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Final Keystone XL Pipeline Hearing Sees Show of Force from Both Sides
Environmental groups face off against the oil industry as state department decides whether to approve Keystone pipeline
Environmental groups and the oil industry will square off in their final public showdown on Friday before Barack Obama renders a decision on a controversial pipeline carrying crude from the Alberta tar sands to refineries in Texas.
Protesters opposing the Keystone XL pipeline. The final public hearing before a decision will be held today. (Photograph: Pete Marovich/Corbis) The encounter promises to be contentious, with one activist Whit Jones (@whitjones) tweeting that the Occupy Wall Street movement had come to the state department.
By 9pm on Thursday night – more than 12 hours before the scheduled start of the public hearing in the basement of the Ronald Reagan trade centre in Washington – about two dozen activists had turned up with sleeping bags determined to camp on site to be the first in the room.
To their frustration, however, industry had a similar plan for the hearing, which was hosted by the state department. Activists said contractors for the TransCanada pipeline company had sent in a professional line-sitter who promptly claimed his spot in line – and then telephoned for reinforcements.
"The industry has done what they can to ensure that their voice is louder than ours at the hearing," said Christine Irvine, an activist with 350.org.
The shows of force on both sides of the fight over the Keystone XL pipeline was due to continue outside the hearing, with activists and industry groups holding competing conferences.
Friday's hearing is the last chance for the public to weigh in on the 1,700-mile pipeline across six states in the American heartland before the state department decides whether to approve it.
Most activists believe that decision is now just a formality; Hillary Clinton has indicated on a number of occasions that she is inclined to support the pipeline. But in the time the state department has been deliberating the political atmosphere has shifted. The pipeline issue is at the top of the environmental agenda.
Environmental activists now argue that if Obama fails to recognise that anger and block the pipeline, he could hurt his chances in the 2012 elections.
In any event, activists say, the fight over the pipeline is far from over.
"This is going to be litigated, this pipeline," said Tony Iallonardo, a spokesman for the National Wildlife Federation. "Even if it is approved, Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama's signature doesn't end the process."
The first of many such lawsuits was filed this week, alleging that government officials had acted improperly in clearing a corridor for the pipeline through northern Nebraska even though the project is still awaiting final approval.
Meanwhile the state department faced a new round of questions about the cozy relationship between government officials and industry lobbyists.
The website DeSmogBlog reported that it had identified seven former aides to Obama and Hillary Clinton who now worked as lobbyists for the pipeline.
Members of the Nebraska state legislature are also exploring legal options – including one proposal which would give the state final authority over pipeline routes.
The proposed pipeline route would cross an important aquifer in Nebraska, and there has been growing pressure on state politicians to get the line rerouted.
The net effect, of the legal challenges and the moves in the Nebraska state legislature, was that TransCanada will almost certainly be forced to delay the project, Iallonardo said.
"I don't think industry is going to have their preferred time line," he said. "They are going to have to deal with the judicial process that we have in the US and they are going to have to defend the decisions that are going to be made in the courts, and I think that probably is going to slow the process beyond their expectations."
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16 Comments so far
Show AllYou can't fix the economy until you have people in office who respect the rule of law and the basic principles of democracy. They also have to be well enough informed and educated to make rational decisions and enough character not to corrupted. And you won't have people in office like that until you are willing to vote for such people even if they are not Democrats or Republicans because you can't attain high office if you are a member of one of the major parties because the party leadership has been corrupted by big money interests and won't allow you to win if you are such a person. So until that is fixed nothing our currently installed representatives do will really address any of the fundamental problems or injustices we face and put up with. Here is a list of things that need to be changed: http://www.gpln.com/whatwewant.htm One way to overcome the box we're in is to think and act outside the box and I've described how to do that here: http://www.gpln.com.
You'll notice that few people in high office are interested in any of the things I talk about.
Voting is still our best weapon of defense against the forces you describe, and our right to vote needs to be rotected. Please got to this website and sign my petition:
http://wh.gov/21r
Ironic on so many levels. You have to post a petition on the White House's own Web site -- a White House, by the way, that isn't doing squat to protect anyone's voting rights. Delusional much?
You're right about the website. Voting, however, is still important.
And the kicker is...........all that poisoned water and concomitant environmental destruction so they can ship their filthy oil around the world.
It isn't even for us!
The Alaskan pipeline years ago was sold as a way for USA to get off of "foreign" oil. However, that oil has been shipped directly to Japan, not used to alleviate USA's dependence on oil from overseas.
Of course we should not be drilling for oil at all; we have to slow our use quickly and get off of coal and oil altogether in a short timeline - - or we're toast from global warming/cooling/destructive weather events, etc.
Glad to see No XL Pipeline signs at OCCUPYWallStreet..
Thanks, Gang of Many. We out here really appreciate you.
>Environmental activists now argue that if Obama fails to recognise that anger
>and block the pipeline, he could hurt his chances in the 2012 elections.
Who really believe Obama even has a chance in the 2012 elections?
