FA+
Shop
Keystone XL Pipeline needs to NOT happen
12 years ago
"MORELS taste good in omelettes..."
No doubt, many of you have already heard about this monster of a construction-project slated to bring Canadian Tar-Sands oil from Alberta through a number of U.S states through to the Gulf refineries, then later to be sold on the world market. I hear lackwit arguments about how it "will reduce our dependence on foreign oil", "The State Department sez it won't affect the Climate or be dangerous", "Climate Change is bullshit, anyway," "It will provide jobs", "make gas cheaper" and other such nonsense.
Um, no. this thing is a piece of crap- the whole thing, from the corporations urging people to buy into their lies, to the actual construction of the fucking pipes themselves. That pipeline, in it's first year of operation (portions of it have already been built and are in use along Canada's border and into North Dakota) popped leaks TWELVE TIMES already. New pipe, new leaks. WTF?
Jobs? Bullshit. Nothing long-term, unless you think roughly fifty long-term, permanent jobs is a good enough return for a price of possibly ruining your water-table and poisoning your land.
Reducing our dependence on foreign oil? So, when did Canada become a part of the U.S? And the even more laughable thing is that none of that oil is actually slated to remain in North America, but will be sold to worldwide markets, NOT here.
The State Department report is a bought-and-paid-for treatise on how to lie to the public about the safety of this project.
I'm not even gonna bother with the many-times-failed "argument" that Climate Change isn't real. The Arctic fucking MELTED THIS SUMMER, YOU ASSHOLES, while the U.S was almost ALL in a state of fucking DROUGHT. HELLO- is anyone LISTENING?
As for "making gas cheaper"- if it isn't being sold here, we aren't getting cheaper prices at the pumps. Duh. Like that even fucking matters in comparison to a major wetlands called the Sand Hills being put at risk in Nebraska. *sigh*
Some links that show some unpleasant images of what our backyards could look like if we keep ignoring this fucking thing:
http://leaksource.wordpress.com/201.....-new-oil-lake/
350.org's "10-day comment sprint" actually started five days ago, but this link should still work: http://act.350.org/letter/kxl-sprint-day-1/
You can donate to flood the DC Metro lines with posters of the spill in Mayflower, Arkansas: https://action.sumofus.org/a/exxon-spill-kxl-ads/
Or how about petitions? Here's a good one: http://campaigns.dailykos.com/p/dia.....action_KEY=362
An article about the Mayflower spill: http://thinkprogress.org/climate/20.....n-exxon-spill/
One from Bill McKibben: http://thinkprogress.org/climate/20.....ental-problem/
Another article about this thing and why it should NOT happen (it says many of the same things I do, but links people to the data sources): http://thinkprogress.org/climate/20.....rth-of-carbon/
So, please, get on your Congressman's butt and urge them to vote no on the pipeline. Urge Obama to vote no on the pipeline. Heck, demand that he executive order the fucking thing into the graveyard.
Why? Because of things like the CO2-emissions from gas,oil and coal-burning, we caused THIS- (Humanity, that is): http://thinkprogress.org/climate/20.....ses-the-issue/
Brings to mind that scene from Avatar: "They killed their mother." We're doing that, right now.
~~~~~~~~
Here, I'll cut-and-paste this directly from an environmental page regarding this beast:
It comes from here: http://www.tarsandsblockade.org/abo.....hy-oppose-kxl/ There are links within the body of their article, but I don't know how to make them work here, so go to their original page and travel around from their links. I'll bold-face them all in this copy, but they won't actually go anywhere- use the original article's highlighted links.
WHY OPPOSE KXL?
There are a myriad of reasons to oppose the expansion of the already-existing Keystone system.
Tar sands, tar sands pipelines and related issues are vast and complex with literally thousands of reports and articles on the subjects. We’ve tried to distill this information in a digestible form by coming up with a simple list of the ten reasons why you should oppose this pipeline project–and join our action to stop it.
1. CLIMATE CHANGE – NASA’s leading climate scientist, Dr. James Hansen has called the Keystone XL pipeline “a fuse to the largest carbon bomb on the planet.” Hansen has said that if all the carbon stored in the Canadian tar sands is released into the earth’s atmosphere it would mean “game over” for the planet.
2. SPILLS – All pipelines spill. According to TransCanada the Keystone 1 pipeline was predicted to spill once every seven years. It spilled 12 times in its first year and it has spilled more than 30 times over its lifetime. The Keystone XL pipeline is built to spill, and when it does it will have a devastating effect upon employment and the economy, according to Cornell University.
The oil firm Enbridge ignored warning signs for more than five years along its 6B Line, and when it spilled in July of 2010 in Michigan’s Kalamazoo River it caused the most damaging onshore oil spill in US history.
