After the recent tar sands pipeline spill in Arkansas, where thousands of gallons of toxic oil ran through the streets of a small community, the climate change organization 350.org [3] is asking Americans to join in the public commenting process for the Keystone XL pipeline.

The U.S. State Department is reviewing applications for permits needed for the international pipeline to advance. The State Department is soliciting public comment [4] on the issue until April 22.

350.org, which helped plan a mass rally in Washington, DC on President's Day and mass arrests last year to protest the planned pipeline, now wants to flood the State Department with one million substantive comments from citizens. Learn more here. [3]

The organization is also honoring the retirement of Dr. James Hansen, one of America's most respected climatologists, as head of NASA's Goddard Institute of Space Studies.

350.org leader Bill McKibben explains why Hansen has been so critical to the climate change movement and why public comments on the pipeline are needed:

"One reason we're fighting the pipeline is because Jim Hansen did the math to show that if we combusted the tar sands on top of all else we burn, it would be 'game over for the climate.' So far that message hasn't gotten through: the State Department hired a bunch of compromised oil industry analysts to 'review' KXL, and unsurprisingly they decided it would have 'minimal' environmental impact. We need to get them to take reality seriously, and change that assessment."

If you would like to file a comment, you can do so via the Federal Register [5] or at the 350.org site [3]. Substantive comments from people in the pipeline states are especially useful.