Oil refineries outside Channelview. Do we really need to add a tar-sands pipeline to the mix?Photo: KM&G-MorrisWill Hillary Clinton put the desires of a giant oil corporation ahead of the needs and health of low-income communities and communities of color? Will anyone else in the Obama administration stand up and stop her? With the State Department's comment period on a proposed tar-sands oil pipeline set to end Monday, these questions are about to be answered. The State Department is considering whether to grant approval to oil giant TransCanada to construct a pipeline -- the Keystone XL -- to carry the …
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Karla Land is the director of Concerned Citizens Against Pollution and a resident of Channelview, Texas. She and her neighbors formed the organization a decade ago, to fight an incinerator that would increase air pollution in her community. Before her lungs were weakened by the air pollution from refining, chemical, and other industry in Channelview, she was a deep-sea diver and scuba instructor. She now runs a motorcycle repair shop with her husband.
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