3. EMINENT DOMAIN ABUSE – TransCanada has intimidated landowners along the pipeline route into signing contractual agreements for their land. TransCanada fraudulently steals land from private citizens through eminent domain.
A recent Texas Supreme Court case ruled that the application process for common carrier status, the status that allows private companies to seize property, does not not conclusively establish eminent-domain power.
TransCanada has indicated that up to 700,000 gallons of tar sands crude could leak out of the Keystone XL pipeline without triggering its real time leak-detection system.
4. WATER CONTAMINATION – The Keystone XL pipeline threatens Texas’ Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer which supplies drinking water to more than 12 million people living across 60 counties in drought-stricken East Texas.
The pipeline’s cross-border section also threatens the Ogallala Aquifer, the largest aquifer in the western North American region, upon which millions of people and agricultural businesses depend for drinking water, irrigation and livestock watering.
5. THE JOBS MYTH: KEYSTONE XL WILL DESTROY MORE JOBS THAN IT CREATES – According the Cornell University’s Global Labor Institute, the pipeline project will actually destroy more jobs than it creates.
While proponents of the Keystone XL keep repeating the mantra of job creation in the media, it has become clear that the numbers they continue to project are patently false.
Far more jobs could be created by the development of a clean energy economy and infrastructure.
6. GAS PRICES – The Keystone XL pipeline will drive up gas prices, not lower them, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council.
7. TAR SANDS FOR EXPORT – TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline will not reduce American dependence on foreign oil. The pipeline will carry tar sands from Alberta, Canada to refineries in Port Arthur, Tex. to be sold on the global market to the highest bidder. This is a for-profit for export pipeline.
8. THE PIPELINE VIOLATES TRIBAL SOVEREIGNTY – The Indigenous Environmental Network has drafted the Mother Earth Accord with traditional treaty councils to oppose the Keystone XL pipeline and preserve the integrity of First Nations and tribal lands across Canada and the Untied States.
9. UNDISCLOSED TAR SANDS DILUTANTS – TransCanada refuses to disclose a comprehensive analysis of its mixture of chemical dilutants used to transport the otherwise viscous tar sands oil through the pipe, as well as human health and environmental risks associated with this secret mixture.
The Pipeline Hazardous Material Safety Administration told Congress that pipeline regulations were not designed for raw tar sands crude, that regulators had not yet evaluated what measures would be necessary to ensure that raw tar sands pipelines could be built and operated safely, and that PHMSA had not been involved in the environmental review.
10. FRAUDULENT ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW – The Environmental Impact Statement done of the Keystone XL pipeline was conducted by the State Department, not the EPA. Controversy erupted last fall over Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s ties to one of TransCanada’s top lobbyists, Paul Elliot. Elliot was one of Clinton’s top campaign officials during her 2008 presidential bid. The EIS found that the pipeline would have minimal impact on the environment, failing to properly analyze direct, indirect and cumulative impacts of the pipeline project.
The “Gulf Coast Project” or southern portion of the Keystone XL does not have its own environmental review despite the fact that many issues unique to Texas and Oklahoma, such as wild fires and drought conditions, have yet to be analyzed.
Read more key facts on Keystone XL.
~~~~~~~
Remember, the bolded text only indicates where their links are- they do NOT work from this page. Please, go to theirs and check them out there.
Um, no. this thing is a piece of crap- the whole thing, from the corporations urging people to buy into their lies, to the actual construction of the fucking pipes themselves. That pipeline, in it's first year of operation (portions of it have already been built and are in use along Canada's border and into North Dakota) popped leaks TWELVE TIMES already. New pipe, new leaks. WTF?
Jobs? Bullshit. Nothing long-term, unless you think roughly fifty long-term, permanent jobs is a good enough return for a price of possibly ruining your water-table and poisoning your land.
Reducing our dependence on foreign oil? So, when did Canada become a part of the U.S? And the even more laughable thing is that none of that oil is actually slated to remain in North America, but will be sold to worldwide markets, NOT here.
The State Department report is a bought-and-paid-for treatise on how to lie to the public about the safety of this project.
I'm not even gonna bother with the many-times-failed "argument" that Climate Change isn't real. The Arctic fucking MELTED THIS SUMMER, YOU ASSHOLES, while the U.S was almost ALL in a state of fucking DROUGHT. HELLO- is anyone LISTENING?
