We made a mistake electing Keating!

Congressman Barney Frank spoiled his constituents with his unparalleled constituent services and his clear responses.

Call Keating's Office and all you get is double talk, 'I don't know the Congressman's position....' blah, blah, blah.

While I won't review Congressman Keating's disappointing votes, his constituents might be wise to pay attention. Big DISAPPOINTMENT!  

In response to my opposition to a NEW ENGLAND DIRTY TAR SANDS PIPELINE, the Congressman's misguided response is below.

TAR SANDS SPILLS are exempt from CLEAN-UP costs. Taxpayers will foot the bill for these disasters .... and there have been many.

Thank you for contacting me regarding the New England pipeline. I appreciate hearing from you on this important issue, and I welcome the opportunity to respond to your concerns.

As you know, the Portland-Montreal Pipe Line currently connects South Portland, Maine, with Montreal to transport tar sands oil from the United States to Canada. Jointly owned by Portland Pipe Line Corporation and Montreal Pipe Line Limited, these two corporations have recently considered proposals to expand and reverse the flow of their jointly-owned Portland-Montreal Pipe Line so that tar sands would flow toward Portland for domestic and international export. A similar proposal has been made by Enbridge to reverse the company's Line 9, a pipeline that currently flows from Montreal to Michigan, so that tar sands may be transported from Michigan to Montreal. Should both of these proposals be implemented, it is possible that an unprecedented volume of tar sands from across the United States and Canada could be directed through Montreal toward Portland.

I believe a pipeline that has the potential to create thousands of jobs and reduce our nation's dependence on foreign oil is certainly important. At the same time, I represent a region that boasts pristine coastlines and fragile ecosystems. Many throughout New England have sharply criticized these proposals due to the environmental consequences tar sands could have on our region. Please know that, as your representative in Washington, I have always fought for safe and efficient energy policies that would create clean energy jobs in the United States , establish energy independence , and protect our environment. As New England is home to some of the most beautiful and fragile natural resources in the United States, we must not take unnecessary risks that would harm these resources in any way. Please know that I will keep your thoughts in mind should legislation related to this issue come before the full House of Representatives for a vote.

Again, thank you for contacting me. Please do not hesitate to contact me in the future regarding this or any other matter of concern. Additionally, you may find our website ( www.keating.house.gov ) to be a useful resource for keeping up with my work in Washington and the Ninth District of Massachusetts. I look forward to hearing from you again.

Sincerely,

Bill Keating
Member of Congress

In your backyard.....?

You come home from work and find this mess in your backyard?

Enbridge is proposing a New England Tar Sands Pipeline....maybe in your backyard.

And they don't have to clean it up. They are exempted by law.

This past weekend, an ExxonMobil pipeline carrying nearly 100,000 barrels of toxic tar sands crude spewed into Mayflower, Arkansas. Yards are flooded in black crude, a river of toxic oil flows down the street, and the nearby fishing lake is covered in black grease. Families have been evacuated, but nobody knows what the dangers to the community are, or even how much oil has been spilled. Why? Because Exxon’s not talking.

Let’s hold ExxonMobil accountable for this spill by demanding it release all the information on this spill -- the good, the bad, and the ugly -- while the images of playsets and driveways overrun with crude oil are still in the public eye.



Tell ExxonMobil to release information about the crude spilled in Arkansas.

ExxonMobil is being so secretive because it wants people to believe that pipelines like this are perfectly safe and pose no threat to people or the planet. But this catastrophe in Arkansas foreshadows a future reality for anyone who lives along the thousands of miles of pipeline being considered for approval by the U.S. and Canadian governments.

Right now, ExxonMobil and other oil companies are lobbying furiously for the Keystone XL, a massive pipeline stretching across the North America that will transport enough toxic tar to be "game over" for the planet. If approved, the Keystone XL will be carrying even more of the same hard-to-clean-up toxic crude that spilled in Arkansas.

The last thing ExxonMobil and its ilk want is to tell us the truth about its dirty business while legislators are making such a high-stakes decision on the Keystone XL. It knows that if we can use this spill in Arkansas to show the world the reality of these pipelines, we may be able to stop the Keystone XL in its tracks. And its especially vulnerable to public pressure right now, since images of backyards covered in its tar sands crude are leaking out and going viral on Facebook.

Tell ExxonMobil to release all the information it has on the massive pipeline spill.

Together, we can expose the reality for people in the path of the crude spill, help show the public that the pipelines that ExxonMobil and other major companies haven't started construction on yet are unsafe too, and hopefully stop future pipelines in their tracks entirely.

Thanks for all you do,
Angus, Kaytee, and the team at SumOfUs.org



**********
More Information:

Exxon Mobil pipeline leaks ‘a few thousand’ barrels of crude oil in Arkansas. Washington Post. March 31st, 2013

For the sake of our children: 35,000 Ignored

The reporting on the March on Washington was reported in 'Liberal' MSM where?
Maybe it's time to stop accepting the 'myths' and search for the truth.

