuable and loyal customers are calling out the company yesterday over its prolonged fight to stop new regulations aimed at reducing global climate pollution emissions from the airline industry.
And these aren't your everyday frequent fliers we're talking about, twenty are members of United's Global Services flyer program—a privilege bestowed by invite to only the most elite of the elite frequent flyers.
Billionaire investor and United Global Services member, Tom Steyer, clean technology expert and six-million miler, Michael Walsh, and million + miler Frank Loy, joined together on a press call yesterday with the Flying Clean Alliance, a coalition of organizations. They are voicing their concerns about United Airlines leading the U.S. aviation industry in opposing multiple efforts to curb climate change pollution, at home and abroad, in contradiction to its stated commitment to being environmentally responsible.
“United is hyping up its recent efforts to reduce emissions on one hand, while on the other, fighting commonsense policies that would curb emissions on a much greater industry-wide scale. That doesn’t fly,” said Walsh.
The Flying Clean Alliance has gathered more than 500 Premier status flyers on an open letter to United's CEO Jeff Smisek, along with more than 85,000 signatures from concerned citizens, many also longtime United flyers. One petition signer commented:
I fly all the time, and knowing that United Airlines is putting out the message that they are “green” while fighting against any policy that will really reduce pollution means I will never fly United again. Additionally I will tell everyone I know for as long as.
Not good for business I would say, considering that airlines are more competitive than ever before, with hairline profit margins and more consumer choice. Ironically, United Airlines took a major loss a year ago to the tune of more than $90 million in revenue due to delayed and cancelled flights after Hurricane Sandy devastated the U.S. east coast. Scientists attribute stronger and more powerful hurricanes as one of the results of climate change.
And the worst is yet to come for airlines and travelers. A recent study published in the peer-reviewed science journal Nature, concluded that the atmospheric disruption caused by climate change will lead to more turbulence and higher costs for flights spanning the Atlantic Ocean.
The airline industry is a huge producer of climate pollution. So huge, that if aviation was a country it would be the seventh largest emitter of climate change pollution in the world. Meanwhile, more and more people around the world are flying, and if left unchecked airplane pollution will double by 2020 and quadruple by 2050.
As consumers, we can of course choose to fly less, but that only gets us so far in a world of increased overall air travel worldwide. Grander solutions to reduce fuel consumption and offset carbon pollution from airplanes exist, and as customers with a choice, we can make an even greater impact by speaking out when companies are willingly choosing to ignore—or even worse, fight against—these solutions.
Visit EcoWatch’s CLIMATE CHANGE page for more related news on this topic.
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A hazy Seattle skyline due to wildfire smoke is seen on September 11, 2020 in Seattle, Washington. Lindsey Wasson / Getty Images
Washington state residents are taking climate matters into their own hands. Beginning this month, 90 members of the public join the country's first climate assembly to develop pollution solutions, Crosscut reported.
<p>Randomly picked and representing every congressional district in the state, assembly members have until March to discuss climate pollution, reach a consensus and forward their recommendations to the state Legislature. </p><p>"It's going to hinge on getting people from different ideological perspectives to talk and be informed and come to some consensus," State Rep. Jake Fey, D-Tacoma, told Crosscut. "It's an experiment, but I'm supportive of this because I think that it could be more persuasive in furthering the different strategies that might be used to reduce carbon."</p><p>Crosscut reported that the group represents racial, income and gender diversity. Their views on the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-crisis" target="_blank">climate crisis </a>also vary, from whether it exists to whether people are responsible for it.</p><p>"One fact that has become clear is that the polarized nature of this debate harms us all. This issue cannot be another 'us versus them' issue, because it affects us all," Fey and three other Washington representatives wrote in <a href="https://www.heraldnet.com/opinion/commentary-citizens-assembly-would-seek-consensus-on-climate/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Herald</a>.</p>
