Make Massachusetts Tar Sands Free!

Wherever tar sands go, destruction follows.

Tar sands extraction is one of the most destructive industrial processes on earth, poisoning water, laying waste to pristine boreal forest, devastating the health of communities downstream, and threatening to send the climate crisis spinning out of control.

There's no way we want that stuff in our state, and now is the time to make sure it stays out. Ask Governor Patrick to keep tar sands crude out of our fuel. Together we can make Massachusetts a tar sands free state!

Tar sands are "game over for the climate." That famous quote is from former NASA climatologist James Hansen, and Dr. Hansen knows what he's talking about. At a time when we need to be dramatically reducing our total greenhouse gas emissions, producing oil from tar sands creates even more carbon pollution than conventional crude.

Heavy and sticky -- like, well, tar -- tar sands bitumen is also incredibly difficult to clean up when it spills, making it dangerous to transport and further threatening communities along pipeline routes throughout North America.

We can’t completely eliminate oil use overnight, but we can choose to avoid the most extreme and destructive sources of oil right now. Governor Patrick can help put Massachusetts on that path.

Add your voice today.

Please Customize Your Letter to Gov. Patrick Here:

Dear Governor Patrick,

To-date, the Northeast has been virtually free of tar sands both in terms of pipelines and in terms of tar sands brought in as a refined product.  Unfortunately, that is set to change unless new policies are implemented. Over the coming years our region may see a major increase in tar sands infiltration from the Exxon Portland Montreal tar sands pipeline and from Midwestern and Gulf Coast refineries that feed our fuel providers. An influx of tar sands could set back other important climate progress we are making in Massachusetts.
 
The Governor’s Office should act today to categorize and track the sources and carbon intensities of the gasoline and diesel that power cars and trucks in our state. At a minimum, the state must also adopt measures to ensure the carbon intensity of the fuel supply does not increase, but should also consider leadership on policies which would require the carbon intensity of the fuel supply to decrease over time while oil consumption is reduced.

I respectfully urge you to ensure that transportation fuel within Massachusetts be kept free of tar sands.  With the knowledge that this fuel is more climate polluting than conventional crude oil, and that tar sands development has devastating environmental impacts, while also harming the way of life of First Nations people in Canada, we demand the right to know the climate impact of our fuel and call on the state government to keep tar sands out of Massachusetts.

Please act with urgency to make Massachusetts a leader in moving beyond tar sands and other extreme sources of dirty fuel.

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