Global Warming is real and threatens not only each of us, but our planet and our future.

Tar Sands are the Dirtiest Energy and the pipeline threatens New England with environmental destruction.

What will our grandchildren say about our actions to prevent Global Warming?  




From: Jeremy Hance, MONGABAY.COM, More from this Affiliate
Published February 19, 2013 09:16 AM

Over 35,000 march on Washington demanding climate action and rejection of Canada's 'carbon bomb'

Yesterday over 35,000 people rallied in Washington D.C. for urgent action on climate change, which, according to organizers, was the largest climate march in U.S. history. Activists called on the Obama Administration to do much more to tackle climate change, including rejecting the Keystone XL Pipeline, which would bring carbon-heavy tar sands oil from Canada through the U.S. to a world market.

"For 25 years our government has basically ignored the climate crisis: now people in large numbers are finally demanding they get to work. We shouldn't have to be here—science should have decided our course long ago. But it takes a movement to stand up to all that money," said Bill McKibben, founder of the climate activist group 350.org, at the rally. McKibben called the tar sands in Alberta, Canada, "one of the largest carbon bombs in history."

There is considerable debate about how much higher carbon emissions are from tar sands oil, but no one doubts that they are larger. Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA) estimated the greenhouse gas emissions of the tar sands was 5-15 percent higher than conventional sources, while the International Energy Agency (IEA) found that emissions were 20 percent higher. However, recent research has shown that the destruction of boreal forest and peatlands adds considerable more carbon emissions to the controversial fuel source. In fact, one study estimated that if the entirety of the tar sands were exploited it would raise global temperatures 0.64 degrees Fahrenheit (0.36 degrees Celsius), representing about 45 percent of how much the world has already warmed since the Industrial Revolution.

The rally took place less than a week after U.S. President, Barack Obama, noted in his State of the Union speech that, "For the sake of our children and our future, we must do more to combat climate change."

Since winning re-election last November, Obama has become increasingly outspoken on the need to tackle climate change, including connecting the warming planet to recent disasters, such as drought in the Southwest and Hurricane Sandy last fall. Still, no one knows what the Obama Administration will decide on the Keystone Pipeline. Proponents of the pipeline, which include 52 U.S. Senators, say it will add jobs (though most will be temporary) and bring oil from a friendly neighbor instead of the Middle East.

Continue reading at MONGABAY.COM

Crowd image credit: Joshua Lopez/Project Survival Media via MONGABAY.COM


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Tens of Thousands Rally to Stop Keystone XL Pipeline & Urge Obama to Move "Forward on Climate"




We play highlights from the "Forward on Climate" rally that drew tens of thousands to Washington D.C.'s National Mall Sunday. Protesters from across the United States and Canada urged President Obama to reject the proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, which would deliver tar sands oil from Alberta to refineries along the Gulf Coast. Organizers described Sunday's protest as "the largest climate rally in history," and Reverend Lennox Yearwood compared it to Martin Luther King’s 1963 March on Washington for civil rights. We hear from speakers including Van Jones, Obama’s former green jobs adviser; Canadian indigenous leader Chief Jacqueline Thomas of the Saik’uz First Nation; and Bill McKibben of 350.org. [includes rush transcript]

http://www.democracynow.org/2013/2/18/tens_of_thousands_rally_to_stop


The Rush Transcript ---

AMY GOODMAN: Tens of thousands of people gathered on Washington’s National Mall Sunday to urge President Obama to reject the controversial Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. Organizers of the Forward on Climate event described it as the largest climate rally in history. Protesters displayed a mock pipeline with the motto, quote, "Separate oil and—separate oil and state." The proposed 1,700-mile pipeline would deliver tar sands oil from Canada to refineries in Texas. The Reverend Lennox Yearwood compared the rally to Martin Luther King’s 1963 March on Washington for civil rights. The protest was organized by 350.org, the Sierra Club and the Hip Hop Caucus, among others. Speakers included President Obama’s former green jobs adviser, Van Jones.

VAN JONES: Well, this is it. This is the last minute in the last quarter of the biggest, most important game humanity has ever played. This is it. One thing I know, having worked in this town, the simple maxim, "If you don’t fight for what you want, you deserve what you get." If you don’t fight for what you want, you deserve what you get.

I had the honor of working for this president, and I want to direct my message to him. President Obama, all the good that you have done, all the good you can imagine doing, will be wiped out, wiped out by floods, by fires, by superstorms, if you fail to act now to deal with this crisis that is a gun—a gun—pointed at the head of the future. Everything you have done. History will judge you 20 years from now based on one decision alone. That decision is not in the hands of the Congress. That decision is not in the hands of any governors. That decision is not in the hands of any mayors or any dogcatchers. The decision is in your hands, Mr. President. It’s in your hands. Your hands.