<p>Although environmental concern is growing across the country, a recent<a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2020/02/13/as-economic-concerns-recede-environmental-protection-rises-on-the-publics-policy-agenda/" target="_blank"> Pew Research Center study</a> found that the partisan gap on climate change has never been wider than in 2020,<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/02/20/climate/climate-change-polls.html" target="_blank"> The New York Times reported</a>.</p><p>While 78 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents list <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_blank">climate change</a> as their top policy priority, just 21 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents do, according to the Pew Research Center's findings. </p><p>Republican State Senator Judy Warnick will sit on Washington's Climate Assemblies monitoring team. "It will be interesting for me — I haven't been involved in a lot of climate discussion," she told Crosscut. Warnick hopes to improve the air quality and forest health in her district.</p><p>Last year, Warnick's district, alongside others in the Central and Eastern Washington region, experienced devastating <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildfires" target="_blank">wildfires</a>.</p>
<p>"This is an unprecedented and heartbreaking event," Washington's Gov. Jay Inslee said about the wildfires that roared through the state in the spring and summer, <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/environment/wildfire-smoke-blows-into-western-washington-worsening-air-quality/" target="_blank">The Seattle Times</a> reported. "We're living in a new world. This is not the old Washington."</p><p>Although Washington's Climate Assembly is the first in the U.S., a similar assembly took place in the UK.<br></p><p>At the beginning of last year, UK citizens were selected at random, asked to listen to experts and come up with a list of recommendations on how their country could reach net-zero emissions by 2050,<a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/qa-how-the-climate-assembly-says-the-uk-should-reach-net-zero" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> CarbonBrief reported</a>. Their consensus was published in a report where they listed changes to a range of sectors, from meat and dairy consumption to electricity generation. </p>
<p>"The first weekend changed me really. I thought, 'Oh my God, [climate change] is really going to happen,'" Sue Peachey, one of the 108 people who took part in the UK assembly, told<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/dec/31/its-awakened-me-uk-climate-assembly-participants-hail-a-life-changing-event" target="_blank"> The Guardian</a>. "It made me want to learn and to live my life greener."</p><p>The report is a tool to push the UK toward net-zero emissions, CarbonBrief noted. But it could do more than recommend climate policy. </p><p>"The report shatters the illusion that ordinary people will not accept stronger climate policies and are incapable of making difficult decisions about our collective future," Graham Smith, a politics professor at the University of Westminster, wrote for <a href="https://theconversation.com/citizens-assembly-what-weve-learned-about-the-kind-of-climate-action-the-public-wants-to-see-146161" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Conversation</a>.</p><p>Citizen assemblies on climate change could bring the public together to form agreements on an issue that has largely divided it. "It's all about building relationships, listening to each other's ideas," Warnick told Crosscut. "That's what has me the most optimistic."</p>
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Boletus mushrooms such as these are on the menu at ONA restaurant in Arès, France. Jarry / Tripelon / Gamma-Rapho / Getty Images)
For the first time ever, a vegan restaurant in France has been awarded a coveted Michelin star.
<p>The French edition of the Michelin guide, published Monday, awarded a star to <a href="https://www.clairevallee.com/" target="_blank">ONA</a>. The name stands for Origine Non-Animale, or animal-free origin, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-55717253" target="_blank">BBC News reported</a>. The restaurant is located in Arès, near Bordeaux in southwestern France, and was started by chef Claire Vallée, a 41-year-old former archeologist who became a vegan after a trip to Thailand.</p><p>"[T]his star is mine, it is yours, it is that of the impossible," Vallée wrote in an <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CKMBEB5gvqI/" target="_blank">Instagram post announcing the win</a>. "It brings Vegetable Gastronomy definitively into the closed circle of French and Global Gastronomy."</p><p>The Michelin Guide <a href="https://guide.michelin.com/en/about-us" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">started in France</a> in the late nineteenth century as a road guide published by the Michelin tire company. Over time, it evolved into a highly respected restaurant review guide, thanks to reviewers who secretly visited them. The hierarchy of one, two or three stars became established by 1936. The Michelin system has since spread abroad, and currently rates more than 30,000 restaurants in at least 30 territories. The guide has awarded stars to vegan restaurants in other countries, BBC News reported, but never before in its place of origin. In addition to the Michelin star, ONA also won a green star, a recognition of ethical practices.</p><p>"It felt like I got hit by a train," Vallée told AFP of the win, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/19/michelin-awards-star-to-vegan-restaurant-for-the-first-time-in-france" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">according to an AFP story published in The Guardian</a>.</p>
