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Tar Sands Day of Action in Washington DC

November 06, 2011 Add Comment Edit

Sunday, November 6th, was a national day of action to tell President Obama to stop the dirty, dangerous Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline -- a proposed pipeline that would run from Canada through America's heartland.

Barack Obama gave Natural Resources Defense Council founder John Adams the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his work defending the environment. Today John is at the White House again - this time to link arms with thousands of others to ask President Obama to live up to his campaign promises and reject the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.

Thousands of people from all over the country descended upon Washington D.C. to circle the White House. This is a historic, defining moment in the push to move Beyond Oil.

While there was an impressive number of people in Washington D.C. standing up to Big Oil, it's not nearly enough. We need to build an online groundswell of awareness and support to stop this dangerous oil pipeline proposal.

You can help spread the word and let your friends and family coast-to-coast know that President Obama must stop this oil pipeline proposal.

Anyone who has examined this oil pipeline proposal quickly realizes that in addition to imperiling wildlife and an important source of water, it will increase reliance on fossil fuels and dramatically increase greenhouse gas emissions. In short it is an ecological disaster.

* Tar sands oil is the dirtiest source of oil on Earth, this pipeline is a line in the sand in our fight to stop climate disruption.

* Tar sands pipeline spills are not a question of if but when: TransCanada has a dismal safety record, including 14 oil spills in 12 months on the existing Keystone 1 Pipeline. Tar sands oil is more dangerous to transport, more difficult to clean up, and releases more toxic pollution than conventional oil.

* Tar sands oil spills in America's heartland could contaminate drinking water for millions and destroy the livelihoods of American farmers and ranchers.

Help build the movement that will stop this dirty oil pipeline proposal. Take action now online to be a virtual rally activist for our Tar Sands National Day of Action. Add your link in the online chain of action to encircle the White House.

In addition to those in Washington thousands of people took part in the Tar Sands Oil National Day of Action by participating online as virtual rally activists. They watched as live photos and videos streamed in, they also read comments and tweets live from the rally.

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

Related Posts
President Obama and the Fate of the Keystone XL Pipeline
NRDC November 6 Protest Against the Keystone XL in Washington DC
Nebraska's Special Session to Stop the Keystone XL Pipeline
South Dakota Wants Additional Protections Against Spills from the Keystone XL Pipeline
Safety Measures for the Keystone XL Rejected by Environmentalists in Nebraska
State Department Hearings for the Keystone XL Pipeline
Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline Protest
Cornell University Questions the Economic Benefits of the Keystone XL Pipeline
Keystone XL Protest Ends in Washington
Oil Spills Add to Concerns about the Keystone XL Pipeline
Nobel Prize Laureates Oppose Keystone XL Pipeline
Religious Leaders Join the Protest Against Keystone XL Pipeline
US Protests Against the Tar Sands Oil
Canada on Track to be a Dirty Energy Superpower
Bill McKibben and other Protestors Jailed for their Opposition to the Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline
Video: NASA's Leading Climatologist Addresses Crowd Before he was Arrested at the Keystone XL Tar Sands Protest in Washington

President Obama and the Fate of the Keystone XL Pipeline

November 03, 2011 Add Comment Edit

President Obama has indicated that he will factor environmental and human health issues into his decision about the fate of the Keystone XL pipeline. The pipeline is opposed by environmentalists and supported by those who say the jobs it would create are more important than the well being of the environment and the health of the American people.

On Tuesday November 1, President Obama indicated that in addition to economic concerns, health and economic issues would be taken into account when he decides whether or not to approve the Keystone XL pipeline.

Here are excerpts of Obama's comments from an interview with Nebraska television station KETV:

"My general attitude is, what's best for the American people? What's best for our economy both short term and long term? But also what's best for the health of the American people?"

"We don’t want, for example, aquifers to be adversely affected. folks in Nebraska obviously would be directly impacted, and so we want to make sure we’re taking the long view on these issues.”

“We need to make sure that we have energy security and aren’t just relying on Middle East sources. But there’s a way of doing that and still making sure that the health and safety of the American people and folks in Nebraska are protected, and that’s how I’ll be measuring these recommendations when they come to me.”

"I think folks in Nebraska, like all across the country, aren't going to say to themselves, 'we'll take a few thousand jobs' if it means that our kids are potentially drinking water that would damage their health or if ... rich land that is so important to agriculture in Nebraska ends up being adversely affected."