The decision to let this pipeline come through America is the most fateful decision you will ever make, Mr. President. It would be like jabbing a dirty needle into this country from Canada. It would be like lighting a fuse on a carbon bomb. That’s what it would be like doing, Mr. President. And you cannot allow that to happen. If the pipeline goes through, Mr. President, the first thing it runs over will not be farmland. The first thing it runs over will not be small towns. If you let this pipeline go through, Mr. President, the first thing it runs over is the credibility of the president of the United States of America. That’s the first thing it runs over.

AMY GOODMAN: President Obama’s former green jobs czar, Van Jones. Canadian indigenous leader Chief Jacqueline Thomas of the Saik’uz First Nation traveled from British Columbia to attend Sunday’s rally.

CHEIF JACQUELINE THOMAS: I am a mother of four and a grandmother of one, and I was raised by my own grandmother. She was a traditional medicine woman of my people. And I learned early on the value of our environment. She was known as Dr. Sophie Thomas, and she—and her words are still with me today. And what she told us was when we take care of the land, the land would take care of us. If we destroy this land, we will destroy ourselves.

I’m speaking on behalf of the Yinka Dene Alliance from northern British Columbia. And Yinka Dene translates to "People of the Earth." I am part of the Dene people from the northern reaches of the Northwest Territories, down to my cousins, the Navajo of Arizona. We formed an alliance to stop the Enbridge Northern Gateway Project, which plans to bring tar sands oil to the coast of British Columbia, which will then be put on tankers to go to the Asian markets. The Yinka Dene Alliance is opposed to irresponsible, environmental-damaging projects that puts our communities, our water, our culture, our land, our fish, our animals, and most importantly, our plants, at risk. It puts at risk my neighbors to the east of me that live at the tar sands. The government doesn’t recognize these people, and these people have been dying of mysterious cancers. Their water is polluted. Their animals are sick. And Mother Earth is sick.

Enbridge really has brought our communities together in Canada, because we’ve had oil spills, and you’ve also had oil spills in this country, because oil will spill. It’s just a matter of when. They’ve spilled in the Kalamazoo, which I hear cannot be cleaned up. They’ve broken their promises, and I understand it’s even Enbridge that has done that. They’ve spilled oil in Red Deer, Alberta. They’ve spilled oil in my sister, the territories of the Lubicon Cree. They’ve spilled oil in the Northwest Territories, the Dene brothers and sisters that I know from the Northwest Territories. And, of course, who can forget Exxon Valdez? Of course, also, in most recent memory, we have had the BP spill, which was on the news day after day, month after month. They have hurt the brothers and sisters of the Houma Nation that my sister has visited. Never in my life have I ever seen white and Native work together until now. Thank you, Enbridge, for doing this work for me.

AMY GOODMAN: Canadian indigenous leader Chief Jacqueline Thomas of the Saik’uz First Nation. One of the main organizers of Sunday’s Forward on Climate rally was the environmentalist and writer Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org.

BILL McKIBBEN: All that I ever wanted to see, all I ever wanted to see, was a movement of people to stop climate change. And now I’ve seen it! You guys, you guys look so beautiful. I’ve been meeting people all day. It’s hometown heroes like our friends at CCAN. It’s heroes like those people who have been blocking Keystone with their bodies down in Texas. It’s people who understand that the fight against fracking and against coal ports and against taking the tops off mountains is ultimately the fight for a living plant. It’s people—it’s people who lived through Sandy and people who survived the drought, some of whom I got to go to jail with last week. It is the students at 256 colleges who are now fighting the fossil fuel industry head-on to force divestment, the biggest student movement in decades. It is—it is all of you. You are the antibodies kicking in as the planet tries to fight its fever.

We have—we have waited a long time to get started. We’ve already seen the Arctic melt. Our colleagues in 191 countries at 350.org tell us every day about some new drought, some new flood. Because we’ve waited this long, the easiest answers are no longer enough. We’re going have to start making tough decisions. Our theme has to be: When you are in a hole, stop digging. Above all, above all, stop the Keystone pipeline. The president—the president can do that with a single stroke of his pen. And if he does, he will become the first world leader to veto a big project because it’s bad for the climate. That—that—that would be a legacy and a signal to the rest of the world.

And so we will keep making our case. We’ll follow him and the secretary of the state around the country. And as this spring goes on, we’ll unite that fight with a focus on all the other holes we’re still digging, too. And as summer comes on, this movement will just pick up. I want everybody to circle those days toward the end of July that are on average the hottest each year. We’re going to try and make them hot politically, too, this year.

AMY GOODMAN: Bill McKibben of 350.org. The Canadian actress Evangeline Lilly, who starred as the character Kate Austen in the show Lost, also spoke at Sunday’s climate rally.

EVANGELINE LILLY: I am shamed of what my country is doing. I’m ashamed that we’re knocking on your door with dirty oil. I want to stand up here as a Canadian, and I want to say I am sorry to the workers in Canada and the workers in America who have to go home and look at their kids in the eye and know they’re damaging their future. And I want to say yes to jobs that allow Americans and Canadians to go home and look their kids in the eye and say, "I’m fighting for you. I am working for you."

