| Lorelei -- Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is still pushing the Trans Mountain tar sands pipeline – which would not only make it impossible for Canada to meet its climate commitments, but also spell the end for endangered Southern Resident Killer Whales. 
We have just a few weeks to send a flood of public comments saying no to Trans Mountain and yes to orcas – click here to send your message now. A major victory last August quashed the project because of inadequate indigenous consultation and because it ignored the impacts of oil tankers on marine life in the Salish Sea. But in its new review, the National Energy Board is making things difficult: the only way they're accepting public comments is via a complicated 8-step online form, by snail mail, or by fax. They probably think this will avoid a flood of public comments against the pipeline...but we have an easy tool to let you send a fax to the National Energy Board from your computer or smartphone. Bonus weekend project: Stand.earth is also collecting kids' drawings of orcas to fax to the NEB. Send yours here! Our orcas have already lost 60-90% of their ability to use echolocation to hunt for food and communicate in their core habitat due to noise from shipping traffic. If the Trans Mountain pipeline is built, the massive increase in tanker traffic will be a devastating setback. And once you've done that... The five refineries here in Washington State have the capacity to process about 83 million gallons of oil per day. Right now, one of the refineries in Anacortes (the one that used to be Tesoro, and is now Marathon) is under review for its oil spill prevention and response plan and it simply isn't good enough—not for orcas, not for us. Please also submit your comments today to make sure Marathon is held accountable for safeguarding our orcas, communities, shorelines, and the Salish Sea. Right now, Marathon's Anacortes refinery is trying to get permits to manufacture and export petrochemicals used in making plastics called xylenes. Yet, their spill plan doesn't include any mention of xylene, let alone how to respond to a xylene spill. Xylenes are toxic, highly volatile, and can leak into the soil, surface water or ground water where it may remain for months or more before it breaks down into other chemicals. A xylene spill would be devastating, yet Marathon has done nothing to prepare for one. For the orcas and for us,
Jess and 350 Seattle PS Have you gotten your tickets to Intertwined, our annual fall fundraiser, yet? It's next Friday! | 
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