FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 7, 2020

MCV pressures TC Energy and elected leaders to halt sudden Keystone XL construction

Organization launches petition campaign in response to rapid escalation of controversial project

(BILLINGS, Mont.) – The Montana Conservation Voters Education Fund today kicks off a robust petition campaign to TC Energy, as well as elected leaders in Montana and Alberta, requesting the suspension of TC Energy’s sudden and controversial construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline during a worldwide public health crisis.

“Given that our children cannot go to school, that our favorite restaurants and bars are shuttered, and that our parks and playgrounds are closed, and that our lives and economy have been turned upside down, we find it wholly inappropriate to allow a foreign company to suddenly jeopardize Montana communities to jam through the construction of the pipeline,” states the letter, which MCV Education Fund is asking all petitioners to sign. “The rapid escalation of this project flies in the face of common sense.”

Anyone interested in signing the petition letter can do so HERE.

TC Energy, the foreign company formerly known as TransCanada, announced on March 31 it would proceed with the development of its Keystone XL Pipeline. Work on the 1,200-mile, $8 billion project began on April 6, when the cost of oil traded at only $26.08 per barrel.

Work began despite concerns about the spread of COVID-19, eventually involving hundreds of workers—many from out of state.

“According to the Glasgow Courier, TC Energy plans to have out-of-state construction workers who have been quarantined in Montana for at least two weeks distinguished by pink armbands, yet they would still work alongside newly arrived workers without pink armbands,” the letter states. “This scenario means TC Energy’s workers must be trusted to comply with critical social distancing guidelines based on armbands alone, while also traveling throughout Montana, living in close quarters, and creating undue risk for countless residents of our state’s rural and medically underserved communities.”

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