AMY GOODMAN: Casey Camp, a member of the Ponca Nation of Oklahoma, also attended Sunday’s Forward on Climate rally. She said oil development is the latest challenge facing her Native American nation.

CASEY CAMP: Now we’re suffering environmental genocide as a result of ConocoPhillips’ refinery being on our land, as well as many pipelines underneath us. And now Keystone and Keystone XL are disrupting our lives, as well as the lives of our relatives in the northern country. And we’re here to make a difference. We’re here to be in solidarity with all of us who understand that we have a very slim opportunity to make human life continue to exist. And that’s our choice.

AMY GOODMAN: Casey Camp, a member of the Ponca Nation of Oklahoma. And if you want to go to our website, we have an in-depth page on the Keystone XL pipeline at democracynow.org.
When we come back, Harry Belafonte wins the highest honor of the NAACP and gives a major address in Los Angeles and New York. He is introduced by a man who could be the next mayor—the next senator of New Jersey, Mayor Cory Booker. Stay with us.
 

The Dirtiest Energy on Earth

Denying Global Warming isn't a solution! And Dirty Energy won't save our Planet.
Please join with others, speak out and stand up when you can.

Perils of the Keystone XL Pipeline Confront Obama

Posted February 21, 2013

By Ralph Nader

Bill McKibben, a prolific writer and organizer on global warming and climate change, has had a busy year teaching environmentalists not to despair and will soon be learning some lessons himself.

In August 2011, he organized an unprecedented demonstration in front of the White House urging President Obama to deny a permit for the giant Keystone XL pipeline that would haul very dirty tar sands oil from Alberta, Canada down to Texas refineries, largely to be exported. More than 1200 people were arrested over the course of the month to protest the construction of the pipeline. This could be the largest mass arrest before the White House in decades. Kudos to Bill and his associates.

On February 17, 2013, 48 people, including McKibben and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., were arrested for open, non-violent civil disobedience mostly for refusing U.S. Park Police orders to keep moving on the White House’s sidewalk (with some protestors actually attaching themselves to the fence in front of the White House).

This past weekend, McKibben was back at the White House with more than 40,000 anti-Keystone XL protestors along with demands for Obama to act on broader climate issues. Protestors included leaders of Native American tribes, some legislators, corporate executives, farmers, students, workers and other Americans who think saving the planet from a huge rush of carbon dioxide and expanding the very large toxic region of Alberta, was worth some of their direct effort.

President Obama has twice postponed his decision on the XL pipeline, much to the relief of Hillary Clinton, whose State Department would have been blamed for approving the pipeline, much to the detriment of her future political aspirations. Now Secretary of State John Kerry has said a decision is coming “near term.”

The Keystone XL pipeline’s owner is TransCanada, which is busily buying rights of way through the western U.S., and calling on states to use their eminent domain powers when ranchers and farmers resist. Giant pipes have already been shipped to various locations along the way. Actual construction has been underway in Texas. The governor of Nebraska, Dave Heineman, dropped his objection once the pipeline’s route was alerted to go around the state’s environmentally vulnerable Sand Hills area.

Since fracking is spreading rapidly in many states to increase U.S. oil production, not to mention burgeoning natural gas fracking extractions, why would President Obama want to approve Keystone XL? What about his State of the Union warnings regarding global warming and its terrible costs in lives, property and money?

Notwithstanding the absence of the need for oil from Canada and Mr. Obama’s stated concerns about global warming, TransCanada, backed to the hilt by Canada’s Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, is confident that it will receive a permit from Obama.

First, the pipeline has been promoted as a significant job creator. In reality, building a pipeline in these days of automation requires a few short-term workers. The exporting refineries are even more automated. But with the AFL-CIO and the construction unions combined with the American Petroleum Institute’s lobbying forces in Washington, a majority of members of Congress have signed on.

Second, even without the pipeline, TransCanada can still ship tar sands oil to the U.S. via rail, barge, truck and other existing pipelines. Or the company, with Canadian government backing, can decide to build a pipeline westward through British Columbia for shipment to oil-hungry China.

Those options set up the argument that Alberta tar sands oil will be burned on the planet anyhow so why not have it go through a more efficient pipeline than with railcars and ships.

Third, the “sleeper” argument on Obama’s desk is that TransCanada, having already invested big money in the U.S., can invoke Chapter 11 of the NAFTA trade agreement and sue the U.S. government for big damages if its permit is denied. Incredible as it may seem, the notorious Chapter 11 has been used by numerous companies to seek billions of dollars in damages from governmental official decisions in either Mexico, the U.S. or Canada. Companies have succeeded in obtaining settlements totaling hundreds of millions of dollars. (See Public Citizen.) Paid for by the taxpayers, of course.

