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Obama Picks Sides on Tar Sands: TransCanada Wins. Earth, Everyone Else Loses
A lesson in how not to reduce gas prices: the White House is backing TransCanada’s bid to build the southern portion of the controversial pipeline Keystone XL pipeline. The section to be built will run from Cushing, Oklahoma to Texas and carry crude oil pumped in the Midwest to refineries in Texas and be completed by late 2013—so it will have virtually no impact on the current high gas prices.
By supporting tar sands, the President has chosen who he sides with and the winner is big oil and gas companies, not a clean energy future. (Reuters)
Nor is there any evidence that it will have any impact on future gas prices. As we’ve highlighted continually, there is no guarantee that any of this refined oil will stay in the U.S. In fact, most likely, Keystone will be an export pipeline that will send oil to whoever pays the most for it, like India or China. Building the southern part of it certainly sets the stage for the full pipeline to be built. TransCanada says it will reapply for the cross-border permit soon and the decision to reapply has been welcomed by the White House.
President Obama’s move may be an attempt to fight back against Republican criticism but in doing so, he is sending a signal to environmentalist that despite his rhetoric on clean energy, it really is business as usual and dirty fossil fuels will continue to receive support and preference. On the issue of Keystone, there is no middle ground. The negative environmental and economic consequences outweigh any gains. The construction of the pipeline will not create permanent jobs. The portions already built have spilled tens of thousands of gallons of oil. Tar sands spills on the Kalamazoo River cost over $700 million to clean up, not to mention the impact on residents’ health and the local economy.
Cornell’s Global Labor Institute has released two excellent reports on the pipeline that further detail the damage the pipeline could bring. The first definitively debunks TransCanada’s hyper-inflated jobs number, as well as the claims that the pipeline will be an economic boost to local areas. The most recent report looks at the impact of tar sands spills on local economies. The report highlights the strong evidence that tar sands oil pipelines have more spills that conventional crude oil pipelines. It also points out that agricultural and rangeland comprises nearly 80 percent of the land affected by the pipeline. Pipeline spills would not only cause severe economic damage to the actual land but begin to impact our food chain.
Like I said, there is no middle ground on Keystone. In addition to all the environmental and economic consequences of the actual pipeline, tar sand mining is incredibly water intensive and releases three times the emissions as regular mining. By supporting tar sands, the President has chosen who he sides with and the winner is big oil and gas companies, not a clean energy future.
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Show AllFor those who do not wish to take the time to follow the link: Obama claims to have the authority to take control of all natural resources--energy, water, food--in peacetime as well as in wartime. He does this by way of Executive Order--and it may be declared unconstitutional.
Although it seem dangerous, the order might be sensible in certain contexts. Suppose food costs rose out of sight. The Federal government could be in a position to buy grain at reduced prices in order to feed the nation. Otherwise it might go to China, for example. The same with the other resources--if they run short, then they could be controlled by the Federal government in order to benefit the people. I am not saying the government acts on behalf of the people, but it could...
If food prices rose out of sight, Obama would let the poor starve. Obama goes by the motto, "Do the Evil Thing."
"OilyBomber the Lesser". Please, whomever is writing this horror movie script, give us a break you are going way over the top, soon you'll be herding the 74% of the population, already not incarcerated into camps. You are already destroying all forms of life by spraying Aluminum Oxide on all the NATO nations. You destroyed the minds of so many who can still applaud a raving environmental destroying murdering fascist. Please a sequel where the good guys (nature supporters) win!
Mass murderer obomber will go down with his ship... swine beyond swines !
The government will not act on behalf of the people, if recent performance is any indicator. It would be more like martial law and keeping poor and Black people away from food and clean water, as it was in New Orleans.
You could have said something about the people's self-determination. You know, paint a picture of three objects - a big nice cornucopia of the people's self-reliance, and two monstrous thieves: elite-kontrolled private enterprize and elite-kontrolled public enteprize. But you didn't mention the big nice cornucopia of the people's self-reliance. I think the only hope of converting the elite-kontrolled public enteprize into something that serves the people is for the people to leverage the power of their self-determination onto the public enterprise. As for private enterprise, that should clearly remain at the local level. Small farmer, craftsman and merchant enterprises of a size no greater than ten-manpowers. Well, I think the people all know the answers, and the big news of the day is we're moving to realize those at a greater and greater rate. And it's no surprise. The flames of burning Rome keep leaping higher by the day.
Have you emailed the link to CD? I've emailed them on numerous items and they ended up posting some of the articles.
Is anyone surprised? Obama just 'delayed' his decision last November till after the election when he no longer needs US for anything. Keystone is a go. Obama is supporting it. Don't be fooled again and again. A progressive president would not approve the carbon polluting XL, nuclear power plant construction or open up more offshore drilling. Obama is not a progressive. Obama is a Clintonian DLC corporate (D). Obama=Romney.
The sky will fall on US in Jan 2013 - austerity!
Right! In March of '09, B.O. told the New Democrat Coalition the HE is a New Democrat.
