"Americans really are feeling pain at the pump — especially truck drivers, cabbies, farmer, commuters and others whose livelihoods are tethered to the whims of Big Oil."

Tethered to the whims of Big Oil? Or tethered to the capriciousness of a society and an economy whose continued existence, in its present form, depends upon virtually endless supplies of cheap fossil fuels?

I don't mean to trivialize the impact that rising gas prices have on many lower-income Americans. But let's get a grip: at 12,000 miles of driving a year in a 25 mpg vehicle, a 30-cent increase in gas prices amounts to an additional $12 a month in out-of-pocket expenses. Unwelcome, but hardly the end of the world. I work with people who spend more than that on bottled water.

Most of us could (and already do) log half that mileage annually by simply biking, carpooling, and using transit more often. Or living closer to where we work. Or telecommuting one or two days a week.

Plus there are countless vehicles (not to mention motorcycles) that do way better than 25 mpg. Good lord, the vast majority of people in the world don't even OWN a car. And somehow they still have societies that work.

Maybe we could re-direct our $12/month toward re-tooling our communities to be more compact, more walkable, and more transit- and bicycle-friendly. Then we would all win -- not just the oil companies.

the tar sands and the pipeline are two monstrosities - no doubt

for foreign countries no less

the right wing government of canada - now under attack for vote rigging and other election malfeasance - is led by a lap dog nwo christian fundamentalist who is crazy about israel, just like we are

they have no sovereignty anymore and i guess neither do we

if we attack iran and the gulf gets inflamed and we start to see 10 buck a gall on oil this pipeline will be back on

big business always gets their way in fascist amerika - and canada too

and britain france etc.....

Talk about a "flim-flam"!

Here it is. The new and improved desperate democrat distraction.

Hightower, like McKibben and Co., refuses to put the focus where it has always belonged.
Obama could have stopped this pipeline. He did not because
(as his administration has now made CLEAR)
he supports it.

So now, these devious democrat delusionalists have decided to more ardently attack the blatantly corrupt republicans and TransCanada as a means of keeping people from seeing that their dearly devious debaucher Obama is a major supporter of this obscenity.

Hightower even continues using the totally false propaganda that Obama "rejected" the pipeline, but cannot bring himself to see the stupidity of this claim.

If it was "rejected," why is it being endorsed by Obama?

Nothing says hypocrisy like blatant hypocrisy.

God, this is like some Kafkaesque nightmare. A disinformation campaign to start a war with Iran (oil), a commitment by Obama to expedite KXL approval (oil), a nation fixated on the price of a commodity (oil), that if priced in relation to it true economic and environmental cost would be $20 per gallon or more. Corporations who rule government and the military and that have intelligence agencies that are beginning to rival the government's. Bankers who are controlling the world economic system to drive austerity and privatization- even at the cost of economic collapse, A planet that is on the verge of ecocide. And finally, the majority of leaders and the public that is willfully clueless as to all of this and sees anyone that challenges this system as radical, or as the Governor of Montana said- a "jack ass."

Stop…I want to get off  I am on the wrong planet.

I dislike the economic nationalist argument, ie. that Canadian oil will not be used in the US. This is a dishonest, asymmetric, egoistical, self-centred argument, considering how much damage the West's, especially the US' overuse of fossil fuels (for both transportation and food) has done and is still doing to the rest of the world. The counterargument from, say, China, that now it's their time to develop (and so inevitably waste) is, from this point of view, completely rational and must be accepted automatically by anyone who even considers the economic nationalist argument as valid and generally applicable.

Thing is, in a technical sense, for any solution to the most important impending crises, action simply has to be international. This means that apart from the rich West giving up a lot (probably most) of its consumption, a lot of countries that have been on the bad end of the stick so far will *still* have to be denied most forms of fossil fuel based development. That is sadly unavoidable - and this is why the West's, especially the US' self-imposed luxury non-problems will not find any sympathy from the global poor and will not be a part of any type of global justice - flaunting them in this way just makes the American working class look self-obsessed and egoistic and lacking any sense of reality.

That oil should simply not be extracted, ever and no one should make a cent of profit on it. No one should use it. Unless the Keystone oil stays completely unexplored, the whole thing makes no sense. But if it is extracted and used up, being used up in China is not at all worse than being used up in the US; in fact, if it's used to temporarily raise the living standard of Chinese, no matter how inefficiently, it'd do much more good than if it just allowed to extend the suburban lifestyle for a couple more years.

Who are the buyers in Europe that are interested in the Keystone XL oil? Just curious, because the occasional article on this matter states that "Europe" is interested in the oil, but I haven't seen any European governments protesting U.S. government decisions regarding the Keystone XL pipeline, while apparently, the Chinese government has been protesting? I have seen the articles on the EU vote regarding whether or not tar sands oil can be considered "highly polluting," though. Also, I have not heard anything about the South American countries that are interested in the oil. Which ones are interested in tar sands oil?