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

Related Posts
President Obama and the Fate of the Keystone XL Pipeline
NRDC November 6 Protest Against the Keystone XL in Washington DC
Nebraska's Special Session to Stop the Keystone XL Pipeline
South Dakota Wants Additional Protections Against Spills from the Keystone XL Pipeline
Safety Measures for the Keystone XL Rejected by Environmentalists in Nebraska
State Department Hearings for the Keystone XL Pipeline
Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline Protest
Cornell University Questions the Economic Benefits of the Keystone XL Pipeline
Keystone XL Protest Ends in Washington
Oil Spills Add to Concerns about the Keystone XL Pipeline
Nobel Prize Laureates Oppose Keystone XL Pipeline
Religious Leaders Join the Protest Against Keystone XL Pipeline
US Protests Against the Tar Sands Oil
Canada on Track to be a Dirty Energy Superpower
Bill McKibben and other Protestors Jailed for their Opposition to the Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline
Video: NASA's Leading Climatologist Addresses Crowd Before he was Arrested at the Keystone XL Tar Sands Protest in Washington

NRDC November 6 Protest Against the Keystone XL in Washington DC

November 02, 2011 Add Comment Edit

Nebraska's Special Session to Stop the Keystone XL Pipeline

November 02, 2011 Add Comment Edit

The state of Nebraska convened a special session of the legislature on Tuesday November 2, in a final ditch effort to stop or re-route the controversial Keystone XL pipeline project. The Nebraska Legislature's special session will determine whether the state can force TransCanada Pipelines to reroute the pipeline around the ecologically sensitive Sandhills region overlaying the Ogallala Aquifer.

Opponents of the pipeline are hoping this session of the legislature will find a legal means of blocking or at least re-routing the project away from an important source of ground water.

Although there is considerable resistance, Nebraska's governor, David Heineman, has yet to introduce a proposal on resiting the pipeline. "Normally when a governor calls a special session he introduces a bill, but the governor has not done that," said Jane Kleeb of Bold Nebraska, which has been leading the protests. "We are afraid that they will hold a special session and not pass anything and say they have done their best."

A state senator, Anne Dubash, is working on a separate proposal to give the state the authority to re-route the pipeline. There are also moves to try to block the pipeline by challenging TransCanada's methods for obtaining land use rights.

Nebraska's special session to stop the Keystone XL pipeline opened on Tuesday November 1, and is expected to last until at least November 14.

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

Related Posts
President Obama and the Fate of the Keystone XL Pipeline
NRDC November 6 Protest Against the Keystone XL in Washington DC
South Dakota Wants Additional Protections Against Spills from the Keystone XL Pipeline
Safety Measures for the Keystone XL Rejected by Environmentalists in Nebraska
State Department Hearings for the Keystone XL Pipeline
Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline Protest
Cornell University Questions the Economic Benefits of the Keystone XL Pipeline
Keystone XL Protest Ends in Washington
Oil Spills Add to Concerns about the Keystone XL Pipeline
Nobel Prize Laureates Oppose Keystone XL Pipeline
Religious Leaders Join the Protest Against Keystone XL Pipeline
US Protests Against the Tar Sands Oil
Canada on Track to be a Dirty Energy Superpower
Bill McKibben and other Protestors Jailed for their Opposition to the Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline
Video: NASA's Leading Climatologist Addresses Crowd Before he was Arrested at the Keystone XL Tar Sands Protest in Washington

South Dakota Wants Additional Protections Against Spills from the Keystone XL Pipeline

November 02, 2011 Add Comment Edit

Due to concerns about groundwater contamination, South Dakota govenor Dennis Daugaard has asked the Legislature to "impose additional protections" on the Keystone XL pipeline, similar to concessions that Nebraska lawmakers recently won from TransCanada.

TransCanada met with Nebraska officials and offered concessions in lieu of rerouting the pipeline, among them encircling the pipeline with concrete or rock jacketing where it crosses a shallow water table, moving spill response teams closer to the Sandhills and offering a $100 million performance bond to cover spill cleanup. All of which were dismissed as inadequate by Nebraska environmentalists.

Opponents nationwide are waging a much more aggressive campaign to block Keystone XL than they mustered against the first project known as Keystone I. Aquifer contamination from groundwater spills have been a concern for both pipelines. However, these concerns are greater for the Keystone XL as the proposed route of the pipeline traverses the massive Ogallala Aquifer, which is the main source of water for eight states including South Dakota.

Since 2008, Dakota Rural Action and some South Dakota legislators have unsuccessfully pushed for a pipeline cleanup fund, similar to what TransCanada now is offering Nebraska.

