Washington, DC — This morning, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) added his voice to the growing opposition to the Keystone XL, a 1,700 mile pipeline that would carry tar sands oil from Canada to refineries on the Gulf of Mexico.

In a video message released by TarSandsAction.org, Sen. Sanders said, “Building this pipeline will keep America addicted to oil, and while it might be a good idea for Koch Industries, which supplies and refines large volumes of Canadian tar sands oil, it is a bad deal for our country,” said Sen. Sanders.

TarSandsAction.org has registered over 1,000 people to take part in a two-week sit-in at the White House this August 20 – September 3 to pressure the Obama Administration to deny the “presidential permit” necessary for construction on the pipeline to begin.

“It’s either a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’ for the climate-killing Keystone XL oil pipeline—and Obama gets to make the call,” said author Bill McKibben, one of the leaders of the protest. “We’ll be out in large numbers at the White House this August to show the President he has the support necessary to stand up to Big Oil and stop the pipeline.”

In his video message, Sen. Sanders emphasized that many alternative ways to increase energy security without building the Keystone XL pipeline:

“I have to ask a question: why in the world would we ever consider approving a new big oil pipeline to carry dirty fuel and keep America addicted to oil, when we can save money, create jobs, and reduce our dependence on foreign oil by moving towards stronger fuel economy standards?”

Sen. Sanders called on President Obama to deny a permit for the Keystone XL pipeline and support a clean energy economy instead.

“I hope his administration rejects the Big Oil tar sands pipeline and instead continues to push for strong fuel economy standards and clean energy alternatives.”

He concluded by thanking the people joining the sit-in this August at the White House for their actions.

“Let me conclude by thanking all of you for the extraordinarily important work that you all are doing for bringing attention and focus to all these issues and your commitment to a sustainable energy future for our country. Thank you very much.”