Bad news for Canadian oilsands? U.S. pipeline-fighters celebrate downward turn

Opponents of Canada's oil industry are celebrating this week over news they see as vindication of a pipeline-fighting strategy that began in the United States with Keystone XL. Their burst of enthusiasm was prompted by news that Shell was shuttering an 80,000-barrel-a-day project — and specifically citing the lack of pipeline infrastructure as part of the reason. That announcement prompted a congratulatory message from a political activist who began organizing Nebraska ranchers opposed to Keystone XL five years ago. Jane Kleeb emailed ranchers Wednesday to say their work against the Alberta-to-Texas project was having a ripple effect across the continent, with the expansion of the Alberta oilsands now in doubt. "Turns out fighting Keystone XL with all the might of small and large groups in U.S.A. and in Canada is working," Kleeb wrote. "Not only to stop Keystone XL but to stop the tarsands expansion."...more