Pipeline Opposition

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hambone
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Pipeline Opposition

Post by hambone » Wed Sep 07, 2011 8:42 pm

I was surprised to hear of these Bush-era dealings going on quietly in the background, here in ol' 2011 in this NEW FUTURE. That tar-sand oil is very difficult to extract. I'll bet it makes a mess out of the mined area too.
Come on, what the hell? What is going on here?
Dalai Lama joins opposition to Keystone pipeline

Alex Domanski/Pool/Reuters
Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.
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Postmedia News Sep 7, 2011 – 1:34 PM ET | Last Updated: Sep 7, 2011 3:59 PM ET

By Mike De Souza and Jason Fekete

OTTAWA — The Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and seven other Nobel Peace laureates have joined groups opposing the approval of a controversial pipeline expansion project that would carry more crude oil from Alberta to refineries on the Texas Gulf Coast.

In a letter released Wednesday, the nine individuals made a personal appeal to U.S. President Barack Obama to reject the project and focus instead on promoting renewable energy in order to reduce consumption of fossil fuels that contribute to greenhouse gas emissions and global warming.

“It is your decision to make,” said the letter. “The night you were nominated president, you told the world that under your leadership — and working together — the rise of the oceans will begin to slow and the planet will begin to heal. You spoke of creating a clean energy economy. This is a critical moment to make good on that pledge, and make a lasting contribution to the health and well being of everyone of this planet.”

The letter highlighted protests at the White House in recent weeks about the project that have prompted more than 1,200 arrests, including high-profile protesters such as NASA climate scientist James Hansen and actress Daryl Hannah.

“These brave individuals have spoken movingly about experiencing the power of non-violence in facing authority,” said the letter.

“They represent millions of people whose lives and livelihoods will be affected by construction and operation of the pipeline in Alberta, Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.”

It also said the company proposing the project, TransCanada, has had problems with its existing Keystone pipeline with 14 reported leaks after only one year of operation.

But federal Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver noted Wednesday that the U.S. State Department had not expressed concerns about environmental risks of the project in its last assessment.

“We all know the enormous economic benefit of it. I’m not taking anything for granted. We respect, of course, the decision-making process in the United States,” Mr. Oliver told reporters as he announced a new federal spending program to promote energy efficiency.

He also said that U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu had spoken positively about the project.

“We are increasingly optimistic about the likelihood of a presidential permit, which will be based on his analysis of the national interest,” Mr. Oliver said.

But the Nobel laureates said a major concern about the project was its link to expanded development of the oilsands sector which consumes large amounts of water and energy in its production process.

“Like you, we understand that strip-mining and drilling tarsands from under Alberta’s Boreal forests and then transporting thousands of barrels of oil a day from Canada through to Texas will not only hurt people in the U.S. — but will also endanger the entire planet,” the letter said.

“Your rejection of the pipeline provides a tremendous opportunity to begin transition away from our dependence on oil, coal and gas and instead increase investments in renewable energies and energy efficiency.”

The letter was coordinated by the Nobel Women’s Initiative, an Ottawa-based non-profit group founded in 2003 by six of the 12 women ever to win the Nobel Peace Prize. The other Nobel laureates who signed the appeal were Mairead Maguire, Betty Williams, Adolfo Perez Esquivel, Rigoberta Menchu Tum, Jose Ramos-Horta, Jody Williams and Shirin Ebadi.

“We urge you to say ‘no’ to the plan proposed by the Canadian-based company TransCanada to build the Keystone XL, and to turn your attention back to supporting renewable sources of energy and clean transportation solutions,” said the letter. “This will be your legacy to Americans and the global community: energy that sustains the lives and livelihoods of future generations.”

Alberta Energy Minister Ron Liepert, who’s in New York attending the Barclays Capital energy conference, said he’s sensing a more favourable mood among Americans toward the pipeline than earlier this year, partly due to stagnant job numbers in a battered U.S. economy.

“More Americans are recognizing how important projects like this are to America’s job situation,” Mr. Liepert said. “Some of the protestations that have drawn attention to this issue have worked in our favour.”

The Obama administration has indicated it will make a final decision on whether to approve the project before the end of 2011.
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hambone
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Re: Pipeline Opposition

Post by hambone » Wed Sep 07, 2011 10:36 pm

And again, found by accident, as I was researching Mt. Hood fire activity.
Obama asks EPA to back off draft ozone standard
By Neela Banerjee
September 2, 2011, 11:09 a.m.

President Obama Friday asked the Environmental Protection Agency to drop the development of controversial rules to cut smog levels, pleasing the business community but upsetting environmentalists.

The business community and the Republican Party have loudly decried the possibility of more stringent rules on ground-level ozone, the main ingredient in smog, as job-killers.