McKibben and associates know the odds of stopping the Keystone Pipeline are heavily against them. Obama can issue his approval and counteract its impact with intensified White House efforts to reduce the carbon/methane footprint. Obama could, to the delight of conservative and liberal economists, come out for a carbon tax. Obama should be a leader on environmental issues. His environmental supporters voted for him and declined to criticize him prior to the election. The letdown from the high expectation levels built on the many protests would be devastating to the morale and energy of the movement.

McKibben, however, hopes that the struggles’ collateral benefit will be a rise in public consciousness and a recharged Obama Administration to hoist renewable energy and conservation to the top of the President’s expedient “all of the above” policy (coal, oil, gas, nuclear, solar and greater efficiency).

McKibben’s army has thrown its non-violent troops against the Keystone XL Pipeline and tar sands exploitation that will devastate an area in Alberta the size of Florida. This project has been called a massive body blow to the Planet Earth by NASA’s climate scientist James Hansen, who has been arrested several times in the protests.

Obama approving the pipeline makes it happen. While promising collateral offsets by Obama is nothing more than the Obamamania of hope. We know how far hope travelled since Obama became president and never had to worry about political competitors on the ballot, including third parties, attracting votes to environmental and other progressive causes. There are lessons that McKibben may have to explain to his 350.org followers.

http://nader.org/2013/02/21/perils-of-the-keystone-xl-pipeline-confront-obama/

 

New England: Tar Sands to the East Coast! Fair Warning!

Because this isn't your neighborhood, does it matter less?
What is your personal responsibility for the energy you consume?

Secretary of State John Kerry will oversee the review of the Keystone Pipeline.
(photo: Getty Images)

Kerry Misses the Keystone Point

By William Boardman, Reader Supported News

12 February 13

he same day that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was promising a "fair and transparent" review of the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Alberta, Canada, to the Texas Gulf Coast, the CEO of the company building that pipeline, TransCanada's Russ Girling, was reported as saying that his company's "Plan A" was finishing a different pipeline that would take the same tar sands oil to Canada's east coast.

TransCanada's plan to establish a pipeline to the Atlantic coast has received little attention since CEO Girling's February 6 interview on Bloomberg Television and Bloomberg's later report:

"Canada's second-largest pipeline company proposes to ship oil 3,000 miles (4,825 kilometers) to the Atlantic Coast, allowing producers to send it by tanker to the Gulf, Girling said yesterday in an interview at Bloomberg's New York headquarters.

"While he expects U.S. passage of Keystone 'very soon,' the East Coast route makes sense in any event because of rising production from Alberta, Girling said."

TransCanada presently has about $22 billion worth of pipeline projects underway, of which Keystone XL represents about a third of the total. Asked if an East Coast pipeline was a fallback plan in case Keystone is blocked, Girling said: "It's not a Plan B, it's a Plan A, and it will go if the market supports it, along with Keystone…. Once you get on tidewater, you can get anywhere, and you don't need a presidential permit to bring oil into the Gulf Coast."

That the head of a pipeline company is more interested in getting tar sands oil to market than he is in what it may cause after that is perhaps not surprising. Girling isn't a climate change denier, he just sees change taking decades, during which TransCanada will try to make the transition to non-fossil fuels, which is why the company built three large wind farms in 2011.

Keystone Needs Presidential Permission to Proceed

But there may not be decades, there may be no time at all, according to a long National Journal story on February 7 with the headline: "The Scary Truth About How Much Climate Change Is Costing You" – costing you now, the sub-head emphasizes: "While policymakers fiddle, the threat of economic harm posed by rising sea levels, devastating storms, and drought is growing every day."

On January 22, Greenpeace released a 60-page report called "Point of No Return," dealing with "massive climate threats we must avoid," while giving little reason to think we will avoid them:

"The world is quickly reaching a Point of No Return for preventing the worst impacts of climate change.

"With total disregard for this unfolding global disaster, the fossil fuel industry is planning 14 massive coal, oil and gas projects that would produce as much new carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in 2020 as the entire US, and delay action on climate change for more than a decade.

"Continuing on the current course will make it difficult – if not impossible – to prevent the widespread and catastrophic impacts of climate change…."

In the United States, pressure is building for the president (or the secretary of state) to deny a permit to Keystone. That demand is at the heart of plans for "the largest climate rally in history" on the Mall in Washington February 17, sponsored by the Sierra Club, 350.org, and the Hip-Hop Caucus. The promoters of the event assert:

"The first step to putting our country on the path to addressing the climate crisis is for President Obama to reject the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. His legacy as president will rest squarely on his response, resolve, and leadership in solving the climate crisis."

Making much the same argument with much greater detail on February 10 on TomDispatch.com, Hampshire College professor Michael Klare analyzes three possible pipeline routes that would enable Alberta tar sands oil to reach world markets. The first is Keystone, first proposed in 2008, which is still at least two years from being operational. The other two go in opposite directions -- west, where resistance is already high, and east, where a substantial amount of pipeline is already in place. Klare analyzes each alternative in detail, arguing that:

"… the only pipeline now under development that would significantly expand Albertan tar-sands exports is Keystone XL. It is vitally important to the tar-sands producers because it offers the sole short-term - or possibly even long-term - option for the export and sale of the crude output now coming on line at dozens of projects being developed across northern Alberta.