As for "making gas cheaper"- if it isn't being sold here, we aren't getting cheaper prices at the pumps. Duh. Like that even fucking matters in comparison to a major wetlands called the Sand Hills being put at risk in Nebraska. *sigh*
Some links that show some unpleasant images of what our backyards could look like if we keep ignoring this fucking thing:
http://leaksource.wordpress.com/201.....-new-oil-lake/
350.org's "10-day comment sprint" actually started five days ago, but this link should still work: http://act.350.org/letter/kxl-sprint-day-1/
You can donate to flood the DC Metro lines with posters of the spill in Mayflower, Arkansas: https://action.sumofus.org/a/exxon-spill-kxl-ads/
Or how about petitions? Here's a good one: http://campaigns.dailykos.com/p/dia.....action_KEY=362
An article about the Mayflower spill: http://thinkprogress.org/climate/20.....n-exxon-spill/
One from Bill McKibben: http://thinkprogress.org/climate/20.....ental-problem/
Another article about this thing and why it should NOT happen (it says many of the same things I do, but links people to the data sources): http://thinkprogress.org/climate/20.....rth-of-carbon/
So, please, get on your Congressman's butt and urge them to vote no on the pipeline. Urge Obama to vote no on the pipeline. Heck, demand that he executive order the fucking thing into the graveyard.
Why? Because of things like the CO2-emissions from gas,oil and coal-burning, we caused THIS- (Humanity, that is): http://thinkprogress.org/climate/20.....ses-the-issue/
Brings to mind that scene from Avatar: "They killed their mother." We're doing that, right now.
~~~~~~~~
Here, I'll cut-and-paste this directly from an environmental page regarding this beast:
It comes from here: http://www.tarsandsblockade.org/abo.....hy-oppose-kxl/ There are links within the body of their article, but I don't know how to make them work here, so go to their original page and travel around from their links. I'll bold-face them all in this copy, but they won't actually go anywhere- use the original article's highlighted links.
WHY OPPOSE KXL?
There are a myriad of reasons to oppose the expansion of the already-existing Keystone system.
Tar sands, tar sands pipelines and related issues are vast and complex with literally thousands of reports and articles on the subjects. We’ve tried to distill this information in a digestible form by coming up with a simple list of the ten reasons why you should oppose this pipeline project–and join our action to stop it.
1. CLIMATE CHANGE – NASA’s leading climate scientist, Dr. James Hansen has called the Keystone XL pipeline “a fuse to the largest carbon bomb on the planet.” Hansen has said that if all the carbon stored in the Canadian tar sands is released into the earth’s atmosphere it would mean “game over” for the planet.
2. SPILLS – All pipelines spill. According to TransCanada the Keystone 1 pipeline was predicted to spill once every seven years. It spilled 12 times in its first year and it has spilled more than 30 times over its lifetime. The Keystone XL pipeline is built to spill, and when it does it will have a devastating effect upon employment and the economy, according to Cornell University.
The oil firm Enbridge ignored warning signs for more than five years along its 6B Line, and when it spilled in July of 2010 in Michigan’s Kalamazoo River it caused the most damaging onshore oil spill in US history.
3. EMINENT DOMAIN ABUSE – TransCanada has intimidated landowners along the pipeline route into signing contractual agreements for their land. TransCanada fraudulently steals land from private citizens through eminent domain.
A recent Texas Supreme Court case ruled that the application process for common carrier status, the status that allows private companies to seize property, does not not conclusively establish eminent-domain power.
TransCanada has indicated that up to 700,000 gallons of tar sands crude could leak out of the Keystone XL pipeline without triggering its real time leak-detection system.
4. WATER CONTAMINATION – The Keystone XL pipeline threatens Texas’ Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer which supplies drinking water to more than 12 million people living across 60 counties in drought-stricken East Texas.
The pipeline’s cross-border section also threatens the Ogallala Aquifer, the largest aquifer in the western North American region, upon which millions of people and agricultural businesses depend for drinking water, irrigation and livestock watering.
5. THE JOBS MYTH: KEYSTONE XL WILL DESTROY MORE JOBS THAN IT CREATES – According the Cornell University’s Global Labor Institute, the pipeline project will actually destroy more jobs than it creates.
While proponents of the Keystone XL keep repeating the mantra of job creation in the media, it has become clear that the numbers they continue to project are patently false.
Far more jobs could be created by the development of a clean energy economy and infrastructure.
6. GAS PRICES – The Keystone XL pipeline will drive up gas prices, not lower them, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council.
7. TAR SANDS FOR EXPORT – TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline will not reduce American dependence on foreign oil. The pipeline will carry tar sands from Alberta, Canada to refineries in Port Arthur, Tex. to be sold on the global market to the highest bidder. This is a for-profit for export pipeline.
8. THE PIPELINE VIOLATES TRIBAL SOVEREIGNTY – The Indigenous Environmental Network has drafted the Mother Earth Accord with traditional treaty councils to oppose the Keystone XL pipeline and preserve the integrity of First Nations and tribal lands across Canada and the Untied States.