Anyway, anyone who is stupid enough to buy a Hummer H3 deserves to pay $70 to fill up his gas tank. That's part of the deal: buy an expensive, heavy, tank-like vehicle and expect to pay more for gas. If you can't afford the gas, then don't buy the damn car. Not that I would EVER suggest anyone buy a Hummer, but clearly, teabagger rabid-Capitalist types should realize that their "privilege" of floating around in luxury vehicles comes at a cost that, obviously, "the poor" can't afford, which is why they bought the vehicle, to begin with - to rub it in the face of the public that they can afford to purchase essentially useless, poorly designed "luxury" brand-name goods when others can't.

How quickly we forget about the pipelines that dragged us into the Afghan War and may drag us into a war with Iran. An unstable Afghanistan and Iran means higher security costs for proposed pipeline such as the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) and pipelines across the Caucasus and Afghanistan, which makes the Keystone more profitable.

The flim flam that is rarely mentioned, is that the price of oil is not rising, the American oil bourse has been falling as other countries use other currencies for petro dollars. The only commodity that supports the value of the American dollar is the world wide petro $. That my friends, is what the war in Iraq, Libya and maybe Iran is all about. Why do you think Chavez is demonized in the whored media? The last I heard, fuel was around 15 cents a gallon in Venezuela and it was about the same in Iraq before shock and awe; and also similar in Libya when Qaddafi was in the process of selling his oil in Gold Dinars. If the world wide petro $ was some how replaced by gold the American $ would be virtually worthless and fuel prices would probably skyrocket and it would devastate the American economy. And where you and I would lose thousands, Wall Street, the corportocracy and the international banksters would lose trillions of $. This must scare the hell out of China.

I agree with Hightower that those speculators who are causing our gasoline prices to rise should not escape scrutiny. No! Let the spotlight ferret them out. A round of applause, please, for their efforts to raise prices.

But a new set of means could be better arraigned with the end of correcting an underpriced resource if government should intervene. Minimally-- I make haste to add-- lover of freedom that I am. This intervention would first involve cancelling a previous intervention: the subsidy of petroleum. Secondly, bring in a gusher of a tax to the crude as it enters the nation’s petroleum pipeline.

At the other end of the pipeline, so to speak, I am confused about Hightower’s reference to tax-subsidized profits. Profits should be neither subsidized or taxed. Not if we want corporations to exist while behaving in a responsible manner.

Flim-Flam?

Earth to Hightower:

1. Obama did not “reject” the Keystone XL Pipeline – he delayed approval of the existing application to allow TransCanada time to submit a new application that would satisfy lawmakers in Nebraska who were concerned about the possibility (likelihood) of oil spills that could result in serious contamination of Nebraska's environmentally sensitive Sandhills that area overlies the Ogalalla Aquifer, which is one of the world's largest aquifers and covers an area of approximately 174,000 square miles and touches portions of eight states, including South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Texas.

From Business Insider: November 14, 2011

"TransCanada Will Reroute Keystone XL Pipeline Away From Nebraska's Sandhills And Ogallala Aquifier"
http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-11-14/markets/30397789_1_keystone-xl-transcanada-pipeline

“LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Canadian pipeline developer TransCanada will shift the route of its planned oil pipeline out of the environmentally sensitive Sandhills area of Nebraska, two company officials announced Monday night.

“Speaking at a news conference at the Nebraska Capitol, the officials said TransCanada would agree to the new route, a move the company previously claimed wasn't possible, as part of an effort to push through the proposed $7 billion project. They expressed confidence the project would ultimately be approved.”

2. The White House “applauds” the newly-announced plan to build a section of the Keystone XL Pipeline.

From McClatchy: February 27, 2012

“White House applauds decision to build part of Keystone XL pipeline”
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/02/27/140161/white-house-applauds-decision.html

“With President Barack Obama facing fire from Republicans over the rising cost of gasoline, the White House moved quickly Monday to trumpet a Canadian company's decision to build a section of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline from Cushing, Oklahoma, to Houston after Obama blocked a longer path last month.”

The money quotes:

“TransCanada also told the State Department on Monday that it plans to submit a new application for the rejected segment of the pipeline, and Carney said the president's rejection last month "in no way prejudged future applications."

“The White House contends that House Republicans forced Obama to reject the earlier cross-border application by not giving it enough time to review the project.”
[…]
“The company's decision, Carney said, "highlights a little-known fact — certainly, you wouldn't hear it from some of our critics — that we approve, pipelines are approved and built in this country all the time."

Got that? Jay Carney said that the president’s decision last month “in no way prejudged future applications.”

