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DocWatch Results for "Keystone XL" Results for Keystone XL 71 stories, most recent first. search again: Related Scary Tags: oil issues  ~ carbon emissions  ~ anthropogenic change  ~ climate impacts  ~ capitalist greed  ~ economic myopia  ~ people rise up  ~ health impacts  ~ toxic leak  ~ corporate malfeasance  ~ holyshit   Wed, Nov 19, 2014 from NPR: Senate Rejects Keystone XL Pipeline Bill, In A Close Vote The controversial Keystone XL pipeline project to expand an oil pipeline running from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico has failed the approval of Congress, after the Senate voted against the project Tuesday. The House passed its version of the bill Friday. An early tally showed 35 for and 30 against the bill; subsequent calls for senators' votes failed to net the 60 votes needed for passage. The decisive 41st "No" vote came with 55 votes in favor, and the final tally was 59-41. ... This XL pipeline vote was Xtra close! ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Aug 11, 2014 from Los Angeles Times: Keystone XL could mean more carbon emissions than estimated, study says Building the Keystone XL pipeline could lead to as much as four times more greenhouse gas emissions than the State Department has estimated for the controversial project, according to a new study published in Nature Climate Change that relies on different calculations about oil consumption. ... Like, nobody's perfect. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, May 27, 2014 from Associated Press: New safety requirements set for Keystone pipeline Safety regulators have quietly placed two extra conditions on construction of TransCanada Corp.'s Keystone XL oil pipeline after learning of potentially dangerous construction defects involving the southern leg of the Canada-to-Texas project. The defects -- high rates of bad welds, dented pipe and damaged pipeline coating -- have been fixed... Over 72 percent of welds required repairs during one week. In another week, TransCanada stopped welding work after 205 of 425 welds required repair. ... Those are some unwieldy welds! ApocaDoc permalink Mon, May 5, 2014 from WNDU.com: Sen. Donnelly supports bipartisan bill approving Keystone XL pipeline Senate supporters of the long-delayed Keystone XL pipeline have introduced legislation authorizing its immediate construction and say they expect the measure will come to a vote in the coming days. The legislation was introduced by Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Republican Sen. John Hoeven of North Dakota... Senator Joe Donnelly announced on Thursday his support for the bipartisan legislation, which would approve the pipeline without requiring a permit from President Obama. "I'm supporting this bipartisan bill because it would enable Congress to approve the Keystone XL pipeline, ending the long delay," Sen. Donnelly explained. ... Say it ain't so, Joe! ApocaDoc permalink Fri, May 2, 2014 from The Stranger: Seattle High Schoolers Are Risking Arrest In A Downtown Sit-In Against the Keystone XL Oil Pipeline So pay some goddamn attention, President Obama! Erasmus Baxter, a senior at Garfield High School, tells me by phone that police at the Federal Building in downtown Seattle are currently "just standing off to the side and watching," rather that moving in to make arrests--even though the students plan to block the entrance for an hour. "The effects of climate change aren't just abstract. It's something that's going to affect us and our children. And we need to make a concrete step," Baxter says. About few dozen of them marched from Cal Anderson Park down to the building. ... And the teens shall inherit the earth. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Mar 3, 2014 from Environmental News Service: Hundreds Arrested Protesting Keystone XL at The White House Police arrested more than 370 young people who tied themselves to the White House fence on Sunday to protest the proposed Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline. Called XL Dissent, the protest was organized by college and university students to urge President Barack Obama to reject the northern leg of TransCanada's proposed Keystone XL pipeline, which needs presidential approval because it would cross an international border on its way from the Alberta tar sands to refineries in Texas. ... Generation KXL ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Feb 27, 2014 from E&E Publishing: GAO set to probe State's environmental review -- lawmaker Rep. Raśl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) requested an independent audit today of the State Department's environmental review system for projects such as Keystone XL, his latest step to protest the Obama administration's handling of the controversial oil sands crude pipeline... At issue for Grijalva and many green groups fighting KXL is the selection of Environmental Resources Management, the private contractor hired to craft the final EIS for the pipeline that State released last month. ERM is a member of the American Petroleum Institute and used a senior employee on the KXL review who had previously worked for project sponsor TransCanada Corp., among other industry ties that led environmentalists to deem invalid the firm's claim to no financial conflicts that it made before winning the pipeline job. ... That pipeline is filled with money... for just a few lucky, well-connected dudes. ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Feb 9, 2014 from InsideClimate News: U.S. Keystone Report Relied Heavily on Alberta Govt-Funded Research The analysis of greenhouse gas emissions presented by the State Department in its new environmental impact statement on the Keystone XL pipeline includes dozens of references to reports by Jacobs Consultancy, a group that is owned by a big tar sands developer and that was hired by the Alberta government--which strongly favors the project. ... I am in a "state" of (not) shock! ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Feb 3, 2014 from Washington Post: Five takeaways from State Department's review of the Keystone XL pipeline The State Department has finished its massive environmental review of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry oil from the tar sands of Alberta, Canada, down to Steele City, Nebraska, where it would move on to refineries on the Gulf Coast. Bottom line: The report concludes that blocking or approving the northern leg of the Keystone XL pipeline would not have a "significant" impact on overall greenhouse-gas emissions and future tar-sands expansion. That's because, it argues, most of Alberta's oil will likely find a way to get to the market anyway -- if not by pipeline, then by rail. ... Human conquest of Mother Earth is now complete. ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Jan 19, 2014 from Reuters: Canada loses patience on Keystone XL, tells U.S. to decide Canada bluntly told the United States on Thursday to settle the fate of TransCanada Corp's proposed Keystone XL pipeline, saying the drawn-out process on whether to approve the northern leg of the project was taking too long. The hard-line comments by Foreign Minister John Baird were the clearest sign yet that Canada's Conservative government has lost patience over what it sees as U.S. foot-dragging. Baird also conceded that Washington might veto the project, the first admission of its kind by a Canadian government minister. ... Can't we hurry up and get down to the business of wrecking the earth already? ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Dec 30, 2013 from InsideClimate News: Public Outrage Over Climate Inaction Reaches Fever Pitch in 2013 Frustrated by years of waiting on politicians to reduce American dependence on climate-changing fossil fuels, an unprecedented number of citizen activists rallied to send a message in 2013: Enough is enough. Thousands of chanting marchers took to the streets, from Washington D.C. to San Francisco, urging policymakers to take action against global warming. They wanted Congress to end the inertia that has built-up over climate policy. They wanted help protecting themselves from climate threats like Superstorm Sandy. They also wanted President Obama to reject the Keystone XL pipeline... ... About time. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Dec 16, 2013 from Reuters: Keystone XL pipeline loses support from U.S. customer Continental Resources, one of the companies that has committed to ship crude on TransCanada Corp's proposed Keystone XL pipeline, now says the controversial pipeline is no longer needed. Continental has signed on to ship some 35,000 barrels of its own oil from the Bakken field of North Dakota on the 1,179-mile, $5.4-billion Keystone XL line. But construction of the pipeline has been delayed for years as TransCanada has sought regulatory approvals, and Continental has since turned to railroads to get its crude to oil refineries...The largest U.S. railroads will likely transport about 400,000 carloads of crude oil in 2013, versus just 9,500 in 2008, according to estimates from the Association of American Railroads. ... At our current trajectory we will all end up tramps on those trains. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Dec 11, 2013 from Politico: John Podesta will recuse himself from Keystone, White House aide says In news sure to deflate the hopes of climate activists, green energy advocate John Podesta will recuse himself from issues related to the Keystone XL oil pipeline when he begins working as a special adviser to President Barack Obama, a White House aide confirmed to POLITICO late Tuesday. Environmentalists had spent Tuesday cheering the White House's selection of Podesta as an adviser on issues including climate and health care. His opposition to the pipeline is well known, fueling speculation that his new role portended a rejection of the project -- much to the dismay of Keystone's supporters. ... Squashing the raised hopes of environmentalists will now be called "Pulling a Podesta." ApocaDoc permalink Want more context? Try reading our book FREE online: Humoring the Horror of the Converging Emergencies! More fun than a barrel of jellyfish! Sat, Nov 9, 2013 from Globe and Mail: Oil industry successfully lobbied Ottawa to delay climate regulations, e-mails show In e-mails the Alberta government released under Access to Information, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers warns against the province's proposal that oil-sands companies be forced to gradually cut emissions per barrel by 40 per cent, and pay a $40 levy for every tonne in excess their target. That would add $1 to the cost of producing every barrel.... Greenpeace Canada researcher Keith Stewart questioned CAPP's insistence that a $1-per-barrel carbon tax would seriously undermine the oil sands' competitiveness. He noted that, in the debate over the Keystone XL project, the industry has said approval of the pipeline would not affect investment or production levels in the oil sands because companies would turn to rail to move crude, which would cost $5 more per barrel. "The industry in these documents is clearly saying delay, delay, delay and then do as little as possible," Mr. Stewart said on Friday. "And the federal government seems to be taking that as marching orders." ... Delaying the inevitable regulatory response to climate catastrophe is an investment in the present. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Oct 31, 2013 from New York Times: Looking for a Way Around Keystone XL, Canadian Oil Hits the Rails HOUSTON -- Over the past two years, environmentalists have chained themselves to the White House fence and otherwise coalesced around stopping the Keystone XL pipeline as their top priority in the fight against global warming. But even if President Obama rejects the pipeline, it might not matter much. Oil companies are already building rail terminals to deliver oil from western Canada to the United States, and even to Asia. ... Hell-bent to wreck the earth. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Oct 31, 2013 from Bloomberg: North Dakota Oil Spill Spotlights Obama Delay on Rules Three years after an oil pipeline rupture in Michigan spilled 843,000 gallons of sludge, government regulators still haven't produced promised rules to compel operators to detect leaks. An oil spill in North Dakota last month and the continued debate over construction of TransCanada Corp. (TRP)'s Keystone XL Pipeline have led to renewed criticism to the government's inaction on safety measures... The issue has entered the contentious debate over TransCanada's proposal to build the Keystone pipeline from Alberta to the Gulf of Mexico. Supporters say pipelines are safer than shipping oil by train, truck or barge, and point to the July explosion of a runaway train carrying oil through Quebec that killed 47 people. Critics point to leaks or ruptures in Michigan, Arkansas and now North Dakota to say the lines aren't nearly as safe as proponents argue. ... Fossil fuels ... just ain't safe. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Oct 21, 2013 from InsideClimate News: Why Is Exxon Taking Its Time Restarting Its Ruptured Dilbit Pipeline? In the six months since an ExxonMobil pipeline unleashed Canadian oil in an Arkansas neighborhood, nearby residents have had much to endure -- the muck and stench of heavy crude, lengthy evacuations, sickness and economic loss... Exxon, meanwhile, is not pressing to restart the line. Even though the lengthy outage is costing the company as much as $450,000 a day in lost revenue -- totaling as much as $90 million so far -- Exxon is proceeding slowly, conducting additional tests and digging down to the pipeline in places to assess its condition. That caution could reflect fears that the Pegasus problems might be systemic and costly to solve. But analysts say Exxon also is mindful that additional leaks could sink its chances of salvaging the line for good and also undermine public support for new pipeline projects such as the controversial Keystone XL. ... Perhaps they've been smoking that pipe. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Sep 23, 2013 from Lincoln Journal Star: Barn goes up in pipeline's path It was a windy day Sunday for an outdoor event, but Terri Harrington wasn't complaining. "I think God is trying to tell us to do something with the wind," Harrington said as she celebrated the completion of a barn-raising on her land 65 miles west of Lincoln that features both wind and solar energy generation. Another attraction of the new barn, as she sees it, is that it's directly in the path of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline. ... Now that's a barn-raisin' we all should celebrate. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Aug 5, 2013 from Washington Post: Nebraska trial could delay Keystone XL pipeline While environmentalists, energy executives and elected officials across North America await the State Department's critical decision on the Keystone XL pipeline, a little-noticed trial scheduled for next month in Nebraska could spell problems for the $5.3 billion project. Despite two attempts by Nebraska's attorney general to have the case thrown out, Lancaster County District Court Judge Stephanie Stacy has set a Sept. 27 trial date for arguments in a lawsuit that contends the state legislature unconstitutionally gave Gov. Dave Heineman (R) authority to approve the pipeline route. A win for the plaintiffs -- three Nebraska landowners who oppose the pipeline -- would force TransCanada, the company that wants to build the 1,179-mile northern leg of the project, to go through the entire siting process again. Even supporters do not believe that would permanently block the project, but it could add years to the timeline. ... This could be the kidneystone of the Keystone project. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Jul 18, 2013 from The Hill: Hoeven predicts efficiency bill will collapse without Keystone pipeline attached Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) predicted Wednesday that bipartisan energy efficiency legislation heading to the Senate floor faces a grim future unless it eventually includes language to advance the Keystone XL oil pipeline. A broad energy efficiency bill sponsored by Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio) is believed to be coming to the Senate floor in late July. Hoeven, who is weighing offering a Keystone amendment to the bill, said there's not enough Republican support for the legislation on Capitol Hill unless it includes Keystone. ... Dude, we are all facing a grim future. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Jul 17, 2013 from DeSmogBlog: Keystone XL Conflict of Interest: Obama Attorney's Law Firm Represents TransCanada A recent DeSmogBlog investigation reveals that Robert Bauer, former White House Counsel and President Obama's personal attorney, works at the corporate law firm Perkins Coie LLP, which does legal work for TransCanada's South Central Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) Project, formerly known as Alaska Gas Pipeline Project. Furthermore, Dan Sullivan, current Commissioner of Alaska's Department of Natural Resources, and former Alaska Attorney General and former Assistant Secretary of State in the Bush Administration, is also a former Perkins attorney. ... It's as if everybody's in bed together! ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Jun 3, 2013 from Bloomberg: TransCanada CEO says Keystone aids jobs and environment TransCanada Corp. (TRP)'s proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline would benefit U.S. employment and support efforts to tackle climate change, according to the company's Chief Executive Officer Russ Girling. ... And smoking is good for you, too! ApocaDoc permalink Wed, May 1, 2013 from Los Angeles Times: Mark Zuckerberg's Fwd.us in heated controversy over political ads Mark Zuckerberg is being unfriended by progressives angered by television ads from his political advocacy group Fwd.us that praise lawmakers for supporting the expansion of the Keystone XL oil pipeline and drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.... Though none of the ads suggest that Zuckerberg or Facebook support these policies, that distinction may be lost on the general public. ... The general public is too busy being on Facebook to delve into the nuances of anything. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Apr 29, 2013 from InsideClimate News: State Department Will Make Keystone Public Comments Public After All A State Department official confirmed that for the first time the department will make public all the public comments received on its draft environmental impact statement for the Keystone XL pipeline.... the comments would be posted on Regulations.gov. ... Now that they've had a chance for correct for grammar, etc. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Apr 23, 2013 from Los Angeles Times: EPA criticizes environmental review of Keystone XL pipeline The Environmental Protection Agency on Monday criticized the State Department's environmental impact review of the Keystone XL pipeline, saying there was not enough evidence to back up key conclusions on gas emissions, safety and alternative routes. In a letter to top State Department officials, the agency said it had "environmental objections" to their review, which concluded the pipeline would have minimal impact on the environment. The analysis could complicate efforts to win approval for the controversial $7-billion project. ... Ooo-boy! Gonna be some fisticuffs at the Fed! ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Apr 16, 2013 from Public Citizen: New Report Finds: Keystone XL Would Increase Gas Prices and Reduce National Security The proposed Keystone XL pipeline is likely to increase gas prices contradicting claims by pipeline proponents, a new Public Citizen report finds. Public Citizen also concluded that because the Keystone pipeline is designed to promote exports from Canadian tar sands, it will reduce national energy security -- not bolster it, as pipeline backers claim. The report, America Can't Afford the Keystone Pipeline, documents rapidly increasing Chinese national government interests in Canadian tar sands, further confounding security claims. ... Helloooo. Keystone is supposed to benefit the rich and politicians they support. ApocaDoc permalink You're still reading! Good for you! You really should read our short, funny, frightening book FREE online (or buy a print copy): Humoring the Horror of the Converging Emergencies! We've been quipping this stuff for more than 30 months! Every day! Which might explain why we don't get invited to parties anymore. Tue, Apr 9, 2013 from Planet Ark: Greens ask U.S. to delay Keystone decision after Arkansas leak Environmental groups on Monday asked the Obama administration to extend the approval process of the Keystone XL pipeline, using last month's spill of heavy Canadian crude oil in Arkansas as their latest reason to delay the project. The Obama administration is deciding whether to approve the Canada-to-Nebraska leg of TransCanada Corp's proposed pipeline, which would link Canada's oil sands, the world's third richest crude oil deposit, to refineries in Texas. The State Department, which issued a draft environmental assessment of the $5.3 billion project on March 1, indicated then that a final decision could come by July or August. ... Remember the Mayflower! ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Apr 8, 2013 from TomDispatch: Is the Keystone XL Pipeline the "Stonewall" of the Climate Movement? ...Recently, I had a long talk with an administration insider who kept telling me that, for the next decade, we should focus all our energies on "killing coal." Why? Because it was politically feasible. And indeed we should, but climate-change science makes it clear that we need to put the same sort of thought and creative energy into killing oil and natural gas, too. I mean, the Arctic -- from Greenland to its seas -- essentially melted last summer in a way never before seen. The frozen Arctic is like a large physical feature. It's as if you woke up one morning and your left arm was missing.... ... And, the missing arm returned to choke you to death! ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Apr 3, 2013 from InsideClimate News: At Oil Spill Cleanup in Arkansas, Exxon Running the Show, Not Federal Agencies ...The town of 2,000 people is now suddenly the focus of national attention in the divisive debate over whether President Obama should approve the Keystone XL, a $5 billion pipeline to ship Alberta's heavy crude to U.S. refineries along the Texas coast. The stakes are high and Exxon is running the show here, with federal agencies so far publicly invisible. ... They'd just get in the way. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Apr 1, 2013 from Washington Post: Exxon Mobil pipeline leaks "a few thousand" barrels of crude oil in Arkansas Exxon Mobil said that one of its pipelines leaked "a few thousandā€ barrels of Canadian heavy crude oil near Mayflower, Ark., prompting the evacuation of 22 homes and reinforcing concerns many critics have raised about the Keystone XL pipeline that is awaiting State Department approval. The pipeline breach took place late Friday, Exxon said, in the 20-inch diameter, 95,000-barrel-a-day Pegasus pipeline, which originates in Patoka, Ill., and carries crude oil to the Texas Gulf Coast, the country's main refining center. Mayflower is about 25 miles north of Little Rock. ... What's the problem? It's just Arkansas. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Mar 25, 2013 from InsideClimate News: Keystone Public Comments Won't Be Made Public, State Department Says When the State Department hired a contractor to produce the latest environmental impact statement for the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, it asked for a Web-based electronic docket to record public comments as they flowed in each day. Thousands of comments are expected to be filed by people and businesses eager to influence the outcome of the intense international debate over the project ... But the only way to see the comments themselves is by filing a request under the Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, a process that can take so long that the Keystone debate could be over before the documents are made available. ... Imagine if we could harness the power of secrecy for our energy needs. