With the magnificent expanse of the Golden Gate Bridge as backdrop and pathway, nurses from across the U.S. rallied on Thursday to call an end to the Keystone XL Pipeline project, a ghastly effort to transport poisonous tar sands 1,700 miles from Canada to Texas, exposing hundreds of communities en route to calamitous spills, ruined water systems and deleterious health effects. Nurses also called for an end to the politics of austerity, one that puts the false choices – jobs through environmental degradation – before us. “Nothing related to Keystone XL is good for our families, our communities, or our planet,†announced Debra Burger, RN and NNU co-president from the rally stage. “From extraction to transport to refining, tar sands oil will exacerbate our current health emergency…. This is a clear and present danger to public health.â€