9. UNDISCLOSED TAR SANDS DILUTANTS – TransCanada refuses to disclose a comprehensive analysis of its mixture of chemical dilutants used to transport the otherwise viscous tar sands oil through the pipe, as well as human health and environmental risks associated with this secret mixture.
The Pipeline Hazardous Material Safety Administration told Congress that pipeline regulations were not designed for raw tar sands crude, that regulators had not yet evaluated what measures would be necessary to ensure that raw tar sands pipelines could be built and operated safely, and that PHMSA had not been involved in the environmental review.
10. FRAUDULENT ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW – The Environmental Impact Statement done of the Keystone XL pipeline was conducted by the State Department, not the EPA. Controversy erupted last fall over Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s ties to one of TransCanada’s top lobbyists, Paul Elliot. Elliot was one of Clinton’s top campaign officials during her 2008 presidential bid. The EIS found that the pipeline would have minimal impact on the environment, failing to properly analyze direct, indirect and cumulative impacts of the pipeline project.
The “Gulf Coast Project” or southern portion of the Keystone XL does not have its own environmental review despite the fact that many issues unique to Texas and Oklahoma, such as wild fires and drought conditions, have yet to be analyzed.
Read more key facts on Keystone XL.
~~~~~~~
Remember, the bolded text only indicates where their links are- they do NOT work from this page. Please, go to theirs and check them out there.
I have explained in the last environmental journal the problem with plants and CO@, but apparently you hadn't read it, or you didn't understand it. *sighs* Yes, plants need CO2 to create the energy they need to live and grow, but there is also such a thing as too much of a good thing, and plants end up pumping too much cynanogens into their leaves to fend off pests, making them potentially inedible for us. Most of our crops are cyanogen-type plants. Making them inedible by humans, means we fucking STARVE- doesn't this get through? This shit is SERIOUS, not some silly, fluff-headed scare-mongering. It is a serious demand that we change our ways- how we live, how we use resources, how we handle our wastes. Too much CO2, causes some plants to flourish, while others just die- the things that do well? Weeds WE CAN'T FUCKING EAT. I'd go on, but I don't think I'll get listened to.
As for clear-cutting, I agree with you there- that HAS to stop, too: we NEED those trees to sequester CO2.
As for the "bigger harvest", I don't know where you're getting that bullshit, but I pointed out in my previous article that too much CO2, while accelerating growth, also means the plant is growing too-quickly to store up the nutrients we need. Bigger plants- less nutritious= not worth growing 'em.
Mansanto is evil. Plain and simple- agreed.
I WILL keep clubbing people over the head with this like they're Harp Seals, since they seem to be too stubborn to go and fucking LEARN something about this. Instead, I get nonsense from from folks like you.
Look up ocean acidification killing reefs and whole ecosystems. That's caused by too much CO2. Take out entire ecosystems means that they have broken down to the point where they can no longer function; this is thousands of species that work and live together that no longer can, and so, they die. Remove one ecosystem, it becomes easier to kill off another, then another, until the whole, interconnected system breaks down. I for one, don't relish the idea of playing Jenga with my planetary life-base.
Look up the peat bogs of Siberia and Northern Canada and how those will kick us over the top into the runaway Greenhouse effect when all those mega-tonnes of methane gas (and other greenhouse gas, just like CO2, only plants don't like it) into the atmosphere. Look the Arctic ice-sheet melt last summer- never happened like that before. Look up the near-country-wide drought the U.S has been having this last year or two... Geez, man, what do you fucking NEED?
As for being a pipeline-welder, you might want to kick your confreres in the butt for leaving holes large enough to see light through, then setting that faulty pipe in the ground within the next day: http://www.tarsandsblockade.org/17th-action/ Scroll down to the bottom of the page for the photo. If you love your work, I'm sure it will offend you as being a slap to the skills of a good welder.
A "traveling city of work" is a neat description, but the people traveling with it- are they locals who stay behind when the "city" moves on? Or do they continue along the route with the excavations?
Yes, I admit that I am far-removed from your industry (I haven't touched a torch in over two decades, and never actually worked as a welder), but it doesn't necessarily invalidate the information on the poor-safety-record of pipeline and the companies that own them. Nor does it invalidate the problems of their environmental-impacts. And it certainly doesn't invalidate the call for alternatives to fossil-fuels before we ruin too many ecologies for the rest to be healthy.
As for alternatives to fossil fuels, I didn't know we were discussing those too. Again, my point here is jobs jobs jobs. But, I am also in favor of alternatives. Especially stacked algae farms which seem to be doing fairly well once the principle funds can be raised to build them.
Canada is just America's hat.