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Mar 12, 2013 from Truthout: Tar Sands Resistance Escalates in Massachusetts The national week of actions against the Keystone XL pipeline called for by the nonviolent direct action group Tar Sands Blockade is supposed to run from March 16-23. Activists in Massachusetts decided they wanted to turn up the heat a little early. On Monday, March 11, 2013, at about 10:30 AM, over 100 protesters stormed the Massachusetts offices of TransCanada, the company that stands to profit most from the pipeline's construction. After two hours, 26 people were arrested for handcuffing their bodies together, blockading the entrance and refusing to leave until the pipeline project was abandoned. The action was billed as a Funeral for Our Future and included somber songs, construction paper flowers and a homemade coffin. This was the third protest as part of an escalating direct action campaign in Westborough, Massachusetts, targeting the TransCanada offices there. ... It's getting hot in here so take off all your clothes. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Mar 12, 2013 from Grist: 'State Department' Keystone XL Report Actually Written By TransCanada Contractor The State Department's "don't worry" environmental impact statement for the proposed Keystone XL tarsands pipeline, released late Friday afternoon, was written not by government officials but by a private company in the pay of the pipeline's owner. The "sustainability consultancy"  Environmental Resources Management (ERM) was paid an undisclosed amount under contract to TransCanada to write the statement, which is now an official government document. The statement estimates, and then dismisses, the pipeline's massive carbon footprint and other environmental impacts, because, it asserts, the mining and burning of the tar sands is unstoppable. ... This isn't a conflict of interest, it's a confluence of interest. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Mar 11, 2013 from New York Times: No to Keystone. Yes to Crazy. I HOPE the president turns down the Keystone XL oil pipeline. (Who wants the U.S. to facilitate the dirtiest extraction of the dirtiest crude from tar sands in Canada's far north?) But I don't think he will. So I hope that Bill McKibben and his 350.org coalition go crazy. I'm talking chain-themselves-to-the-White-House-fence-stop-traffic-at-the-Capitol kind of crazy, because I think if we all make enough noise about this, we might be able to trade a lousy Keystone pipeline for some really good systemic responses to climate change. We don't get such an opportunity often -- namely, a second-term Democratic president who is under heavy pressure to approve a pipeline to create some jobs but who also has a green base that he can't ignore. So cue up the protests, and pay no attention to people counseling rational and mature behavior. ... We're already crazy in love with Mother Earth! ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Mar 6, 2013 from InsideClimate News: Critical Part of Keystone Report Done by Firms with Deep Oil Industry Ties The State Department's recent conclusion that the Keystone XL pipeline "is unlikely to have a substantial impact" on the rate of Canada's oil sands development was based on analysis provided by two consulting firms with ties to oil and pipeline companies that could benefit from the proposed project. EnSys Energy has worked with ExxonMobil, BP and Koch Industries, which own oil sands production facilities and refineries in the Midwest that process heavy Canadian crude oil. Imperial Oil, one of Canada's largest oil sands producers, is a subsidiary of Exxon. ICF International works with pipeline and oil companies but doesn't list specific clients on its website. It declined to comment on the Keystone, referring questions to the State Department. ... That fox we hired to guard hen house? He's eating all the hens! ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Mar 5, 2013 from New York Times: Cabinet Picks Could Take On Climate Policy President Obama on Monday named two people to his cabinet who will be charged with making good on his threat to use the powers of the executive branch to tackle climate change and energy policy if Congress does not act quickly... The appointments, which require Senate confirmation, send an unmistakable signal that the president intends to mount a multifaceted campaign in his second term to tackle climate change by using all the executive branch tools at his disposal. But even with Ms. McCarthy and Mr. Moniz in place, Mr. Obama would have to confront major hurdles in trying to refashion the American way of producing and consuming energy, the same hurdles that stymied climate and energy policy in his first term. Among the first of those is a decision on the Keystone XL pipeline, which the administration appears inclined to approve over the vociferous objections of environmental advocates. ... Thank goodness he's hired people to bullshit us if he says yes to Keystone. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Mar 5, 2013 from Minneapolis Star Tribune: Canadian crude oil finds a new pathway through Minnesota If President Obama rejects the Keystone XL pipeline, large quantities of the Canadian oil it's designed to carry will still roll into the United States -- on railroads with tracks through Minnesota. The proposed pipeline across Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska has provoked opposition from environmental activists who say extraction of crude oil from tar sands increases greenhouse gases that cause global warming. As anti-pipeline groups have pressed the White House to kill the project, the oil and railroad industries have been building oil-loading terminals and buying tank cars to ship Canadian crude oil by rail. ... The show must go on. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Mar 4, 2013 from Associated Press: Climate-change activists jeer as U.S. report says Keystone XL pipeline would have no major environmental impacts A new U.S. State Department report is the latest evidence that the long-delayed Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada should be approved, supporters say. The draft report, issued Friday, finds there would be no significant environmental impact to most resources along the proposed route from western Canada to refineries in Texas. The report also said other options to get the oil from Canada to Gulf Coast refineries are worse for climate change.... The State Department analysis for the first time evaluated two options using rail: shipping the oil on trains to existing pipelines or to oil tankers. The report shows that those other methods would release more greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming than the pipeline. The Keystone XL pipeline, according to the report, would release annually the same amount of global warming pollution as 626,000 passenger cars. ... Pity the antiquated thinking of our so-called leaders. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Feb 25, 2013 from Politico: Sierra Club goes bolder in climate fight After 121 years of lobbying, letter-writing campaigns and law-abiding protests, the Sierra Club is retooling itself for the flash-mob age -- and showing an increasingly aggressive edge. That edge was on display last week, when the Sierra Club's two top leaders and 46 other climate activists zip-tied themselves to the White House gates to protest the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline. The organization called it the first time it had suspended its decades-long policy against club-sanctioned civil disobedience. ... Mother Earth approves of this kind of disobedience. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Feb 21, 2013 from Associated Press: TransCanada: Pipeline would not affect climate In a shift in strategy, the company that wants to build an oil pipeline from western Canada to Texas said Tuesday that the project will have no measurable effect on global warming. Alex Pourbaix, TransCanada's president for energy and oil pipelines, said opponents of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline have grossly inflated its likely impact on emissions of greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. ... So it was just a nightmare, after all! ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Feb 19, 2013 from Indiana Living Green: Forward on Climate march draws tens of thousands Tens of thousands of earth inhabitants converged upon the capital of the United State of America for the Forward on Climate march, Sunday, Feb. 17. Organized by the Sierra club, 350.org, and the Hip Hop Caucus, among others, the march had a two-fold purpose, intimately connected. One, to support President Obama's dramatic remarks addressing climate change in his State of the Union address. Two, specifically, to encourage him to prevent the Keystone XL pipeline from coming to fruition. Speakers included 350.org's Bill McKibben, Sierra Club's Michael Brune, Van Jones and Rev. Lennox Yearwood. It was a frigid day, fodder for the climate change deniers farting into their Barcaloungers at home. ... Better farting into Barcaloungers than flying to Florida and golfing with Tiger! ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Feb 11, 2013 from Politico: John Kerry mum on Keystone XL pipeline Secretary of State John Kerry and his Canadian counterpart refused to offer hints Friday about the biggest economic decision facing their countries: the fate of the Keystone XL pipeline. But they stressed that the U.S. and Canada agree on a host of economic and environmental causes -- including climate change, the same issue that has motivated many of Keystone's green opponents to try to kill the project. ... John Kerry to kill Keystone project: JK! ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Feb 4, 2013 from EcoWatch: BREAKING: Oklahoma Resident Locks Herself to Equipment to Protest Tar Sands Pipeline Early this morning, Norman, Oklahoma resident Elizabeth Leja locked her neck to equipment used in constructing the Keystone XL pipeline. Citing concerns for Oklahoma's waterways and their importance for the health of future generations, her actions have halted construction at the site on Highway 62, just North of the North Canadian River, for the day. The Gulf Coast Project is the Southern segment of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, a $7 billion project by multinational TransCanada.... The tar sands mining project in Northern Alberta is the largest industrial project in the history of humankind, which when fully realized will have destroyed pristine boreal forest and left a toxic wasteland the size of New York State. ... This is not nearly as big as our main industrial project which is to wreck planet Earth! ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Jan 24, 2013 from Omaha World-Herald: Heineman approves Keystone XL route; pipeline's fate back in Obama's hands Gov. Dave Heineman delighted supporters and deflated opponents of the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline Tuesday when he approved a new route through Nebraska, saying the project represents a minimal environmental threat while holding substantial economic promise. ... Such myopia is to be admired. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Jan 7, 2013 from InsideClimate News: The Year Ahead in Keystone XL: Climate Worry Introduces Big Unknown After years of protests and lobbying, the Obama administration is expected to decide within months on the fate of the 1,200-mile Keystone XL oil pipeline. The State Department is finalizing a supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS) for the project, which would ship tar sands oil from Canada, through America's heartland, and to the Gulf Coast via other pipelines.... For most of 2012, climate disappeared from the political agenda -- including from the administration's discussions of the Keystone XL -- but the issue unexpectedly gained the national spotlight post-Sandy. It remains unclear how, or whether, global warming will be addressed in the forthcoming SEIS and, more generally, by Obama in his second term. ... Let's hope for another disaster! Oh, wait... ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Dec 19, 2012 from Bloomberg News: Keystone Protesters Pay Price for Camping in Texas Trees Protesters trying to save the world by sitting in trees or blocking equipment used to build the Keystone XL oil pipeline are learning that environmental activism can be a ticket to lengthy jail time in East Texas. Matthew Almonte, Glen Collins and Isabel Brooks landed in jail in Tyler on Dec. 3, charged with misdemeanor criminal trespass, resisting arrest and illegal dumping, following efforts to stop work on the TransCanada Corp. (TRP) pipeline. Each has asked for a reduction in the $65,000 bond that must be posted to get out pending trial, without success.... "Gangs of tree sitters who trespass and defecate on landowners' property don't understand Texas values and culture," Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson said in an essay posted on his website in October. He called the protesters "a bunch of out-of-state, self-appointed eco-anarchists." ... Texas values = me making my money. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Sep 25, 2012 from Houston Chronicle: Activists climb trees in Keystone XL's Texas path A group of environmentalists standing on tree platforms and branches attempted Monday to head off work in northeast Texas for the southern portion of the Keystone XL oil pipeline. Stationed as high as 80 feet above the ground on land near Winnsboro, the eight protesters held a banner reading "You Shall Not Pass" as they waited in the path of contractors for TransCanada, which is building the pipeline. ... Perhaps everyone can get together and watch Avatar. ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Aug 19, 2012 from LA Times, via InsideClimateNews: Keystone XL Construction Met with Protests in Texas, Oklahoma The Canadian pipeline company TransCanada has quietly begun construction of the southern leg of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, installing segments near Livingston, Texas, company officials confirmed Thursday. "Construction started on Aug. 9. So we've now started construction in Texas," TransCanada spokesman Shawn Howard told the Los Angeles Times. The southern section of the pipeline received government approval in July. The first in a series of protests also was launched Thursday as opponents of the pipeline, designed to eventually carry diluted bitumen from the tar sands of northern Canada to refineries on the Texas Gulf Coast, unfurled protest banners at two equipment staging yards in Texas and Oklahoma. "We just wanted to demonstrate that although they might be ready to begin, we would be ready to meet them," Ron Seifert, spokesman for Tar Sands Blockade, said in an interview. ... Surely there's no cause for protest, when the pipeline connects to nothing, right? ApocaDoc permalink Mon, May 28, 2012 from InsideClimate News: Why Tar Sands Oil Is More Polluting and Why It Matters The debate over the Keystone XL oil pipeline heated up again last week after the Congressional Research Service issued a report saying the project could raise U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 21 million metric tons a year -- the equivalent of adding 4 million cars to the road. The Congressional Research Service is a branch of the Library of Congress that conducts policy analysis for lawmakers on Capitol Hill. Released last Tuesday -- less than two weeks after TransCanada re-applied for a permit to build the Keystone XL -- the report found that crude oil produced from Canadian oil sands (also known as tar sands) emits 14 to 20 percent more planet-warming gases than the conventional oil that is typically found in U.S. refineries. ... Whoever created this report should be tar sandsed and feathered. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Feb 28, 2012 from Los Angeles Times: Canadian firm to proceed with southern leg of Keystone pipeline The Keystone XL battle isn't over. The Canadian company behind the controversial pipeline announced Monday that it would proceed immediately with a shorter version of the project south of Oklahoma -- even as it seeks a new permit for the segment through the northern U.S. Opponents immediately vowed to fight on both fronts.... The southern segment of the pipeline would extend from Cushing, Okla., which already has a glut of crude oil, to refineries on the Texas Gulf Coast; those refineries now import much of their oil from abroad. ... If you build it, they will succumb. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Feb 27, 2012 from Fuel Fix: Americans support Keystone XL pipeline, poll says Americans who have heard about the Keystone XL pipeline overwhelmingly support the proposal to carry Canadian oil across the United States to Gulf Coast refineries, according to a Pew Research poll released Thursday. Among those who knew about the pipeline, 66 percent said the federal government should approve the project. The poll found only 23 percent opposed it. ... Yeah, but Americans also support rampant consumerism and the right to pollute with impunity. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Jan 26, 2012 from NUVO: Questions linger on Keystone XL The day before President Barack Obama rejected TransCanada's request to expand its Keystone pipeline system, a Hoosier engineer received word federal authorities dismissed his claim that he was terminated from the pipeline project for raising safety concerns. The rejections are not deterring either company's or the whistleblower's plans to advance their respective agendas. For TransCanada this means completion of the pipeline. For Michael Klink, a 59-year-old civil engineer from Auburn, Ind., it means that the company will rectify his litany of safety concerns.... Klink discovered foundation problems at the Edinburg station near the Canadian border. He says rebar material was built to the wrong specifications and installed incorrectly, compromising the ability to support a 6,500-horsepower, high-voltage, multi-ton electric motor. Then, without fixing the problem, he said TIC Wyoming, another contractor hired by TransCanada, signed off on the work..."It's not that I'm opposed to pipelines," Klink says. "I'm opposed to this pipeline. They have already built one (Keystone Phase One) and they've proven they can't live up to their own quality standards. They (TransCanada) did the design. They did the specifications and they can't even live up to what they wanted done." ... Don't you think we should listen to politicians instead of engineers? ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Jan 18, 2012 from Washington Post: Obama administration rejects Keystone pipeline President Obama, declaring that he would not bow to congressional pressure, announced Wednesday that he was rejecting a Canadian firm's application for a permit to build and operate the Keystone XL pipeline, a massive project that would have stretched from Canada's oil sands to refineries in Texas. Obama said that a Feb. 21 deadline set by Congress as part of the two-month payroll tax cut extension had made it impossible to do an adequate review of the pipeline project proposed by TransCanada. ... Pipeline procrastinator. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Jan 13, 2012 from US Chamber of Commerce: The State of American Business 2012, Address by Thomas J. Donohue President & CEO, U.S. Chamber of Commerce As we begin 2012, we can say that the state of American business is improving -- but it is doing so weakly, slowly, and insufficiently to put our nation back to work.... Recent discoveries have confirmed that this nation is truly blessed with energy resources. We have 1.4 trillion barrels of oil, enough to last at least 200 years. We have 2.7 quadrillion cubic feet of natural gas, enough to last 120 years. We have 486 billion tons of coal, enough to last more than 450 years -- and we need to use more of this strategic resource cleanly and wisely here at home while selling it around the world. To tap our energy resources, we must speed up permitting and end many of the restrictions that have put key areas off-limits. Instead of handpicking a few technologies, we must harness all our resources, traditional and alternative --while expanding nuclear power and driving greater efficiency. Our biggest and most reliable foreign energy supplier is Canada. The proposed Keystone XL pipeline would bring Canadian oil sands down to our Gulf Coast refineries and to other destinations along the way. ... Welcome to the Mouth of the Beast. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Jan 12, 2012 from London Guardian: Oil lobby's financial pressure on Obama over Keystone XL pipeline revealed New analysis of oil industry contributions to members of Congress has revealed the level of the oil lobby's financial firepower that Barack Obama can expect to face in the November elections if he refuses to approve the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. Obama has until 21 February to make a decision on whether to approve the pipeline, under a compromise tax measure approved late last year. America's top oil lobbyist warned last week that the president would face "huge political consequences" if he did not sign off on the project to pump tar sands crude across the American heartland to refineries on the Texas coast. ... If he approves Keystone we'll have to call him Oilbama. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Jan 10, 2012 from Toronto Star: Titanic clash looms over proposed Northern Gateway pipeline A biologist, an energy lawyer and an aboriginal geologist will sit down Tuesday in a recreation centre in the wilderness of northern British Columbia to initiate what could be the fiercest environmental standoff ever seen in Canada. Before the hearings in B.C. and Alberta are completed next year, more than 4,000 people are expected to appear before the three-member panel vetting the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline from Alberta through the Rockies to the B.C. coast. Like the now-stalled Keystone XL project in the United States, the planned pipeline to carry tarsands-derived crude oil across the mountains to a new supertanker port in northern B.C. is shaping up as a titanic clash of economic and environmental imperatives. ... The other pipeline. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Jan 4, 2012 from Canadian Press: Keystone 'whistleblower' alleges shoddy materials along original pipeline A former inspector for a company that did work on TransCanada's original Keystone pipeline is accusing the Calgary-based company of a cavalier disregard for the environment. Mike Klink was an engineer for construction company Bechtel Corp., a contractor that worked on the first portion of the Keystone pipeline that carries Alberta oilsands crude to refineries in the American Midwest. It was completed in 2010; the controversial Keystone XL would extend that pipeline to Gulf Coast refineries... Klink says he raised a series of concerns about alleged sub-standard materials and poor craftsmanship along the Keystone pipeline.... TransCanada spokesman Terry Cunha disputed Klink's assertions, saying he "appears to have made a number of allegations against his previous employer and others, none of which have been proven." The Indiana man says he was fired by Bechtel as a result... ... In opposition to Klink, TransCanada is tantamount to Sergeant Schultz crying "I know nothing... NOTHING!" ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Dec 13, 2011 from Los Angeles Times: Vermont Law School's Top 10 Environmental Watch List for 2012 Vermont Law School, which has one of the top-ranked environmental law programs in the country, just released its second annual Top 10 Environmental Watch List of issues and developments that should be closely followed in 2012. Top of the list? Republican attacks on the Environmental Protection Agency. According to an innovative online database set up by L.A.'s own Rep. Henry Waxman, there have been 170 anti-environmental votes under the Republican majority in the 112th Congress, and 91 of them attacked the EPA. Other hot topics on the watch list include that same EPA and the White House clashing over ozone standards, the activist effort to stop the Keystone XL pipeline, and landmark settlements under the Endangered Species Act. ... Actually, top of the list: Republicans' farts; they're way worse than Democrats' farts. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Dec 8, 2011 from Indiana Public Media: Senator Lugar Introduces Bill To Approve Keystone Pipeline Senator Richard Lugar, R-Ind., is leading a charge to push the construction of an oil pipeline through Congress. The North American Energy Security Act would force the Obama administration to issue a construction permit for the Keystone XL pipeline within 60 days of the bill's passage. Lugar says the pipeline, which would bring Canadian crude oil directly to gulf coast refineries, is a "shovel ready" jobs project that would also reduce America's dependence on foreign oil from the Middle East and Venezuela. ... My shovel's ready to clean up oil spills. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Nov 11, 2011 from New York Times: U.S. Delays Decision on Pipeline Until After Election The Obama administration, under sharp pressure from officials in Nebraska and restive environmental activists, announced Thursday that it would review the route of the disputed Keystone XL oil pipeline, effectively delaying any decision about its fate until after the 2012 election. The State Department said in a statement that it was ordering a review of alternate routes to avoid the environmentally sensitive Sand Hills region of Nebraska, which would have been put at risk by a rupture of the 1,700-mile pipeline carrying a heavy form of crude extracted from oil sands formations in Alberta to refineries in Oklahoma and the Gulf Coast. ... In this case, delay is progress. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Nov 7, 2011 from San Francisco Chronicle: PG&E pipe ruptures, causing I-280 landslide A Pacific Gas and Electric Co. natural gas pipeline ruptured Sunday afternoon during a high-pressure water test that ripped a hole in a Peninsula hillside, sending a deluge of mud and rocks onto Interstate 280 and partially closing the freeway for four hours. The pipeline is the same one that exploded in San Bruno last year, killing eight people and destroying 38 homes. ... Thank goodness the Keystone XL Pipeline will be indestructible! ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Oct 5, 2011 from InsideClimate News: Koch Subsidiary Told Regulators It Has 'Direct and Substantial Interest' in Keystone XL A document filed with Canada's Energy Board appears to cast doubt on claims by Koch Industries that it has no interest in the controversial pipeline. In recent months Koch Industries Inc., the business conglomerate run by billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, has repeatedly told a U.S. Congressional committee and the news media that the proposed Keystone XL oil sands pipeline has "nothing to do with any of our businesses." But the company has told Canadian energy regulators a different story. In 2009, Flint Hills Resources Canada LP, an Alberta-based subsidiary of Koch Industries, applied for -- and won -- "intervenor status" in the National Energy Board hearings that led to Canada's 2010 approval of its 327-mile portion of the pipeline. The controversial project would carry heavy crude 1,700 miles from Alberta to the Texas Gulf Coast. ... It seems the Koch brothers are giving apoca-lip service on this issue. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Sep 27, 2011 from Washington Post: Keystone pipeline opponents pin hopes on Nebraska Environmentalists hoping to block a proposed underground oil pipeline that would snake 1,700 miles from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico have pinned their hopes on an unlikely ally -- the conservative state of Nebraska. Few states are as red as Nebraska, which hasn't supported a Democratic presidential candidate since 1964. But opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline has risen steadily since the project was proposed three years ago... Many in the public are hostile to the idea, too. When a pipeline company logo was displayed on a stadium screen during a recent Nebraska Cornhuskers game, boos rained down from the crowd of 85,000. ... Soon this pipeline will be nothing but a pipedream. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Aug 30, 2011 from Desmogblog: Infographic Shows how Keystone Pipelines are 'Built to Spill' Since commencing operation in June of 2010, the Keystone I pipeline has suffered more spills than any other 1st year pipeline in U.S. history. In addition to a nasty spill record, the proposed Keystone XL will cross one of the largest aquifers in the world - the Ogallala - which supplies drinking water to millions and provides 30 percent of the nation's groundwater used for irrigation. Pipeline construction will also disrupt 20,782 acres, including 11,485 acres of native and modified grassland, rangeland and pastureland, and pipeline construction will threaten sensitive wildlife and aquatic species habitats. According to the EPA, carbon emissions from tar sands crude are approximately 82 percent higher than the average crude refined in the U.S. Given the extremely toxic nature of tar sands bitumen and the fact that Keystone is TransCanada's first wholly owned pipeline in the U.S., it seems reasonable to look to TransCanada's performance with Keystone I for clues on how it would manage Keystone XL. And the clues are telling. ... I'm confident they'll self-regulate! ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Aug 23, 2011 from New York Times: Tar Sands and the Carbon Numbers This page opposes the building of a 1,700-mile pipeline called the Keystone XL, which would carry diluted bitumen -- an acidic crude oil -- from Canada's Alberta tar sands to the Texas Gulf Coast. We have two main concerns: the risk of oil spills along the pipeline, which would traverse highly sensitive terrain, and the fact that the extraction of petroleum from the tar sands creates far more greenhouse emissions than conventional production does. The Canadian government insists that it has found ways to reduce those emissions. But a new report from Canada's environmental ministry shows how great the impact of the tar sands will be in the coming years, even with cleaner production methods. It projects that Canada will double its current tar sands production over the next decade to more than 1.8 million barrels a day. That rate will mean cutting down some 740,000 acres of boreal forest -- a natural carbon reservoir. Extracting oil from tar sands is also much more complicated than pumping conventional crude oil out of the ground. It requires steam-heating the sands to produce a petroleum slurry, then further dilution. One result of this process, the ministry says, is that greenhouse gas emissions from the oil and gas sector as a whole will rise by nearly one-third from 2005 to 2020... ... Sometimes it seems as if we want to destroy our world. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Aug 23, 2011 from Toronto Globe and Mail: Dozens arrested outside White House during oil sands protest A Canadian woman was among as many as 50 environmental activists handcuffed and taken to jail Sunday on the second day of peaceful White House protests against TransCanada Corp.'s controversial Keystone XL pipeline. Fifty protesters are already in a downtown D.C. jail following their arrests outside the White House on Saturday, the opening day of a two-week civil disobedience campaign.... President Barack Obama will decide by the end of the year whether to allow Calgary-based TransCanada to build the controversial, $7-billion (U.S.) pipeline. It would transport millions of barrels of Alberta oil sands crude a week through the American heartland and to Gulf Coast refineries. Opponents say Keystone is an environmental disaster waiting to happen, pointing to a number of recent spills along pipelines. They also oppose Alberta's oil sands due to their high greenhouse gas emissions. Advocates, meantime, say the pipeline will create thousands of American jobs amid a lingering recession, and will also help end U.S. dependence on Middle Eastern oil. ... Someday soon, we'll all have jobs dying of the heat. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Jul 13, 2011 from LA Times: WikiLeaks behind-the-scenes politics of oil pipeline from Canada But a 2009 cable from the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa suggests the scale may have already been tipped. The cable, obtained by WikiLeaks, describes the State Department's then-energy envoy, David Goldwyn, as having "alleviated" Canadian officials' concerns about getting their crude into the U.S. It also said he had instructed them in improving "oil sands messaging," including "increasing visibility and accessibility of more positive news stories." Goldwyn now works on Canadian oil sands issues at Sutherland, a Washington lobbying firm, and recently testified before Congress in favor of building the 36-inch underground pipeline, Keystone XL. Environmentalists and industry experts say the cable is among several examples from unguarded moments and public documents that signal the administration's willingness to push ahead with the controversial pipeline, even as its agencies conduct environmental and economic reviews.... Keystone XL would thread through the vast Ogallala aquifer, the main drinking water source for the U.S. Midwest. The Keystone I system has had a dozen leaks in the last year, stoking fears of a spill in the aquifer from the new pipeline. More environmental concerns arose this month after an ExxonMobil pipeline leaked up to 42,000 gallons into the Yellowstone River in Montana, under which Keystone XL would also run. Keystone XL's backers dismiss the environmental claims as overblown and contend that the oil industry is working hard in Alberta on land reclamation and reducing emissions. TransCanada has said that the Keystone I spills were small and easily cleaned up. Environmentalists remain skeptical. ... Don't worry, partner. We'll put the "eh" in "right of w'eh" for ya. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Jun 28, 2011 from SolveClimate: U.S. Climate Protests Shift to Blocking Keystone XL Pipeline Approval Climate activists don't have much to rally around now that Congress is shunning global warming legislation. Energy legislation is stalled and stymied in a Senate where a Democratic caucus has a slim 53-47 advantage. And a GOP majority in the House is unveiling any and every tactic to dismantle the Environmental Protection Agency's ability to deploy the Clean Air Act. McKibben and his allies figure the $7 billion Keystone XL -- which was barely on their environmental radar screen a year ago -- could be a galvanizer because the 1,702-mile underground pipeline would be a "fuse to the biggest carbon bomb on the planet." "If the tar sands are thrown into the mix it is essentially game over," Hansen, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration climatologist, explained about reclaiming a stable climate. "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."... "We don't expect or demand miracles out of politicians. That's not part of the contract," he continued. "But once in a while they get to make a straight-up decision and Keystone XL is one of those. This one is more like tee ball. It's sitting on the stand and Obama can choose to hit it or not."... "Twenty years of patiently explaining the climate crisis to our leaders hasn't worked," states the letter he co-authored. "Maybe moral witness will help." One prerequisite is that the demonstrators ditch Birkenstocks, torn jeans and tie-dyed T-shirts for button-down, business attire. "We need to be able to get across to people who the conservatives are and who the radicals are," McKibben said. "People need to understand how radical it is to change the composition of the atmosphere."... "It's incumbent on those who have spent our whole lives spewing carbon into the atmosphere to do something about it," McKibben concluded. "Most had interesting first acts in their lives that involved the civil rights and anti-war movements. That was before becoming preoccupied with other activities, mainly consuming things. ... You're asking me to confirm that a ten-year or twenty-year time horizon is more important than a next-quarter horizon. How crazy is that? ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Jun 27, 2011 from The ApocaDocs: Pre-Apocalypse News & Info Quiz (PANIQuiz) for week ending June 26, 2011 From the PANIQuiz: 6. What government policy was announced that sacrificed short-term profits for long-term stability? (a.) Canada cast the final vote to finally ban international trade in asbestos. (b.) China announced the "Grandfather's Path" plan to stop supplying "cheap consumer crap" to the world, and only export "cheap solar panels" by 2013. (c.) The Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada to Texas was rejected as too much a threat to the Oglala aquifer. (d.) Tanzania scrapped plans to build an asphalt road through migration country. (e.) Implementation of the Toobin Tax, a microtax on financial transactions, to create a climate mitigation fund. ... I'm liking that "Grandfather's Path" plan a lot! ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Jun 23, 2011 from Naomi Klein, Bill McKibben, David Suzuki, Wendell Barry, and others, in CommonDreams: Environmental Leaders Call for Civil Disobedience to Stop the Keystone XL Pipeline The short version is we want you to consider doing something hard: coming to Washington in the hottest and stickiest weeks of the summer and engaging in civil disobedience that will likely get you arrested.... These corporations want to build the so-called 'Keystone XL Pipeline' from Canada's tar sands to Texas refineries. To call this project a horror is serious understatement.... But the Keystone Pipeline would also be a fifteen hundred mile fuse to the biggest carbon bomb on the continent, a way to make it easier and faster to trigger the final overheating of our planet, the one place to which we are all indigenous. How much carbon lies in the recoverable tar sands of Alberta? A recent calculation from some of our foremost scientists puts the figure at about 200 parts per million. Even with the new pipeline they won't be able to burn that much overnight--but each development like this makes it easier to get more oil out. As the climatologist Jim Hansen (one of the signatories to this letter) explained, if we have any chance of getting back to a stable climate "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." In other words, he added, "if the tar sands are thrown into the mix it is essentially game over." ... Let us lay waste to civilization, or we won't let you get re-elected. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Oct 18, 2010 from AP: Canada-US pipeline on hold amid oil's recent woes The steel is staged, and crews are waiting to lay the last and most expensive leg of TransCanada Corp.'s multibillion-dollar pipeline network that would carry Canadian oil to refineries along the Gulf Coast. Yet final U.S. government approval for the massive project, once assumed to be on a fast track, is now delayed indefinitely, with little official explanation. The company had hoped to begin laying pipe by the end of the year, but those prospects have dimmed.... The massive pipeline network - about five times the length of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline - is designed to move 1.5 million barrels of Canadian oil daily to U.S. refineries.... Opponents of the Keystone XL project describe the 1,980-mile pipeline as an ecological disaster waiting to happen, and land owners are angry that TransCanada has threatened to use eminent domain to obtain the easements it needs for the project. ... "Eminent domain"!? That pipeline carries the blood of a tyrant. ApocaDoc permalink Copyright 2009 The Apocadocs.com