I do. I'm not saying I support him (I won't make that mistake again), but he definitely has a chance, especially if the Republicans nominate some Tea party animal so the "lesser of two evils" argument can be used effectively. I believe that right now he is going out speechifying sort of on behalf of the protest because his handlers have told him to go out and act like a liberal in case they need to have him elected again, to keep his "base," whom they despise, behind him. Even they find the Tea Partiers loose cannons whom they couldn't be sure of controlling, so they well may decide that B.O. is the best bet they've got to keep control of things.
You beat me to responding to that quote. I hope that POS isn't reelected,since he ran the biggest con ever on the US, but it doesn't matter who is in office. The Pres of the US is just the puppet whore for the Elite who really run the world.
I see on many sites that the sheep are saying that Obama is finally fighting for the things he ran on, but what they don't see is that he is in campaign mode again.
He is even promising to close Gitmo. Again.
Same as the US military. I cannot believe that people are still joining up.
I read an obit the other day that a guy who was killed joined because he couldn't find a job and he had another child on the way.
Killing other people so your child has a nice life? Karma.
Obama's voting record was accessible online before the 2008 election, for anyone with internet access to view, revealing that the guy was not at all a progressive.
So, I wouldn't call his pres. victory the biggest con on the US. I'd just say that Americans wanted a knight in shining armor to gallop in and fix stuff.... I can see why... they didn't want to have to fix stuff themselves... But we better wisen up and do whatever it takes to shut down the Keystone XL Pipeline...
I hope these comments are copied and pasted all over whatever website or White House site available. I feel like this: Obama, I have defended you to so many by pointing out that if you go too strong early on, well, look what happened to Kennedy, shot in the back by his own government. Still, they force your hand here and all I can say is: We've been through a lot of disappointment on the War, Single Payer, Wall Street Casino, and all that, but if you allow this pipeline, then that will DEFINITELY wrap things up for me. I will vote for anyone but you. If you stop this pipeline, I will campaign for you...Sincerely, Gary DuTeau
Why does this dangerous pipeline have to cut down the middle of the country to be refined? Why don't Canada build their own refinery in their own country. If Obonhead signs that order, he will definetly lose my vote in 2012
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"Those who do not move, do not notice their chains."
- - - Rosa Luxemburg
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Support Fee and Dividend, Oppose TransCanada's
Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline
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Excerpt from "Canadian Arctic Loses Nearly Entire Ice Shelf" by Associated Press, September 30, 2011:
Two ice shelves that existed before Canada was settled by Europeans diminished significantly this northern summer, one nearly disappearing altogether, Canadian scientists say in newly published research.
The loss is important as a marker of global warming, returning the Canadian Arctic to conditions that date back thousands of years, scientists say.
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Excerpt from "Canadian Arctic Loses Nearly Entire Ice Shelf" by Associated Press, September 30, 2011:
Floating icebergs that have broken free as a result pose a risk to offshore oil facilities and potentially to shipping lanes.
The breaking apart of the ice shelves also reduces the environment that supports microbial life, and changes the look of Canada's coastline.
Article URL: www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/09/30-5
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Excerpt from "Ottawa Action Kills Notion of Ethical Oil", by Curtis Morrison, Waging Nonviolence, September 30, 2011:
According to Article 32 of the UN’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Harper is required to cooperate in good faith to obtain:
free and informed consent prior to the approval of any project affecting
their lands or territories and other resources, particularly in connection
with the development, utilization or exploitation of mineral, water or other
resources.
“We’ve been informed and we do not consent.” said Chief Jackie Thomas of the Saik’uz First Nation, to the crowd during the rally. Her Nation is one of five nations making up the Yinka Dene Alliance. Enbridge Pipeline offered to give the Alliance a 10-per-cent ownership stake in the proposed $5.5-billion Northern Gateway pipeline, and the Alliance declined.
Article URL: www.commondreams.org/view/2011/09/30-6
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It would be great if the Barack Obama administration or the Stephen Harper government would put a stop to the TransCanada Keystone XL pipeline or the pipeline was somehow blocked by other means.
The Yinka Dene Alliance has rejected Enbridge Pipeline’s offer to give the Alliance a 10-per-cent ownership stake in the proposed North Gateway pipeline project from the Alberta tar sands to Kitimat, British Columbia. But that is unlikely to deter Enbridge.
When the Arctic Ocean becomes largely free of sea ice year round, there will also be an incentive to build a tars sands pipeline from Alberta to Port Churchill, Manitoba on the Hudson Bay.
On August 20, 2009, the U.S. State Department issued a presidential permit for an Alberta Clipper Pipeline from Hardisty, Alberta to Superior, Wisconsin. The pipeline will be capable of carrying up to 450,000 barrels of crude oil a day to refineries in the U.S.
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Clearly, a more comprehensive approach to preventing extensive exploitation of the Alberta tar sands, as well as reducing our dependence on other fossil fuels energy sources, is needed.
Canadians and USans need to overcome the opposition within their respective countries to government action to counter global warming, catastrophic climate change and the direct destruction of the environment, and force their governments to enact Fee and Dividend legislation.
