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New Pipeline to Challenge Obama's Promises
Obama finally has the opportunity to make good on his environmental promises, but will he?
It took some serious digging in the sock drawer, but eventually I found my 'Environmentalists for Obama' button left over from the '08 campaign. I needed it because I'm headed to Washington in a couple of weeks to get arrested in front of the White House, and I wanted to make sure I wouldn't be misunderstood.
I'm not alone - as many as a thousand people will risk arrest in daily protests at the White House over the last two weeks of August, making it the largest outbreak of civil disobedience in recent environmental history.
The target: a proposed 2,400 km pipeline from the tar sands of Alberta to the Gulf of Mexico. Those tar sands are the largest pool of carbon on the continent; the federal government's pre-eminent climate scientist, James Hansen, said recently that if we begin burning it in large quantities, it's "essentially game over" for the climate.
The politics
So in scientific terms it's a no-brainer (in fact, earlier this week more than a dozen of the nation's most senior climate scientists weighed in against the proposed pipeline). But in political terms? That's harder, because there's serious money at stake. Since the first permit must come from the State Department, for instance, it's probably no wonder that the pipeline consortium hired Hilary Clinton's former deputy campaign director as its chief lobbyist. And indeed, even before any data was collected, the secretary of state said she was 'inclined' to grant the permit.
There's real worry that the fix is in, especially since recently released WikiLeaks documents show American officials working with the tar sands companies to develop a strategy to 'spin' reporters and win favourable press coverage.
Still - the ultimate decision will rest with President Obama. Hence the sit-ins. And the buttons.
Because when you get right down to it, Obama has been a great enigma on the greatest crisis we've ever faced: the rapidly escalating heating of the planet.
On the one hand, his first stimulus package set aside some money for green investment (though a much smaller percentage than, say, China). And he's worked to persuade the auto companies he bailed out to raise mileage levels for their cars in the future.
But this is the guy who - the night he won the presidential nomination - said that with his ascension "the rise of the oceans would begin to slow, and the planet begin to heal". By that standard, he's not even close.
Not keeping promises
Earlier this year he opened up a vast swath of Wyoming to new coal mining. And he barely offered even lip service in support of the climate bill that foundered in the Senate; in the words of the widely-respected climate blogger Joe Romm, "Obama's overall record on energy and the environment deserves an F. Fundamentally, he let die our best chance to preserve a liveable climate and restore US leadership in clean energy - without a serious fight."
Of course, Obama can say with some justification that his weak record on the environment results in part from having to work with a Congress so dominated by the fossil fuel industry that it voted earlier this year to deny the very existence of global warming. Which is why this pipeline question is so politically key: this time, Obama gets to make the decision all by himself. He doesn't have to answer to Oklahoma Senator Inhofe ("global warming is a hoax") or Rep. Michelle Bachmann ("It's all voodoo, nonsense, hokum")
Because the pipeline crosses our border, he needs to sign a finding that it's in the national interest - and if he doesn't, then the Tea Party can't force him. The right wing has made it clear it wants the pipeline built, but unlike the recent debt ceiling negotiations, it has no leverage. It's all on Obama this time.
Which is why we'll be outside his house this August. Because we want to believe in the words of that skinny senator from Illinois during his campaign; because we want to show him the depth of the support he can call on if he stands up just this once to the fossil fuel industry. I'll wear my button with pride - and a little trepidation too.
Bill McKibben is one of the organizers of tarsandsaction.org, which is organising this month's civil disobedience.
This first appeared on Al-Jazeera.
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18 Comments so far
Show AllI plan to be there and I hope others will as well.
If I ever was going to jail, I wish it could be for a cause like this, but I can't be there. Besides that, what else can we do? The game is rigged, our own politicians and most of congress probably backs this thing because of the votes and perks they'll get from the big oil lobbyists. Obama is no friend of the environment and I see him folding on this like he did with the budget.
Has anyone seen Edward Abbey lately?
If Obama is going to focus on jobs as promised he will push for approval of the pipeline. With unemployment at near record levels people need work.
Yeah, but this will only kill people's children.