<p>Vallée and ONA had a winding road to success. Her first requests for a loan were denied by traditional French banks, who were skeptical of both her chosen location and her menu.<br></p><p>"They said the outlook for veganism and plant-based food was too uncertain," she told AFP.</p><p>Undeterred, Vallée crowdfunded her restaurant, and also obtained a loan from a bank called Le Nef, which funds ethical projects.</p><p>"This goes to show that nothing is impossible," she told AFP.</p>
<p>ONA opened its doors in 2016, according to BBC News. The restaurant offers a seven-dish gourmet menu that uses ingredients such as fir tree, boletus mushrooms and celery. However, it is currently closed because of the coronavirus pandemic.</p><p>Coronavirus restrictions also made it difficult to publish this year's Michelin guide, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/france-michelin-stars/michelin-guide-offers-crumb-of-comfort-to-frances-covid-hit-chefs-idINKBN29N1ID" target="_blank">Reuters reported</a>, as inspectors only had a few weeks to visit restaurants in between lockdowns. The annual guide also comes at a tough time for restaurants.</p><p>"For people who get their first star, in the period that we're suffering through, this will be at least a comfort for them," chef Sylvain Sendra of Paris restaurant Fleur de Pave told Reuters.</p>
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Samples of chocolate, strawberry and taro ice cream in the Chinese city of Tianjin tested positive for coronavirus. Alex Lau / Conde Nast via Getty Images
Ice cream samples in the Chinese municipality of Tianjin have tested positive for traces of the new coronavirus.
<p>The virus showed up in samples of chocolate, strawberry and taro ice cream produced by the Tianjin Daqiaodao Food Company that were submitted for inspection, Chinese media reported Friday, <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ice-cream-tianjin-covid-19_n_600215fbc5b697df1a05b059" target="_blank">according to HuffPost</a>.</p><p>"If you have recently purchased this product, please contact the community to report," a government press release read, as <a href="https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/ice-cream-covid19/" target="_blank">Snopes.com reported</a>. "At present, the traceability of the source of the virus is still in progress."</p>
<p>The press released obtained by Snopes was released on Jan. 15 by the Tianjin Municipal People's Government. It stated that the company had been temporarily shuttered and all of its employees were in quarantine. As of Jan. 14, 700 of the 1,662 employees had tested negative for the virus and the rest were still awaiting their results.</p><p>In total, there were more than 4,800 boxes of contaminated ice cream. Around 2,090 were still in storage, but 2,750 had already shipped. Of those, more than 930 stayed in Tianjin while around 1,800 were sent outside the city, which is close to Beijing.</p>
<p>Government officials said they were working to locate all of the ice cream sold in Tianjin, The Associated Press reported. They also informed authorities in other municipalities where the ice cream was sold. So far, there is no evidence that anyone has been infected by the ice cream.</p><p>The ice cream was made with whey powder imported from Ukraine and milk powder imported from New Zealand.</p><p>University of Leeds virologist Dr. Stephen Griffin told <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-ice-cream-tests-positive-for-coronavirus-in-china-12188761" target="_blank">Sky News</a> that the positive test was probably not cause for alarm.</p><p>"It's likely this has come from a person, and without knowing the details, I think this is probably a one-off," he said.</p>
<p>Griffin speculated that the ice cream probably became infected during the production process or because of poor hygiene at the factory. The ice cream's cold temperature and fat content would then have allowed the virus to survive.</p><p>"We probably don't need to panic that every bit of ice cream is suddenly going to be contaminated with coronavirus," Griffin told Sky.</p><p>SARS, which is related to the new coronavirus, has been shown to survive as an infectious virus up to 28 days at around 39 degrees Fahrenheit, HuffPost pointed out. It also survived for an extended amount of time at colder temperatures.<br></p><p>The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has said the risk of contracting the virus from food or food packaging is low. "Currently, there is no evidence that food is associated with spreading the virus that causes COVID-19," the CDC website <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/food-and-COVID-19.html#:~:text=Currently%2C%20there%20is%20no%20evidence%20that%20food%20is%20associated%20with,thought%20to%20be%20very%20low." target="_blank">reads</a>.</p>
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Workers install solar panels on a house near downtown Oakland, California. Grid Alternatives
By Galen Barbose, Eric O'Shaughnessy and Ryan Wiser
Until recently, rooftop solar panels were a clean energy technology that only wealthy Americans could afford. But prices have dropped, thanks mostly to falling costs for hardware, as well as price declines for installation and other "soft" costs.