"Without it, these projects will languish and Albertan production will have to be sold at a deep discount - at, that is, a per-barrel price that could fall below production costs, making further investment in tar sands unattractive. In January, Canadian tar-sands oil was already selling for $30-$40 less than West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the standard U.S. blend."

But Klare does not consider the different route to the Atlantic proposed by Girling, a route that could be entirely within Canada, ending at St. John, New Brunswick.

It's Not About Pipelines, It's About Tar Sands Oil

The shadow play aspects of the public posturing around the Keystone pipeline make it difficult to focus on the underlying reality that matters most: whether exploiting tar sands, not only in Canada, but in the U.S. and other countries, really will mean "game over for the climate," as NASA scientist James Hansen has said. The heart of his argument, as it appeared in the New York Times, was simple:

"GLOBAL warming isn't a prediction. It is happening. That is why I was so troubled to read a recent interview with President Obama in Rolling Stone in which he said that Canada would exploit the oil in its vast tar sands reserves 'regardless of what we do.'

"If Canada proceeds, and we do nothing, it will be game over for the climate."

The game, in other words, is not about pipelines, it's about tar sands oil. And even though cancellation of the Keystone pipeline would not be a game-changer, such cancellation would be a powerful symbol that leaves open the possibility of changing the game. And it would be a signal that there is at least some political will to change the game.

The Canadian government under Stephen Harper has been pushing hard for the Keystone pipeline, lobbying the Obama administration and responding to unsympathetic media reports in the U.S. At the same time, Canadian resistance to pipelines in both the east and west has grown increasingly intense, especially among the more than 630 First Nations governments of Canada's native people whose land would be directly affected.

Media Coverage Omits More Than It Says

When Sec. Kerry promises a "fair and transparent" review of Keystone, and media from ABC News to the Washington Post to Huffington Post report the story with the same wire service account from AP, there's not a lot of reporting going on. Sec. Kerry's comments are value-free and allow for a possible approval, especially in the context of his "great respect" for the needs of Canada's energy industry.

What AP and those who carried the report left out included Sec. Kerry's significant oil industry holdings, which create an obvious conflict of interest, although as someone who was the richest U.S. Senator till recently (net worth about $240 million, compared to Jay Rockefeller's $98 million), his oil holdings may not represent that great a conflict. And Sec. Kerry was "a steadfast proponent of taking action on climate during his tenure as a senator," according to Reuters.

The widely distributed AP report all but dismisses "climate change," using the phrase only in the context of suggesting that the pipeline would be "a source of much-needed jobs," which it's not, and "a step toward North American energy independence," which it's not.

Sec. Kerry's remarks fit a context in which the State Department carries out its evaluation and approves the pipeline, giving cover for President Obama to approve it, too, since the evaluation was "fair and transparent," or will be reliably reported that way. But Sec. Kerry also mentioned "accountability" in passing, without saying (or being asked) just what that could possibly mean. If James Hansen is right, and the climate is destroyed by tar sands oil, how will anyone in the future be able to hold a long-dead multi-millionaire accountable for his lost seriousness?

Alternatively, with the boom of "light sweet oil" coming out of Texas and North Dakota, oil that is much preferable to the "heavy sour crude" from Alberta, the president may have a practical way of sidestepping Keystone approval as no longer very useful to the United States (if it ever really was).

Disruptions Continue Along Keystone Southern Leg

The active protest and political theatre front in recent months has been along the TransCanada Keystone Gulf Coast section in Texas and Oklahoma, where early in the morning of February 11 in Schoolton, Oklahoma, a youth pastor, Stefan Warner, chained himself to construction machinery high above a local waterway, the North Canadian River.

"I grew up in a town where the North Canadian River runs right through, and we can't let the North Canadian become another Kalamazoo," Warner said, referring to the Kalamazoo River in Michigan.

Another giant pipeline company, Enbridge Energy, had one of its pipelines rupture there in July 2010, dumping about 900,000 gallons of toxic tar sands crude oil into the river, where the clean-up is now in its third year.

 

Warner acted with other members of the Great Plains Tar Sands Resistance, a new group that recently organized to resist the Keystone pipeline. The Great Plains web site reported the end of the action this way:

 

8:00AM: Direct Support for Stefan has been arrested without warning and placed in police car. Six other people on site being detained currently.

 

9:00AM: All Six people detained now arrested. Seven police vehicles on scene. Workers have lowered side-boom in disregard of Stefan's safety and OSHA regulations, Stefan still locked to machinery but lying painfully face-down on the lowered arm. Police obscuring Stefan from view and not allowing anyone within photographing distance.

 

9:15AM: Another individual arrested. This person was not initially detained but was prevented from accessing her vehicle since 8am. Stefan still holding strong….

