Get News & Views Updates
Most Popular This Week
Popular content
Today's Top News
Liberal Senators Urge State Department to Toss Out Tar Sands Pipeline Review
Three liberal senators on Friday called on the State Department to conduct a new environmental analysis of a controversial proposed oil pipeline.
The lawmakers said they have “serious concern” that the current environmental analysis is biased because it was conducted by a contractor with financial ties to TransCanada Corp., the company seeking approval of the Keystone XL pipeline.
The New York Times reported last week that the State Department let TransCanada take part in choosing a contractor to conduct the final environmental impact statement of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline (photo: Elvert Barnes)
“We write to express our serious concern with recent reports that the Department of State allowed a contractor with a financia relationship with TransCanada, which seeks to build the Keystone XL pipeline, to conduct the Department’s environmental review mandated under federal law as part of its consideration of TransCanada’s proposed pipeline,” a letter from Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) says.
“Based on the apparent conflict of interest this presents, and the deficiencies of the final environmental impact statement (EIS) itself, we urge the Department to conduct a new and objective environmental review so the government and the public can fully and fairly evaluate the impacts associated with the proposed Keystone XL pipeline.”
The New York Times reported last week that the State Department let TransCanada take part in choosing a contractor to conduct the final environmental impact statement of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry oil sands from Alberta to refineries in Texas.
The State Department ultimately choose contractor Cardno Entrix despite the fact that the company had worked closely with TransCanada in the past, according to the Times.
“This is a critically important issue for our environment and the energy future of our country,” the letter says. “At a time when all credible scientific evidence and opinion indicate that we are losing the battle against global warming, it is imperative that we have objective environmental assessments of major carbon-dependent energy projects.”
A coalition of House Democrats sent a similar letter to Clinton this week.
The proposed 1,700-mile, $7 billion Keystone XL project has ignited a firestorm in Washington. Republicans and the oil industry argue that the project will boost the economy and create new jobs.
But environmentalists and other critics of Keystone XL — who have mounted an aggressive opposition campaign against the pipeline — note that Canadian oil sands production results in greater greenhouse gas emissions than traditional oil production, and argue that the pipeline could suffer from spills that pollute waters along the route.
The pipeline could transport up to 830,000 barrels per day.
Critics of the project have released a series of emails in recent weeks that they say shows a cozy relationship between a top TransCanada lobbyist and a State Department official.
The State Department unveiled its final environmental impact statement in August. The study said the proposed pipeline poses little environmental risk if managed properly.
The State Department subsequently held a series of public meetings on the project. Environmental groups protested the pipeline at a recent meeting in Washington.
But Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has defended the department’s review of the pipeline, telling the Associated Press this week that there is “no reason to believe” that administration officials are biased.
The administration is slated to make a final decision on the pipeline by the end of the year.
Comments
Note: Disqus 2012 is best viewed on an up to date browser. Click here for information. Instructions for how to sign up to comment can be viewed here. Our Comment Policy can be viewed here. Please follow the guidelines. Note to Readers: Spam Filter May Capture Legitimate Comments...
19 Comments so far
Show All"Critics of the project have released a series of emails in recent weeks that they say shows a cozy relationship between a top TransCanada lobbyist and a State Department official.
The State Department unveiled its final environmental impact statement in August. The study said the proposed pipeline poses little environmental risk if managed properly.
The State Department subsequently held a series of public meetings on the project. Environmental groups protested the pipeline at a recent meeting in Washington.
But Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has defended the department’s review of the pipeline, telling the Associated Press this week that there is “no reason to believe” that administration officials are biased."--Capitol Hill Publishing Corp
"no reason to believe" admini$tration offi¢ial$ are bia$ed.
really?
perhaps the word "venal" fits better.
Not to worry, that was a typo - it was supposed to say "every reason to believe ..."
This is truly shocking. I mean, the part where the author asserts there are "three liberal senators".
"The administration is slated to make a final decision on the pipeline by the end of the year."The final decision was made ages ago. All that remains is to finish fixing the facts around the policy.
+1
"The final decision was made ages ago."
aw gee whiz, flagboy, now you've gone and spoiled the surprise ending!
Has the Yellowstone leak been stopped? Do we have verifiable evidence that it has?
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9Q907A01.htm
"He said workers immediately shut down the pipe when the pressure drop occurred Oct. 1, and that valves at each end of the 5-mile section have been closed."
Yeah, but only because they shut the pipeline down again 3 months after the original leak. . Doesn't get much coverage lately. Have to visit the financial reports to even touch bases. Main stream media doesn't follow up.
Kind of like the DeepWater Horizon and the Japanese nuclear meldown. The only real sources of reporting are financial pages:.