Daugaard spokesman Tony Venhuizen said it is only fair that South Dakota should be offered similar protections to those offered to Nebraska. "We've already let TransCanada know that they can't be cutting special deals for some states just because they protest more," he said. "The squeaky Cornhusker wheel shouldn't get all the grease."

It would appear the protests in Nebraska have forced TransCanada to offer additional safety measures. In South Dakota there have been less protests making it easier for TransCanada to ignore the safety concerns in that state.

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

Related Posts
President Obama and the Fate of the Keystone XL Pipeline
NRDC November 6 Protest Against the Keystone XL in Washington DC
Nebraska's Special Session to Stop the Keystone XL Pipeline
Safety Measures for the Keystone XL Rejected by Environmentalists in Nebraska
State Department Hearings for the Keystone XL Pipeline
Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline Protest
Cornell University Questions the Economic Benefits of the Keystone XL Pipeline
Keystone XL Protest Ends in Washington
Oil Spills Add to Concerns about the Keystone XL Pipeline
Nobel Prize Laureates Oppose Keystone XL Pipeline
Religious Leaders Join the Protest Against Keystone XL Pipeline
US Protests Against the Tar Sands Oil
Canada on Track to be a Dirty Energy Superpower
Bill McKibben and other Protestors Jailed for their Opposition to the Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline
Video: NASA's Leading Climatologist Addresses Crowd Before he was Arrested at the Keystone XL Tar Sands Protest in Washington

Safety Measures for the Keystone XL Rejected by Environmentalists in Nebraska

November 02, 2011 Add Comment Edit

TransCanada Pipelines has proposed new safety measures for the Sandhills portion of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline. The seven new measures outlined by pipeline developer TransCanada Inc. were dismissed by critics of the project as “window dressing.”

TransCanada offered the new safety steps in response to four Nebraska state senators who are concerned that the state's groundwater, including the Ogallala Aquifer, is threatened by the pipeline.

Although they refused to reroute the pipeline, TransCanada said it would encase the pipeline in concrete in areas of high groundwater extending an extra layer of concrete for 35 miles.

TransCanada offered several new steps to address concerns raised by the Nebraska lawmakers about possible contamination of groundwater, including providing a $100 million performance bond to ensure the financial resources to clean up any spills and basing a five-member emergency spill response team. In addition TransCanada proposed providing a concrete barrier around the pumping station and moving response crews closer to the Sandhills.

Pipeline opponents said that most of the safety measures would not prevent a leak. The $100 million bond for cleaning up a Sandhills spill would be inadequate, when compared with the projected $700 million cost of cleaning up a crude-oil pipeline leak that spilled 800,000 gallons of oil into Michigan’s Kalamazoo River 15 months ago.

Why should we be discussing inadequate safety measures when the best solution would be to preempt the problem altogether by scuttling the Keystone XL pipeline project.

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

Related Posts
President Obama and the Fate of the Keystone XL Pipeline
NRDC November 6 Protest Against the Keystone XL in Washington DC
Nebraska's Special Session to Stop the Keystone XL Pipeline
South Dakota Wants Additional Protections Against Spills from the Keystone XL Pipeline
State Department Hearings for the Keystone XL Pipeline
Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline Protest
Cornell University Questions the Economic Benefits of the Keystone XL Pipeline
Keystone XL Protest Ends in Washington
Oil Spills Add to Concerns about the Keystone XL Pipeline
Nobel Prize Laureates Oppose Keystone XL Pipeline
Religious Leaders Join the Protest Against Keystone XL Pipeline
US Protests Against the Tar Sands Oil
Canada on Track to be a Dirty Energy Superpower
Bill McKibben and other Protestors Jailed for their Opposition to the Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline
Video: NASA's Leading Climatologist Addresses Crowd Before he was Arrested at the Keystone XL Tar Sands Protest in Washington

Nobel Prize Laureates Oppose Keystone XL Pipeline

September 07, 2011 Add Comment Edit

Nine recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the Dalai Lama, have joined the protest against the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. Resistance to Keystone XL spawned one of the largest acts of civil disobedience ever in the US. More More protests are being organized for September 26 in Ottawa and the first week of October in Washington.

The letter was also signed by Nobel Peace Prize laureates Mairead Maguire, Betty Williams, Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, Rigoberta Menchú Tum, José Ramos-Horta, Jody Williams, and Shirin Ebadi.

In a letter to President Obama, the Nobel Prize winners asked the US President to reject the proposed Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline. In their letter, they say this is "a critical moment" to make good on his pledge to create a clean energy economy.

