Minnesota Activists to Join Tar Sands Bloc at People's Climate March

New York, NY – As tens of thousands of people gather in New York City on September 21st for the largest demonstration for climate action in history, representatives from communities along the Keystone XL and Alberta Clipper routes plan to march as a “Tar Sands Bloc” dedicated to voicing their opposition to expansion of dirty, carbon-intensive tar sands and calling for a moratorium on extreme carbon-intensive tar sands projects.

Among the activists coming together as part of the Bloc is Kathy Hollander, who currently works with MN350, her local chapter of the climate group 350.org, on tar sands issues affecting Minnesota.

Long involved in social justice work through her Lutheran church, she became deeply involved in tar sands oil transportation and climate change work when she found out about Canadian tar sands giant Enbridge’s plans to expand the capacity of their Alberta Clipper tar sands pipeline, which runs through Minnesota. Since then, she has worked to raise awareness of the tar sands invasion barreling through Minnesota and organized around Minnesota Public Utilities Commission hearings, where hundreds of Minnesotans have come out to voice their opposition to an increase in dirty tar sands running through their state.

This fight was recently reenergized by the outrageous news that a mid-level U.S. State Department official indicated that they would allow Enbridge to move forward with a scheme that would allow them to bypass the legally required environmental review and permitting process for their expansion of Alberta Clipper.

“Minnesota already has the equivalent of two Keystone XL pipelines in the ground hauling dirty tar sands oil. You’d think 1.8 million barrels of oil a day trundling through the state, about half of it dirty tar sands oil, should be enough! But more and more of this carbon will be extracted and burned unless people mobilize to move off fossil fuels quickly,” said Kathy. “I’m marching to keep the dirtiest of transportation fuels in the ground to protect the climate of our wonderful, fragile, beautiful earth.”

Kathy will join thousands of other advocates from across Canada and the United States raising their voices against the Alberta Clipper and Keystone XL pipelines and fighting to protect their communities from tar sands.

To schedule interviews with Kathy, or other representatives from the Tar Sands Bloc of the People’s Climate March, contact Gabby Brown at gabby@newpartners.com

For more information about the bloc, visit http://peoplesclimate.org/tarsandsbloc/