<p>Today hundreds of thousands of middle-class households across the U.S. are turning to <a href="https://emp.lbl.gov/tracking-the-sun" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">solar power</a>. But households with incomes below the median for their areas remain less likely to go solar. These low- and moderate-income households face several roadblocks to solar adoption, including cash constraints, low rates of home ownership and language barriers.</p><p>Our <a href="https://emp.lbl.gov/publications/income-trends-among-us-residential" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">team of researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory</a> examined how various policies and business models could affect the likelihood of people at all income levels adopting solar. In a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-020-00724-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">recently published study</a>, we analyzed five common solar policies and business models to see whether they attracted lower-income households.</p><p>We found that three scenarios did: offering financial incentives to low- and moderate-income households; leasing solar panels to homeowners; and lending money to buy panels, with the loan repaid on property tax bills. All of these approaches resulted in people at a wider range of income levels trying solar energy.</p>
<h2>Solar Power for Everyone</h2><p>For over a decade our team at the Berkeley lab's <a href="https://emp.lbl.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Electricity Markets and Policy group</a> has kept tabs on trends in the rooftop solar market through our annual report, "<a href="https://emp.lbl.gov/tracking-the-sun" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Tracking the Sun</a>." It documents how prices have fallen, and the number of installations has risen in U.S. solar markets.</p><p>Over the past decade rooftop solar power has grown significantly in the U.S., spreading beyond initial hot spots in California and Hawaii to states such as <a href="https://www.seia.org/research-resources/top-10-solar-states-0" target="_blank">North Carolina, Florida and New Jersey</a>. The industry projects that rapid growth will continue for the foreseeable future.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTUwMTU2OS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzNzgyMTgyMH0.sNBN6gsNwzI9biagSAiT0Ey04xGoJb0dvnzsueOD0lc/img.png?width=980" id="57aac" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="5698a7f42da3ecf5785eada2c33ac8b9" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="1276" data-height="644" />
Chart: The Conversation, CC BY-ND. Source: Barbose et al., 2020. Get the data
<p>More recently our researchers have combined this tracking report with data on household-level demographics and income of solar adopters, covering more than 70% of the U.S. residential solar market. Among the research products we've created is an <a href="https://solardemographics.lbl.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">online interactive tool</a> that shows the demographic characteristics of solar adoption <a href="https://emp.lbl.gov/projects/solar-demographics-trends-and-analysis/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">down to the county level</a>.</p><p>Thanks to these price and growth trends, an increasing number of state and local governments, utilities and businesses want to help lower-income customers go solar. They believe solar will cut energy bills, reduce money spent on bill payment programs, avoid pollution and create green jobs.</p><p>So far, 20 states are offering 38 programs to help lower-income customers go solar. California, the largest, has budgeted over US$1 billion for such programs. A number of utilities and solar developers, like <a href="https://www.posigen.com/" target="_blank">Posigen</a> and <a href="https://gridalternatives.org/" target="_blank">GRID Alternatives</a>, are also developing business models that work for all customers. These initiatives leverage state and federal incentives to deliver free or very low-cost solar to eligible households.</p>
<div id="1fd16" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="81c311df8ff44e84e6820ee7f5f86489"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1318076805048393728" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Donnel Baird's company makes energy-saving updates to buildings almost exclusively in low-income areas. Cutting the… https://t.co/5uWGSVnu9m</div> — NPR (@NPR)<a href="https://twitter.com/NPR/statuses/1318076805048393728">1603088973.0</a></blockquote></div>