The new application to be submitted by TransCanada will map a new route that bypasses Nebraska’s environmentally sensitive Sandhills area, and Obama and the State Department will no doubt approve the application -- expect the announcement after the November 2012 election.

Jim Hightower and Bill McKibben need to get their heads out of the gigantic Obama Kool-Aid punch bowl and lay off the Hopeium Pipe.

Am I alone in the belief that the Keystone XL Pipeline is a done deal?

But wait!...Look over there! -- It’s an Evil Tea Party GOPer who drives a Hummer!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Both Democrats and Republicans want that pipeline, they just don't want the blame that goes with getting it done, and as devious as they are, it will get done, and the public will never be sure who to blame. There's more to horse trading then horse flesh.

Spokane has a oil pipeline going through it and it is the worst thing about Spokane. These pipelines are not just pipes underground which people think but rather, huge tank farms that put off smoke and fumes all along the way. These tank farms put lead, hexivalent chromium, arsenic, and cadmium into the environment and mostly in the dust that creeps its way into homes and offices growing stronger and stronger with each passing year. Don't be fooled by so called Superfund boundary lines. That is a complete joke. Not only that, but it is schools and other government offices that pop up in these properties near by as the government is happy to buy them from their crony friends or take these properties off their hands for cheap and just slap a school on top. Even if they "clean them up", the pollution is going to keep rolling in every day, year after year. So clean up blah blah blah is nothing but a deadly lie..

The pipeline in Spokane takes the easy route next to the river all the way through town and all that beautiful property is fenced off for miles for the exclusive use of the pipeline which is just a bunch of gross giant building size tanks by the many hundreds all over the place. Not only that but Spokane is one of the two cities in the world with the most cases of MS. I know the pipeline is the cause because I worked next to a giant tank farm and people in my office were getting MS like crazy. I was sick too and got serious arthritis and was dealing with a huge horrid rash for about a decade.

No signs on this thing either, not a one. I had no idea what all those tanks were, but I found out because I got so ill and got the hell out of there. Just in time too as I was an invalid for about three years and had to just quit my job as I could barely walk and was experiencing severe chronic pain due to advanced arthritis at 43 yrs of age. This is a nightmare and people should be afraid , very afraid. Of course, I lost my heath care when I got too sick to work and suing was out of the question. I was far to sick to put something like that together and knew I wouldn't live if I put what little resources I had to this, so I focused on not dying basically which is what I thought was going to happen, as did my family.

Not only that but the Pipeline and the water people are the same outfit. So that tells you a lot. On the surface it doesn't appear that way but as you dig down you will see sites discussing the management of both by the same pipeline owning outfit.

The pipeline used to go through the Coeur d'Alene Indian Reservation until they had a pipe burst and wipe out their wells and water for miles. The Coeur d'Alene tribe kicked them off their land and they had to battle to keep them out. Then the oil co tried to go through the national park who also said "no thanks". In the end they ended up having to truck the oil around this spot and still do.

"Adding to Big Oil's enjoyment is the fact that the Port Arthur refineries of Valero, Motiva and Total are within a Foreign Trade Zone, giving them special tax breaks for shipping gasoline and diesel out of our country."

I don't how many knew about this but I didn't. We need to work on getting these tax breaks rescinded. Crude oil spills from tankers are bad enough but gasoline spills are infinitely worse. They disperse faster and and are harder to clean up and the damage to aquatic beings is order of magnitude worse. Some gasoline will be dissolve in the ocean too and benzene (present in gasoline) is a carcinogen.

Rebel

And so, Mr. Hightower, about that guy in the White House. So, like, is he going to approve this thing or not? It might be worth mentioning the O-word maybe once in the article. That might add perspective to the general inanity you've described so well. And by "O," I mean OilBambi by gosh darn.

If you own land and someone representing an energy company comes knocking on your door with a 'project' proposal-say no. I was contacted by the local gas pipeline company. They want to lay a fourth pipe through the land I live on. They tried to site the 'law of imminent domain', I found the original copy of their contract (on line) which stated that they will run a fourth line through my yard. The representatives assumed I wasn't aware of this.

The reps told me they wanted to survey the land. I said no problem, just do it when someone's home. I told them 'I do not want you on my land unsupervised and when no one's home'.

They violated this agreement. Three times this year, I had to run them off my property. The first time, last November while I was away on business they cleared a stand of now 25 ft trees I had planted 14 years ago which were not in the way of their lines without my permission. They said they'd make a mistake and would clean up the felled trees, they are still on the ground. They killed my neighbor's trees also.

I'm not sure what other recourse I have and don't think these corporate types are going to go away peacefully. I'm still waiting for them to come and clean up their mess.

Is there any reason why this Keystone XL pipline can't just run to the Pacific north of the City of Vancouver BC?