Your Daily Dose of BuzzFlash at Truthout, via my pal Mark Karlin:

[T]he House passed a bill that is a power grab by the big oil companies, TransCanada pipeline, and Canada to build a fourth more direct Keystone XL pipeline to Steele City, Nebraska.  It would increase capacity and profit, but it is not necessary for the tar sands oil to flow in the US; it already is.As Politico reported on the House vote, “The House approved legislation Wednesday to green-light the Keystone XL oil pipeline (the fourth optional segment), giving Republicans a messaging victory heading into the Memorial Day recess.”

It’s a symbolic victory — and an assertion of big oil power — because Alberta Tar Sands oil is already flowing into the US as revealed by two prominent branch line leaks in Arkansas and Michigan.

On April 29, InsideClimateNews ran a story asking about the toxic Alberta Tar Sands spill in Arkansas:

… When did the pipeline begin leaking? When and how did the oil company find out about it? How quickly did the company act? How much oil spilled from the pipeline’s 22-foot-long gash? And what condition was the line in before it ruptured? [...]

Native American activist Winona Duke recently wrote an op-ed in the Duluth News Tribune warning of expanding the Enbridge pipeline, which is already carrying Alberta Sands oil into the US:

Tar sands oil is 16 times more likely to breach a pipeline than regular crude oil, according to a February 2011 report by the Natural Resources Defense Council, the National Wildlife Federation, Pipeline Safety Trust, and the Sierra Club. [...]

One more time: Enbridge could nearly double how many barrels per day flow through those pipeline veins of the Alberta Clipper. Now consider our ecosystem. Wetlands are like sponges; they soak up everything: the good, the bad and the oil spills. [...]

In the Keystone pipeline case, the administration granted a special permit to TransCanada. The waiver allows the proposed pipeline to operate at 80 percent of the minimum yield strength of the pipe rather than the maximum of 72 percent required by federal regulations….

[...] The contention of [a] reader with a knowledge of the oil industry is that TransCanada has said it will not transport Alberta tar sands oil unless the new larger capacity northern pipeline is built.

But why then is there a widespread belief that tar sands oil is already being stored up in Cushing, Oklahoma, the Keystone Pipeline hub, pending the opening of the southern leg? [...]

It is already happening. Ask the residents of cities in Arkansas and Michigan for a start.

Please read the entire post here.

(Photo: Wikipedia)

Your Daily Dose of BuzzFlash at Truthout, via my pal Mark Karlin:

Yes, regardless of the earnest civil disobedience of groups and individuals protesting the 4th phase of the Keystone XL Pipeline, the reality is that within a month or two, tar sands oil from Alberta will be mainlining its way to Houston and Port Arthur, Texas.

How can that be, you ask, when President Obama has not yet made an official decision on the Keystone XL Pipeline?

The answer is simple: he has.

When Obama approved what is known as the southern leg of the pipeline the spigot was opened to transport the climate-killing tar sands oil to refineries and ports in Texas – and facilities along the way.  The only issue outstanding is whether Obama will approve a northern branch of the Keystone XL Pipeline that will be more profitable and deliver much more volume than the current stitched together pipeline that is nearing completion.  The southern leg of the pipeline that runs from Cushing, Oklahoma, to Houston and Port Arthur in Texas should be fully constructed, with oil flowing, before Obama might even decide on the northern “express” leg that is a more direct and lucrative option for its owner, TransCanada. [...]

The reality of the nearly finished pipeline dispels the notion that the pending Obama decision about the northern leg of Keystone XL might forestall the ruinous carbon dioxide emissions created by tar sands processing is dismaying.  But it can also be a wake up call that even the most laudable goals to save the planet can become the victim of a diversionary shell game. [...]

What most US citizens don’t know – including most progressives – is that when the southern pipeline segment starts flowing with tar sands oil in a short while, the fuse will have already ignited the bomb.

Please read the entire post here.