But to Obama’s environmental base, the decision to back down from the ozone rules was the latest in a string of decisions and signals that suggest to them that the administration is backing away from key anti-pollution initiatives before the 2012 election to court business and anti-regulation voters.

Late last week, the State Department issued an environmental impact statement that removed a key hurdle to the construction of the widely criticized Keystone Xl oil pipeline. For two weeks now, hundreds of environmentalists, some of them former campaign workers for Obama, have been arrested for protesting the pipeline in front of theWhite House.

In a statement, the president said: "I have continued to underscore the importance of reducing regulatory burdens and regulatory uncertainty, particularly as our economy continues to recover. With that in mind, and after careful consideration, I have requested that Administrator [Lisa] Jackson withdraw the draft Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards at this time."

"Work is already underway to update a 2006 review of the science that will result in the reconsideration of the ozone standard in 2013. Ultimately, I did not support asking state and local governments to begin implementing a new standard that will soon be reconsidered," the statement concluded.

Low-level atmospheric ozone occurs when sunlight reacts with air containing hydrocarbons and emissions like nitrogen oxide. Research shows that living in areas with high concentrations of ozone worsens respiratory ailments. The EPA estimates that up to 12,000 lives could be saved annually from heart attacks, lung disease and asthma attacks by implementing the new standards.

After agreeing to work with environmentalists who had sued over the standards, the EPA has delayed issuing rules on low-level ozone, the main ingredient in smog, four times since 2010. Most recently, it brushed aside a self-imposed July 29 deadline. At least one of the plaintiffs in the EPA case that was suspended, the American Lung Association, said it planned to revive the litigation.

Environmental groups swiftly criticized the decision as the most recent surrender by the administration to the business lobby. "The Obama administration is caving to big polluters at the expense of protecting the air we breathe," said League of Conservation Voters President Gene Karpinski. "This is a huge win for corporate polluters and huge loss for public health."

Business groups welcomed the move as protecting job growth. "The president's decision is good news for the economy and Americans looking for work," said Jack Gerard, president of the American Petroleum Institute, the country's leading oil and gas lobby. "EPA's proposal would have prevented the very job creation that President Obama has identified as his top priority. Ozone levels and air quality continue to improve under current regulations and our industry is committed to making the air we all breathe cleaner while creating new jobs."

House Speaker John Boehner called the move a "good first step."

"But it is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to stopping Washington Democrats' agenda of tax hikes, more government 'stimulus' spending, and increased regulations -- which are all making it harder to create more American jobs," he said.

Copyright © 2011, Los Angeles Times
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ruckman101
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Re: Pipeline Opposition

Post by ruckman101 » Wed Sep 07, 2011 11:50 pm

The greed is so frantically desperate.


hurry, hurry,
neal
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Re: Pipeline Opposition

Post by steve74baywin » Thu Sep 08, 2011 5:11 am

I don't even know where to begin. So many wrongs in such a muddied up system it is too big of a task for me to start to break it down.
Perhaps one long sentence to summarize.
Having huge managers of this country and or the world can lead to the above, maybe if the power was in the hands of the people, starting with each individual, starting from or with self working outwards and upwards (bottom up system) instead of masters, planners or managers from above (top down system) things would be better.

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Re: Pipeline Opposition

Post by glasseye » Thu Sep 08, 2011 8:27 am

ruckman101 wrote:The greed is so frantically desperate.
hurry, hurry,
neal
Indeed. Albertans are the Texans of Canada.

As a Canadian viewing the tar sands debacle, my shame is unbounded. :pukeleft:

Incredibly, they use a clean-burning, easy to transport, easily-refined, less-polluting, abundant fuel (natural gas) to heat water to make steam to extract from deep within the earth a dense, dirty, hard-to-transport, intensely polluting resource (bitumen). Please, someone. Show me the logic here. :study:

In the last two decades, Dick <insert despicable epithet here> Cheney has visited but one foreign nation. Canada. He went to see the tar sands and nowhere else.
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Velokid1
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Re: Pipeline Opposition

Post by Velokid1 » Thu Sep 08, 2011 9:50 am

Harper makes George W Bush look like a kind, intelligent man. Stephen Harper and conservatives have wrecked Canada.

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glasseye
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Re: Pipeline Opposition

Post by glasseye » Thu Sep 08, 2011 3:27 pm

Velokid1 wrote:Harper makes George W Bush look like a kind, intelligent man. Stephen Harper and conservatives have wrecked Canada.
Not yet, but he's working on it.
"This war will pay for itself."
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Amskeptic
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Re: Pipeline Opposition

Post by Amskeptic » Thu Sep 08, 2011 8:52 pm

glasseye wrote:
As a Canadian viewing the tar sands debacle, my shame is unbounded.

Show me the logic here. Dick Cheney went to see the tar sands and nowhere else.
That's it. Cheney has been the Henry Kissinger of Energy Policy.
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