We already have 22,000 miles of pipeline in Nebraska with an excellent safety record. I am unaware of any children killed by any pipelines in this state. I do not understand all the drama and uproar over this project. I live on a farm near where the XL will cross Nebraska. I wish it was going across my property, I could use the cash. When it is approved I intend to work on it. We need the jobs and the tax revenue.
I also live in Nebraska and I must disagree with you. There have already been leaks from the pipelines passing over the Midwest from the tar sands. In regard to killing children, the First Nations people living downstream from the tar sands have children being diagnosed with rare cancers, particularly bile cancer, from the contamination of the water.
The Ogalalla is our most precious resource, the treasure that enables our farms, and it's already being overused. The prospect of the Ogalalla being contaminated by a leaking oil pipe is an environmental nightmare.
I know about unemployment. I'm only working 27 hours a week. But to risk the Ogalalla is to risk most of our future in Nebraska. Please reconsider.
While Washington played political games over the debt ceiling, horrible droughts, political issues, and poverty continue to claim the lives of thousands in east Africa and we inch closer to the end of the Kyoto Protocol (oh, but that's right, the U.S. didn't sign on to that) and perhaps the end of chances for international agreements on climate change that are crucial. Here at home, alternative energy investment has stalled and we find new (and rather insane) ways to rape the earth of pollution-causing fossil fuels. I know that humans tend to focus on short-term issues with immediate pay-offs, but have we stopped caring about humanity, about the planet?
And on a side note, what is the honorable Oklahoma Senator Inhofe saying about the summer weather in his state?
"And on a side note, what is the honorable Oklahoma Senator Inhofe saying about the summer weather in his state?"
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I assume he's somehow blaming it on same-sex marriage.
The author deserves our ultimate respect for 350.org and his tireless efforts.
However, the heat in DC in August is withering, so it's an especially bad time of year to attempt to generate a crowd of any size. Without enough folks to shut the city down, any disobedience self-marginalizes. Perhaps the effort would be better spent by focusing on piggybacking the October Freedom Square events.
The author deserves our ultimate respect for 350.org and his tireless efforts.
However,
Most will have to drive to DC, get cited, and drive home. Doesn't make a very hard point...unless everyone were to just leave their cars there.
We're all on the Titanic and the crazies are running the boat.
Obama or if not Obama, the next president, will approve the pipeline, claiming it will create jobs. They got everything they wanted, including this pipeline. They are busting the unions and breaking the safety net. Obama's touring the country with his heart bleeding for the jobless. Last year his heart bled for seniors, disabled and children. The year before, his heart bled for the uninsured. My Dad used to say about certain politicians, "what an actor". President Bleeding-Heart Obama deserves an Academy Award, but not the presidency.
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A Vote of Confidence Amendment (VOCA) will let voters fire the people they hire.
FREE AMERICA
VOCA, NOW
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Bill,
I hear you but you'd better head for Atlanta soon. The nuts down there are about to get TWO new nuclear reactors approved. The NRC approval is in the bag and Georgia Power and Light is going to get a green light to jack up rates to fund these monstrocities.
They aren't even giving the people a chance to accept or decline a rate hike for nukes. They know damned good and well that the people would say NO to a rate hike so they are doing the corporate two step we have become so sickeningly familiar with in this country.
We just don't DO democracy in the US corporatocracy.
That needs to be stopped!
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FORGET ABOUT OBAMA !!!!!
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It's a waste of our time!
I just know Obama will finally do the right thing! He won't disappoint McKibben, he'll step in and save the world from the predations of global capitalism and its full frontal assault on the environment. The fossil fuel industry has no power over this great progressive visionary! Have faith!
"There's real worry that the fix is in"
Ya think?
Bill, all applause for your actions, as usual. But isn't "Challenge Obama's Promises" more than a little too polite?
Outside of his promise to stay in Afghanistan, has there been a scrap of a promise standing since March of '09?
Obama is a right-winger in Democratic clothing. I wish Gabrielle Giffords was president; based just upon what she endured and that she still showed up to vote on the budget, she deserves a "heroine of the century" award. She has more courage in her pinky than Obama has in his whole hope-filled being.