Sometimes I get so frustrated and/or disheartened and/or annoyed by some of the news stories of the day that I can’t bring myself to write about them. Here are a few recent reports that made my blood pressure hit the roof. I am avoiding delving into them at length out of concern for my physical and mental health.
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. [...]
“The Environmental Protection Agency’s letter shows that despite multiple tries, the State Department is incapable of doing a proper analysis of the climate, wildlife, clean water, safety and other impacts of this disastrous and unneeded project,” said Jim Murphy, the National Wildlife Federation‘s senior counsel. “President Obama has more than enough information to determine the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline is not in America’s national interest and he should reject it.” [...]
The EPA’s comments are important because a negative analysis of the final State Department report could raise barriers to the project’s approval. The objections could also end up as supporting evidence in litigation against the pipeline if it is approved.
The EPA also calculated that over 50 years, running at full capacity, Keystone could add an additional 936 million metric tons of heat-trapping carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. There is a lot more where that came from at the link.
Sometimes I get so frustrated and/or disheartened and/or annoyed by some of the news stories of the day that I can’t bring myself to write about them. Here are a few recent reports that made my blood pressure hit the roof. I am avoiding delving into them at length out of concern for my physical and mental health.
Sometimes I get so frustrated and/or disheartened and/or annoyed by some of the news stories of the day that I can’t bring myself to write about them. Here are a few recent reports that made my blood pressure hit the roof. I am avoiding delving into them at length out of concern for my physical and mental health.
Three days after an Exxon pipeline in Central Arkansas burst and soaked the town of Mayflower in thousands of barrels of crude oil, the cleanup is ongoing. At last count, 12,000 barrels of tar sands oil and water have been dumped on the small town.
So it goes without saying that my buddy Andy Cobb was all over it. He produces videos o’ snarkitude like nobody else. Watch, laugh, enjoy…
“Exxon has revolutionized the way fuel gets to YOU! We’ll pump that s*** right down your driveway.”
America’s oil industry is terribly misunderstood. When a lot of people hear “364 pipeline spills in 2012″ they think it’s a big mess, like a nearly realized advent calendar of crap. What they fail to see is a revolutionary energy distribution system about to achieve NATIONWIDE COVERAGE.
And remember, that’s not just gas or oil flowing through the streets of Arkansas–it’s dilbit, the thick toxic hydrocarbon stew produced by tarsands. So roam wherever, and take your energy source with you! That s–t is sticky as hell, it’s not like you’re going to be able to get it off.
As you can see from the Maddow Show video above, so did Rachel. Please watch the entire segment, and then call or write your Congress members and the White House.
While President Obama didn’t address the Keystone XL Pipeline directly at a San Francisco fundraiser on Wednesday, he did give a hint that political reality – or his perception of it — will compel him to approve it.
“[T]he thing that I’m going to have to try to work to persuade the American people a little more convincingly on is this notion that there’s a contradiction between our economy and our environment is just a false choice,” Obama said at a San Francisco fundraiser.
“If we invest now, we will create jobs, we will create entire new industries; other countries will be looking to catch up, they will be looking to import what we do,” Obama said at one of two fundraisers supporting Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee efforts to retake the House next year.
Obama’s remarks came at the home of billionaire Tom Steyer, a major supporter of green energy and climate initiatives who is planning to play an active role in the 2014 elections.
Obama said earth’s temperature probably isn’t the “number one concern” for workers who haven’t seen a raise in a decade; have an underwater mortgage; are spending $40 to fill their gas tank, can’t afford a hybrid car, and face other challenges.
The remarks of the president didn’t mention Keystone, but given the recent State Department Report — written with input from pipeline consultants — that gave the project a green light, Obama appears to be preparing even a billionaire opponent for the inevitable: approval of the southern leg of the Keystone XL Pipeline because of “the politics.” [...]
Oddly, Obama called for Congress and others to educate the middle class and America about climate change, but except for some remarks in his recent State of the Union, the president himself has done little to dispel the myths about the so-called positive aspects of the pipeline.
For example, it will only create a few thousand short-term jobs more or less. Furthermore, the tar sand extraction process in Canada is what will cause the devastating impact on carbon release, not the pipeline itself. It is the Keystone XL Pipeline that will facilitate, at a lower transportation cost, the transfer of this heavy oil to Houston thus making it profitable to proceed with its environmentally disastrous production. Furthermore, the oil is not directed at lowering US gas prices. It will be sold on the world spot market to the highest bidders, whoever will provide the biggest profits to the oil companies.
MSNBC’s All In with Chris Hayes started out with a bang, or in this case, a toxic gush. Thank you Chris, for this reporting in your very first segment on your premier show:
“Tar sands oil has the highest carbon content of any oil that we know of. And right now, the spill we’re seeing in Arkansas is a devastating problem. And the real shocker about it … is that this pipeline carries one tenth of what the proposed Keystone XL pipeline would carry.”
Three days after an Exxon pipeline in Central Arkansas burst and soaked the town of Mayflower in thousands of barrels of crude oil, the cleanup is ongoing. At last count, 12,000 barrels of tar sands oil and water have been dumped on the small town.
Apparently, none of this matters to Exxon, though. Think Progress:
A technicality has spared Exxon from having to pay any money into the fund that will be covering most of the clean up costs of its Arkansas pipeline spill.
And don’t get me started about BP bragging about how they’ve helped the gulf coast. But hey! They’re committed to America and tourism is up!
Lt. Col Barry Wingard is the lawyer for Gitmo detainee Fayiz Al-Kandari. For their ongoing story + related topics, please click on the link below: Kuwaiti Citizen Detained at Guantanamo since 2002
You can read the complete story here or on Wikipedia.
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