 

1:00PM Earlier today, Stefan was extracted. To our knowledge, Stefan sustained no serious injuries and seems to be alright.

 

This action is similar to protests mounted over the past five months by the Tar Sands Blockade, who started their resistance in September 2012 when they set up a tree house blockade across the right of way along which TransCanada was constructing its pipeline. TranCanada skipped a section of construction to avoid the tree houses and also took members of the group to court. That action that was settled January 25, when 19 people, also acting on behalf of 6 Jan and John Does and three organizations, agreed to a permanent injunction against interfering with Keystone people, property, or progress.

 

Defeating Keystone – A Victory with No Winners?

 

It would certainly look like a victory for environmentalists if the president denied Keystone a permit, and a low political cost would allow the political class to bask in undeserved credit – a symbolic triumph. And, at worst, an opportunity to enjoy the illusion that something meaningful was accomplished.

 

But the problem of tar sands oil would be fundamentally unchanged. It would remain an underexploited asset that Canadians are eager to tap. The demand from Asian markets would continue to grow. Canada would continue to face the irrationality of importing half the oil it uses while exporting two thirds of the oil it produces. The pipeline struggle would become an all-Canada affair.

 

A lively and slightly hysterical imagination might envision an American war with Canada, not so much to keep tar sands oil in the ground to save the climate, but to keep the Canadians from selling it to the Chinese. More likely, the United States will revert to its traditionally torpid contemplation of planetary threat, the climate will continue to warm, and soon Alberta can have a pipeline to the north, since the Arctic Ocean is open year-round.

Huge Climate Change Rally Targets Keystone XL Pipeline

By Susan Graybeal

 

The environmental organizations Sierra Club and 350.org, along with about 120 partner organizations are planning "the largest climate-related rally in U.S. history" on Sunday in front of the White House. The goal of the rally, according to a post by the Sierra Club, is to demand that President Barack Obama move forward on climate measures including rejecting the Keystone XL pipeline, phasing out fossil fuels and promoting energy efficiency and clean-energy sources. Here are the details.

* The groups are planning to have tens of thousands of participants at the rally and have been working to organize carpools, buses and van rides, as well as phonebanks and social media campaigns.

* According to Michael Marx, Sierra Club's Senior Campaign Director of its Beyond Oil Campaign, the first steps that the groups are demanding that Obama take are finalizing strong carbon pollution standards for power plants and rejecting the Keystone XL pipeline.

* On a website for the rally, titled Forward on Climate , organizers report that climate change "means more severe storms, floods, and droughts, and increased illness -- and death -- from more severe heat waves and pollution."

* The website states that 40 percent of total U.S. emissions come from power plants and that fossil fuel corporations should be held responsible for their pollution.

* The organizers are calling for a halt in the expansion of fossil fuel exports, including liquefied natural gas export facilities, new coal export terminals and increased oil exports.

* May Boeve of 350.org wrote last week that Superstorm Sandy was a "tragic sneak preview of climate change" but that climate change has slipped off the political radar.

* "That's why it's so important that we make this the biggest action we've ever had," Boeve wrote. "As a movement, we have the opportunity to move the President from words to action on the greatest challenge of our time, starting with the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline."

* In addition to co-sponsoring the rally, 350.org is also currently sponsoring an open letter to the president asking him to end his "all of the above" energy policy.

* "Your support for fracking and drilling, coal mines and pipelines, continues to obliterate the progress you could be making with your administration's gas mileage rule, or your investments in renewable energy," the letter reads. "Even if you finally issue a carbon pollution rule that addresses existing sources of pollution, it will mean nothing if you are simultaneously lighting the fuses on carbon bombs by approving the Keystone XL pipeline, Arctic drilling, or fossil fuel export projects."

* Currently, the letter is nearing its goal of 70,000 signatures, according to the organization's website.

Is this the route?

 

Coming to New England: The Dirtiest Energy on Earth

Uploaded on May 6, 2011

TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline is not good for America. It must be stopped! Go to sierraclub.org/tarsands and send a message to President Obama, telling him to reject this dangerous pipeline and say "no!" to destructive tar sands oil.

Hundreds of Concerned Citizens Protest Poison Tar Sands Oil Pipeline

Canadian oil giant Enbridge is quietly and quickly pushing through a massive expansion to run tar sands oil through the Northeast to the coasts of Maine. The scariest part is that they may not even be required to receive a permit or undergo any environmental review, unless we put of a fight. Please help protect our rivers, lakes, and bays and ask the State Department to require Enbridge's partner, the Portland Montreal Pipeline Company, to apply for a Presidential Permit, including a rigorous environmental review and opportunity for public comment, before they are allowed to move forward with this dangerous project.