<h2>Reducing Upfront Costs</h2><p>In our study we evaluated five policies and business models to see which ones helped low- and moderate-income households go solar:</p><ul><li>Financial incentives targeted at low- and moderate-income households, usually rebates or other incentives to reduce upfront costs.</li><li>Leasing rooftop solar systems, which reduces upfront costs.</li><li>Property Assessed Clean Energy financing, or PACE, which allows customers to finance energy improvements through their property tax payments. Currently, residential PACE is available only in California, Florida and Missouri.</li><li>Financial incentives such as rebates offered to customers of any income level.</li><li>"Solarize" campaigns, in which customers band together in a group purchase to get a good price.</li></ul><p>The study includes data on more than 1 million residential rooftop photovoltaic systems installed on single-family homes in 18 states from 2010 to 2018. We compared modeled household-level income estimates for solar adopters with area median household incomes from U.S. Census data.</p><p>We found that three of the interventions – targeted incentives, leasing and PACE – effectively increased adoption equity. These approaches are boosting sales to low-income customers in existing markets and helping solar companies move into new markets, such as low-income areas where solar sales have been weak or absent.</p><p>Policies that don't address the needs and constraints of low-income households, like the federal income tax credit, have not had much effect on equity. And solarize campaigns are rarely pitched to low-income buyers.</p>
<h2>An Untapped Customer Base</h2><p>When solar expands into new markets and neighborhoods, it can have a spillover impact. If a system is installed in a neighborhood that had no solar before, neighbors who see it will be more likely to adopt it themselves. Moving into new markets may have greater potential effects on low-income adoption rates than reaching lower-income households in existing markets.</p><p>Expanding sales to low- and moderate-income households can also tap a larger base of potential customers. The U.S. National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) found in a study that <a href="https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy18osti/70901.pdf" target="_blank">42% of rooftops</a> where solar power could work are on low- and moderate-income housing.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTUwMTU3My9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyMjE4OTAyNX0.UVbQEoxvTLZCawz6SI2FdRpydlLelnwinJ78iac6p9E/img.jpg?width=980" id="cc3d2" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="bfc6f221c67576352dc4aae047667ed5" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="1200" data-height="778" />
A 2018 study estimates that installing rooftop solar systems on low- and moderate-income housing could provide up to 42% of all rooftop technical potential in the residential sector and improve energy affordability in low-income communities. NREL
<p>As the solar market grows, decisions to install solar systems are increasingly driven by the prospect of saving money, rather than strictly by green values or buyers' interest in new technologies. A survey led by NREL found that roughly half of people who decided to install solar in California, New Jersey, New York and Arizona in 2014 to 2016 <a href="https://www.nrel.gov/solar/seeds/2014-2016-study.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">identified cost savings as a primary factor in their decision to adopt solar</a>.</p><p>For low- and moderate-income households, the financial benefits of solar power can make a big difference. Many lower-income households carry a large energy burden, meaning that energy and utility costs consume a large share of their income. Across the U.S., low-income households <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-020-0582-0" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">spend about three times more of their income on energy costs</a> than other households. Solar power can reduce those energy burdens by providing on-site power at a lower cost than grid electricity.</p><p>Making homes more energy efficient is an established strategy for cutting energy bills, but there's growing interest in having solar play a role. Deploying solar power for low- and moderate-income households can be a way to fulfill policy and social goals like creating jobs and improving the environment.</p><p><em>The study described in this article was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy's Solar Energy Technologies Office.</em></p>
<p>
<em>Galen Barbose is a research scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.<br/>
</em><em>Eric O'Shaughnessy is a research consultant at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.<br/>
</em><em>Ryan Wiser is a senior scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.</em>
</p><p>
<em>Disclosure statements: Eric O'Shaughnessy is a renewable energy research analyst at Clean Kilowatts, LLC. Ryan Wiser is a board member of the Clean Energy States Alliance. </em><em>Galen Barbose does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</em>
</p><p>
<em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://theconversation.com/cheaper-solar-power-means-low-income-families-can-also-benefit-with-the-right-kind-of-help-151907" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>.</em>
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Lakota spiritual leader Chief Arvol Looking Horse attends a demonstration against the proposed Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico in front of the White House in Washington, DC, on January 28, 2015. Nicholas Kamm / AFP / Getty Images
President-elect Joe Biden is planning to cancel the controversial Keystone XL pipeline on the first day of his administration, a document reported by CBC on Sunday suggests.