"The Gulf of Mexico probably will fully recover from the BP Plc oil spill within two or three years, said Kenneth Feinberg, who administers a $20 billion claims fund. "
Not really reassuring when you consider the source.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-02/gulf-of-mexico-to-recover-from-bp-s-spill-by-2012-feinberg-says.html
"Iitate village, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the Fukushima nuclear plant, announced a decontamination cost estimate on Sept 28 of 322.4 billion yen, suggesting the government budget isn’t big enough."
"March 11 earthquake and tsunami disabled cooling systems leading to the meltdown of uranium fuel rods in three reactors. Cracks in the containment vessels for the melted fuel have allowed radiation leaks that will leave some areas uninhabitable for two decades or more, according to a government estimate in August."
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-10-13/fukushima-clean-up-attracts-bids-for-14-billion-in-projects.html
"The study said the proposed pipeline poses little environmental risk if managed properly"
I would like to know how much insurance they carry, if any.
Do you mean how many congressmen they have in their pocket? Isn't that how it works?
"I would like to know how much insurance they carry, if any"--ezeflyer
insurance? of course! called "faith in the american people" sukkah!
Stick a fork in it. This deal is done.
The only way it will be stopped is by protesting and monkey-wrenching it to death in the field during construction.
Otherwise, get over it for now.
You said it moon pie...
Colorado's US Senator Mark Udall and his cousin Senator Tom Udall of New Mexico have often voted well on environmental issues and should be pressured by residents of those states and others to sign on to this letter. Surely the strong words of climatologist James Hansen on the extreme dangers of burning the tar sands oils and the dire effect on CO2 connected global warming would be sufficient for any rational person.
Mark Udall was vaguely progressive when representing CO-2, the largest city of which is contemptuously referred to as "The People's Republic of Boulder" by most Coloradans. Now that Udall is a Senator, he's taken a sharp turn to the right.
Twenty distinguished climate scientists signed a strongly-worded letter to Obama:
The tar sands are a huge pool of carbon, but one that does not make sense to exploit. It takes a lot of energy to extract and refine this resource into useable fuel, and the mining is environmentally destructive. Adding this on top of conventional fossil fuels will leave our children and grandchildren a climate system with consequences that are out of their control.
Letter from Scientific Experts to President Obama Regarding Authorization of the Keystone XL Pipeline
Hillary Clinton doesn't support the XL pipeline pollution just for $$. She actually believes in herself and righteousness. I see in her eyes and demeanor a supreme love of being an Intercal part of the Super Power Elite: She believes that her loyalty and high status as a player on the Team trumps Truth.
Its the "Death of Fossil Fuels".
Either the burning of fossil fuels is killed off quickly, or most of species go extinct not too many centuries later, including humans. We might not even stick around long enough to see the top animal species become the jellyfish. This is of course the current top political species, when it comes to standing up to the fossil fuel industry.
Australia will be the first continent to go, being already near environmental extremis. See this Rolling Stone magazine article, "Climate Change and the End of Australia" for a hint of the future.
Australia has the widest expance of available solar energy in the world, but also has a most entrenched coal and gas industry, which has tied up state government policy and coal seam gas assets. There is a large component of multinational ownership, and its political influence
Of course the coal and coal seam gas mining industry is lobbying state governments intensely. Just as intensely, a large public opposition is underway. New climate action, renewable energy groups, and gas opposition groups are springing up all the time. Its large amounts of money vs large numbers of people.
In Sydney today, of the order of thousands of people thronged the Pedestrian centre of Martin Place, joined with large numbers of regional protests. These are getting better organised, with local websites, internet and email communities, forming alliances for sustainability causes, such as Lock the Gate.
.
#OccupyScience
Excerpt from "Rick Perry officials spark revolt after doctoring environment report" by Suzanne Goldenberg, The Guardian (UK), October 14, 2011:
Officials in Rick Perry's home state of Texas have set off a scientists' revolt after purging mentions of climate change and sea-level rise from what was supposed to be a landmark environmental report. The scientists said they were disowning the report on the state of Galveston Bay because of political interference and censorship from Perry appointees at the state's environmental agency.
By academic standards, the protest amounts to the beginnings of a rebellion: every single scientist associated with the 200-page report has demanded their names be struck from the document. "None of us can be party to scientific censorship so we would all have our names removed," said Jim Lester, a co-author of the report and vice-president of the Houston Advanced Research Centre.
- -
Article URL: www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/oct/14/rick-perry-texas-censorship-environment-report
* * * * *
My Comment:
Of course, pretending as many Democrats do that they respect science, but blatantly acting in ways that clearly indicate that they ignore science almost as easily as any Republican, isn't really very much better.
Tar-sands oil is abrasive, corrosive, contains
benzene which has ill effects upon contact with
human beings, causes higher levels of greenhouse
gas emissions than conventional oil and is
already a major pollutant of the Kalamazoo River
impacting the River's immediate biological
environment with over 800,000 barrels of diluted
bitumen.
"http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/aswift/kalamazoo_one_year_later_anato.html"