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Support Fee and Dividend, Oppose TransCanada's
Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline
- - - - -
Excerpt from "A Primer on Class Struggle" by Michael Schwalbe, Common Dreams, March 13, 2011:
"The most important arena outside the workplace is government, because it’s here that the rules of the game are made, interpreted, and enforced. When we look at how capitalists try to use government to protect and advance their interests -- and at how other groups resist -- we are looking at class struggle."
Article URL: www.commondreams.org/view/2011/03/31-4
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Support Fee and Dividend
How about getting nasty and forcing the U.S. Congress to pass Fee and Dividend legislation that puts an economy wide premium on the cost of fossil carbon products collected at the point of importation or extraction, where the proceeds from the fee are periodically returned to the people throughout the year?
Placing a premium on the cost of fossil carbon products through a Fee and Dividend system is the best approach to reducing fossil carbon emissions.
Fee and Dividend is specifically designed to protect the poor and the middle class (what's left of it) from the rising cost of fossil carbon and to enable them more directly to participate in the choice of alternatives to fossil carbon consumption, including their own efforts to manage their consumption through conservation and lifestyle changes, by adding a large premium to the cost of fossil carbon through the payment of a fee by corporations that import or extract fossil carbon, and then distributing the proceeds of that fee as a dividend to the people in the form of periodic payments during the year.
Sure, corporations may still obtain windfall profits on steeply rising oil prices as the market price changes due to fluctuations in "available" supply, speculation, and the dynamics of peak oil; but the large premium added to the cost of fossil carbon products as a result of the fee is transferred from corporations to the people as a dividend. Corporate windfall profits on fossil carbon based energy should be taxed separately.
The fee adds a stable and predictable premium to the cost of fossil carbon. Usually, Fee and Dividend proposals include provisions for the steady increase in the amount of the fee on fossil carbon importation and extraction with the passage of time. Presumably, the increase in the fee per unit of fossil carbon will correspond with reductions in fossil carbon consumption as more alternatives are developed. The initial fee should be large enough to make current alternatives economically attractive and to encourage the development of new alternatives.
Rather than simply letting large corporations manage the increase in fossil carbon costs and the development of alternatives for consumers in ways which perpetuate corporate control, Fee and Dividend puts money in the hands of the people, who can then more easily make their own choices regarding alternatives to fossil carbon consumption including conservation and lifestyle changes.
Instead of a "trickle down" approach Fee and Dividend transfers money from corporations to people; giving people the "carrot" that works with the fee based premium on the cost of fossil carbon "stick" to generate market incentives for the development of innovative alternatives.
Given what was once a consumer driven economy, the great disparities in wealth and income in the United States, and the fact that large corporations are essentially withholding $2 trillion in liquid assets from the real economy, just about any transfer of the ill gotten gains of wealthy people and wealthy corporations to the middle class and the poor is more likely to stimulate the economy and generate jobs than another tax break for wealthy people, the super rich and large wealthy corporations. When that transfer of funds also puts a premium on the price of fossil carbon, then there is an additional incentive favoring the development of a healthy economy.
Fee and Dividend in a Nutshell
1. Corporations and other types of businesses that import or
extract fossil carbon pay a fossil carbon fee per unit of fossil
carbon and choose whether or not to pass on the increased
cost to consumers or possibly develop a new line of business.
2. Corporations and other types of businesses choose whether
or not to pay the increased cost of fossil carbon and
other products and pass on the increased cost to consumers or
find more suitable alternatives.
3. People periodically receive the proceeds from the fossil carbon
fee as dividend payments, which buffer the impact on them of
the increase in fossil carbon prices due to the fossil carbon
fee and enable them more easily to purchase alternatives.
4. People choose whether or not to pay the increased cost of fossil
carbon and other products or find more suitable alternatives
using what funds they have available including funds from fossil
carbon dividend payments as they see fit.
By the way, Fee and Dividend is the approach to putting a premium on the price of fossil carbon that is favored by NASA climatologist James Hansen and many economists.
If Canadians get nasty too, maybe they can force their government to enact Fee and Dividend legislation.
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"Democracy should be exercised regularly, on foot. Free association not only promotes active bodies and public boldness, it is also vital to society and a force for change."
- - - Rebecca Solnit
What in the world would make you think they care one whit what the public thinks? Only when they are faced with a genuine threat of violent overthrow will they take you seriously. That is 6,000 years of history talking and there were zero exceptions to this rule. Never, in all of history, has an entrenched power system been changed by anything except violence. Face the truth. We live in a fascist nation with overwhelming threat of force and a total lack of laws. Obama claims the right to order murdered ANYONE of any nation. That's insane, yet we're afraid, so we tolerate it. Idiots demand to know our plans when we travel and we're afraid and we tolerate it. Our mail, our phones, our lives are open to our enemies and we tolerate it because we're afraid to stand up. It's time to stand up. It's damn near to late. Your children and their children will live in poverty and sickness and repression if we, you and I, remain afraid to stand up. Talk won't do it. Action is necessary.