<p>The words "Rescind Keystone XL pipeline permit" were reportedly listed on a briefing note shared by the Biden transition team with U.S. stakeholders as part of a roundup of Biden's planned day one executive actions. <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/america-votes/biden-to-prioritize-blocking-of-keystone-xl-pipeline-extension-1.5270600" target="_blank">CTV News</a> also reviewed the briefing documents, and a source familiar with Biden's thinking told <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-biden-keystone/biden-to-cancel-keystone-xl-pipeline-permit-on-first-day-in-office-cbc-idINKBN29N00A" target="_blank">Reuters</a> that the President-elect is planning to cancel the pipeline as one of his first acts.</p><p>"The Biden administration halting the Keystone XL pipeline is a momentous sign that he is listening, taking action and making good on his promises to people and the planet," Kendall Mackey, 350.org Keep It In the Ground campaign manager, <a href="https://350.org/press-release/biden-kxl-executiveorder/" target="_blank">said</a> in response to the news. "This decision to halt the Keystone XL pipeline on day one in office sets a precedent that all permitting decisions must pass a <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate</a> test and respect <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/indigenous-rights" target="_self">Indigenous rights</a>."</p><p>Mackey expressed hope that Biden would also end the equally controversial <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/dakota-access-pipeline" target="_self">Dakota Access</a> and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/enbridge-line-3" target="_self">Line 3</a> pipelines.</p><p>The Keystone XL pipeline was first announced in 2005, CBC News reported. The pipeline is being built to carry 830,000 barrels of crude oil a day, stretching about 1,200 miles from Alberta, Canada to Nebraska. From there it would connect with the original Keystone pipeline that carries oil to U.S. Gulf Coast refineries.</p>
<p>The pipeline has long been opposed by environmental and Indigenous groups, who are concerned about its climate impacts and the potential for leaks to harm <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildlife" target="_self">wildlife</a> and pollute <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/drinking-water" target="_self">drinking water</a>, CTV News reported. Protests prompted the Obama administration to <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/breaking-president-obama-rejects-keystone-xl-pipeline-1882117930.html" target="_self">rescind the permit in 2015</a>, but President Donald Trump reversed this decision with an <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-dakota-access-pipeline-2211697835.html" target="_self">executive order</a> in early 2017.</p><p>Biden's decision to once again rescind the permit is not surprising. His advisers have said in the past that he would move to block it again, according to <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/biden-keystone-xl-pipeline-permit_n_60051931c5b6efae62f9d263" target="_blank">HuffPost</a>. Biden's campaign has vocally opposed the pipeline since May, according to CTV News.</p><p>The news has sparked opposition in Canada.</p><p>"I am deeply concerned by reports that the incoming administration of President-elect Joe Biden may repeal the Presidential permit for the Keystone XL border crossing next week," Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said in a Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/jkenney/status/1350957580106006533/photo/1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">statement</a>. "Doing so would kill jobs on both sides of the border, weaken the critically important Canada-U.S. relationship and undermine U.S. national security by making the United States more dependent on OPEC oil imports in the future."</p>
<p>Kirsten Hillman, Canada's ambassador to the U.S., said the country still stood behind the pipeline and that it fit within Canada's climate plans, CBC News reported.</p><p>"The Government of Canada continues to support the Keystone XL project and the benefits that it will bring to both Canada and the United States," Hillman said.</p><p>Meanwhile, in a bid to make the project more appealing to Biden, owner TC Energy announced a plan on Sunday to reach zero emissions by 2030, hire union workers, sign Indigenous equity partners and install a $1.7 billion solar, wind and battery-powered operating system for the pipeline.</p><p>However, Canadian environmental groups and parties were pleased with the news.</p>
<p>"This is what true climate leadership looks like," Annamie Paul, leader of the federal Green Party, told CTV News.</p><p>Keith Stewart, a senior energy strategist with Greenpeace Canada, urged Canadians to follow suit and move away from the pipeline, which he likened to "beating [a] dead horse," CBC News reported.</p><p>"The Biden administration offers us a fresh start on addressing the climate crisis with a willing partner, so let's not blow it by pushing pipelines," Stewart said.</p>
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