"We urge you to say no" to the pipeline and "turn your attention back to supporting renewable sources of energy and clean transportation solutions," says the letter. "This will be your legacy to Americans and the global community: energy that sustains the lives and livelihoods of future generations."

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

Related Posts
Keystone XL Protest Ends in Washington
Bill McKibben and other Protestors Jailed for their Opposition to the Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline
Oil Spills Add to Concerns about the Keystone XL Pipeline
Video: NASA's Leading Climatologist Addresses Crowd Before he was Arrested at the Keystone XL Tar Sands Protest in Washington
Religious Leaders Join the Protest Against Keystone XL Pipeline
US Protests Against the Tar Sands Oil
Canada on Track to be a Dirty Energy Superpower
Cornell University Questions the Economic Benefits of the Keystone XL Pipeline
Oil Spills Add to Concerns about the Keystone XL Pipeline

Keystone XL Protest Ends in Washington

September 04, 2011 Add Comment Edit

A total of 1,252 peaceful protesters were arrested for opposing the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline in Washington including 350.org founder Bill McKibben, and NASA's chief climatologist James Hansen.

Saturday September 3rd marked the final day of the two week-long marathon of tar sands pipeline protests. Bill McKibben and allies say the proposed tar sands pipeline could galvanize US action on climate.

The Canadian Tar Sands are one of the most environmentally destructive projects on earth. The Keystone XL could pump millions more barrels of heavy crude from Alberta. The $7 billion, 1,702-mile Keystone XL pipeline would be a "fuse to the biggest carbon bomb on the planet."

The pipeline could pump up to 900,000 barrels of heavy crude daily, and that number could increase to 1.5 million barrels per day by 2019, tripling the amount of diluted bitumen flowing from Canada to the US.

EPA gave the first draft its lowest grade of inadequate almost a year ago. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is expected to make a decision on the pipeline before December.

"If the tar sands are thrown into the mix it is essentially game over," Hansen explained. "The principal requirement is that coal emissions must be phased out by 2030 and unconventional fossil fuels, such as tar sands, must be left in the ground.".

The protest was organized because, as Bill McKibben explained in a letter he co-authored, "Twenty years of patiently explaining the climate crisis to our leaders hasn’t worked...Maybe moral witness will help."

Organizers recognize that President Obama's environmental agenda has been hamstrung by Republican obstructionism and pressure from oil interests which is why they asked marchers to don Obama campaign buttons.

"For once, the Republicans can't filibuster this," McKibben said about the pipeline decision "Trying to talk to Congress about these issues is like trying to talk to your cat."

"We don't have the money to compete with those corporations, but we do have our bodies," the co-authors wrote.

"We are just now finishing up the largest civil disobedience in this country in this century. We won't attack the President. We will only hold him to the standard he set in 2008. We have been arrested for two weeks straight, but without bitterness or hate. Only joy and resolve," McKibben said

It comes down to the choice between temporary jobs of the past which are ruining the environment or permanent jobs of the future that will contribute to a habitable planet.

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

Related Posts
Bill McKibben and other Protestors Jailed for their Opposition to the Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline
Oil Spills Add to Concerns about the Keystone XL Pipeline
Nobel Prize Laureates Oppose Keystone XL Pipeline
Video: NASA's Leading Climatologist Addresses Crowd Before he was Arrested at the Keystone XL Tar Sands Protest in Washington
Religious Leaders Join the Protest Against Keystone XL Pipeline
US Protests Against the Tar Sands Oil
Canada on Track to be a Dirty Energy Superpower
Cornell University Questions the Economic Benefits of the Keystone XL Pipeline
Oil Spills Add to Concerns about the Keystone XL Pipeline

Video: NASA's Leading Climatologist Addresses Crowd Before he was Arrested at the Keystone XL Tar Sands Protest in Washington

September 03, 2011 Add Comment Edit

Jim Hansen, NASA's leading climatologist, addresses Tar Sands protesters shortly before his arrest. Over 1,000 people were arrested in front of the White House while protesting the Keystone XL pipeline and protecting our future!

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

Related Posts
Keystone XL Protest Ends in Washington
Bill McKibben and other Protestors Jailed for their Opposition to the Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline
Oil Spills Add to Concerns about the Keystone XL Pipeline
Nobel Prize Laureates Oppose Keystone XL Pipeline
Religious Leaders Join the Protest Against Keystone XL Pipeline
US Protests Against the Tar Sands Oil
Canada on Track to be a Dirty Energy Superpower
Cornell University Questions the Economic Benefits of the Keystone XL Pipeline
Oil Spills Add to Concerns about the Keystone XL Pipeline

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