Tar sands oil is one of the dirtiest fossil fuels on earth. The thick, toxic crude is mined from beneath Canada's pristine Boreal Forest, destroying this important carbon reservoir in the process. Top climate scientist James Hansen has said that developing all of this toxic and destructive resource would mean "game over" for the climate. Furthermore, the thick crude must be mixed with lighter, highly toxic dilutants and pumped through a pipeline at high temperature and pressure. Pumping this toxic, sandy mixture is like blasting liquid sand paper through a pipeline, making them more likely to rupture. When this material spills, the dispersants vaporize, poisoning the air with cancer-causing chemicals. The thick tar sands sink in water and stick to sediments and soil, making cleanup nearly impossible. This is why more than two years later, 390 acres of the Kalamazoo River are still contaminated with sunken tar sands, despite a record-breaking $800 million cleanup effort.

Don't let the Connecticut River, the Androscoggin River, Sebago Lake, Casco Bay, and other pristine New England waterways suffer the same fate as the Kalamazoo River. As a highly visible public official, your opinion carries weight with the State Department -- will you ask the State Department to require the Portland Pipeline Company to apply for a Presidential Permit, including a rigorous environmental review and opportunity for public comment, before they are allowed to move forward with this dangerous project?

Enbridge Coming to New England

This is the Enbridge Pipeline that burst --

They don't care. Do you?

Ontario municipalities step up to protect citizens, as Enbridge files Line 9 proposal

Nov 29 2012

Just as Enbridge files to reverse its Line 9 pipeline in order to ship dangerous tar sands oil east for export, municipalities across Ontario are stepping up and asking questions. It’s no wonder, as this project would bring significant new  ....

 

 

Just as Enbridge files to reverse its Line 9 pipeline in order to ship dangerous tar sands oil east for export, municipalities across Ontario are stepping up and asking questions. It’s no wonder, as this project would bring significant new risks to Ontario but no rewards for those thousands of Ontarians living along the route.

So far, councils in communities along the pipeline’s route – Hamilton, Burlington, Mississauga, and Toronto have passed motions, requested more information or sought to get involved in the approval process.

The more people who learn about this project, the more people ask What does this mean for my community?

 

 

 

Enbridge’s proposal – a bid to pipe more dangerous tar sands oil through the most densely populated parts of Canada, crossing all the major rivers draining into Lake Ontario – could impact the drinking water of millions.

Shipping diluted bitumen is more dangerous than shipping conventional oil. Pipelines transporting dilbit spill much more often than those that don’t.

That’s why the U.S. government is actively studying this issue.

When spilled, diluted bitumen releases clouds of toxic chemicals like benzene (a known carcinogen) into the environment. This poses serious health risks to nearby residents, causing both short-term and long-term health effects.

And unlike conventional oil, tar sands oil sinks when spilled into water, coating the river or lakebed. Traditional cleanup methods don’t work, causing lasting damage and much greater expense.

This threat isn’t theoretical. Enbridge has already had serious tar sands oil spills on other pipelines that have fouled rivers, damaged the environment, made people sick and cost enormous amounts to clean up. U.S. regulators referred to Enbridge as the ‘Keystone Kops’ over their response.

With Enbridge’s poor track record on safety, questions about the condition of this nearly 40-year-old buried pipeline, and clear threats to drinking water, municipalities are smart to get involved to protect their citizens.

We should all question why our communities and our drinking water should be put in harm’s way, just so oil companies can export tar sands oil.

http://environmentaldefence.ca/blog/ontario-municipalities-step-protect-citizens-enbridge-files-line-9-proposal

The Dirtiest Energy Imaginable: Tar Sands Shut Down

A google search for images of Tar Sands destruction quickly informs about the environmental destruction caused by this DIRTY ENERGY source. Tar Sands is NOT a solution!

This is coming to NEW ENGLAND! 


From [facebook] : Tar Sands Action
BREAKING: TransCanada's Keystone I tar sands pipeline has been shut down due to safety hazards.
Click LIKE if you agree: there is no such thing as a truly safe tar sands pipeline -- no Keystone XL!

TransCanada's Keystone Pipeline Shut Down Temporarily Due To 'Possible Safety Issues'

Posted: 10/18/2012

This Sept. 19, 2011 aerial photo shows a tar sands mine facility near Fort McMurray, in Alberta, Canada.

            

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A federal agency says TransCanada Corp. has temporarily shut down its existing Keystone pipeline after tests showed "possible safety issues."

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration says TransCanada reported shutting down the approximately 2,100-mile pipeline, which moves about 500,000 barrels of crude a day from Alberta, Canada, to facilities in Illinois and Oklahoma.

Jeannie Layson, spokeswoman for PHMSA, says the possible safety issues were found on part of the pipeline that extends between Missouri and Illinois. Layson says in an email that an agency inspector has been sent to review the test results, observe repairs and follow any necessary safety activities.

She says TransCanada hasn't reported any leaks on the system.

TransCanada spokesman Grady Semmens says the pipeline was shut down Wednesday and is expected to restart Saturday.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/18/transcanada-keystone-pipeline-shut-down_n_1982478.html