If I could litter this response with expletives I would. The utter arrogance of leaders who joke about human atrocity and joke about unseasonably warm temperatures in March- knowing full well what this foreshadows. Who see reality as Washington politics. Who do nothing for the poor. Who are silent as woman's rights are assalted. These are not leaders. They are monsters.
Well, I've just decided: I wasn't planning to vote in the Presidential (what about the office still warrants a capital letter?) election this year, but damnit, Obama just convinced me to vote integrity and conscience. My candidate: a write-in Ron Paul.
Writing in Ron Paul will do nothing. Anyone who wants to vote their conscience should vote Green. It is the only party that cares about U.S. citizens and the planet.
When will Commondreams and Progressives wake up and pay attention to the DEMAND for gasoline and oil? 70% of US oil usage is for transportation, primarily cars, trucks and planes which also directly creates 38% of Greenhouse emissions.
The US uses 3 times the oil per capita of Europe and Japan primarily due to Auto Addicted Transit. Cars use 12X the land to transport the same number of people as Rail devouring our land, Green spaces, and former farms, orange groves and agricultural land. 30,000 people every year die from Autos, indeed death by Auto is the biggest cause of teen deaths. Hundreds of thousands of people are injured in our Auto Addicted Transit while numerous studies show prevalence of auto addicted transit versus walking or biking is correlated with record levels of obesity among Americans.
Amazingly enough a Brookings study showed that even with our existing anemic Green Transit that an astounding 70% of working age Americans in 100 US metro areas ALREADY live only 3/4ths mile from a Transit stop. Yet only 30% could reach a job even during peak service hours in less than 90 minutes due to the horrible frequency of service, lack of connections and coordination and especially lack of shuttles, safe bike paths or sidewalks for the last mile.
http://www.brookings.edu/reports/2011/0512_jobs_and_transit.aspx
Yet one the one hand the Republican crazies in HR-7 originally proposed totally eliminating all Green transit from the Transportation Bill, while neoliberal Democrats like Gov Cuomo supported by Obama's Administration are proposing to waste $5 Billion on a new Tappan Zee bridge with ONLY highway lanes!!
Cars are the third biggest part of most Americans budget and with increasing gas prices will only get more and more costly. Transportation costs in Europe are half that per household of the US. Again due to Auto Addicted Transit...
Forget the Supply argument - the supply will NOT be there nor do we want to destroy the planet with more Auto generated toxins and greenhouse emissions. The key is to cut DEMAND and provide Green Transit options for all Americans. It is really cheap to do this immediately by simply restoring Green Transit cuts made in over 150 cities since 2008 - just run the trains, run the buses, add some shuttles, etc.
I plan to vote Green Party for Dr Stein. If enough of us, this time, did it, we could create a political miracle.
Is she on the ballot? If not, then that is a goal for the next election: to get her or someone like her on the ballot in all 50 states. I hope there will be a next time, but we have to act as if there will be. There are no miracles. Only imagination, love and work.
Will Bill McKibben continue to support Obama? Don't know the answer to that, but I do know that almost all of the "liberals" and "progressives" in Amerika will vote for Obama the Baby Killer, despite the fact that he has done everything in his power to destroy the world, the environment, and the economy, all for the benefit of the 1%.
Yes, but, you know, "A Republican would be worse." :)
Let the Demobots/Obamabots vote for evil, as they always do when they vote "D" in Pavlovian fashion, this November. And let them bear the blame for 4 more years of war crimes, constitution-shredding, environmental ruin, illegal wars, austerity, corporate theft, and fast-track to fascism for the U.S. It is on THEIR heads.
You vote for evil, evil is what you deserve. Shame the rest of us have to suffer the same evil because of 50 million "lesser evilist" idiots.
tomcarberry:
I won't! I'm a liberal and a progressive, and I have vowed this year to campaign against Obama (or whoever the other "Republican" nominee turns out to be!)
I was thinking this morning what a difference three years can make. Though I'm embarrassed to admit this, I actually believed in Obama back in 2008. I fell hook, line and sinker for his charismatic proclamations. That change and hope we were all promised? Just words.
One thing that really pisses me off is the abuse of words. Words that by their very nature are designed to bring us up, to make us feel better, to excite us. To employ the words "hope" and "change" in that upbeat, charasmatic and charming cadence Obama utilized during his campaign was to suggest possibility. As the the world crumbled to pieces for many of us, those words represented the potential for new directions; they were a verbal salve. But as it turns out, he extorted those beautiful words. And I for one will never forget they were used in a form of blackmail. Even worse, I fear that to trust in them again will be virtually impossible.
I'm not voting for Obama. I have trouble getting through on this to friends and relatives who feel there is no choice. WE HAVE NO ACCEPTABLE CHOICE among the D and R presidential candidates! Sad but true. Voting will change nothing at this point. The corporations are in full control. Only organizing resistance and dissent has value, in my opinion.
But it is a hard position to sell. The marketing people have made sure that the R candidates are a scary set of clowns. Wall Street wants Obama, so he will probably win. He will get the votes of most decent and politically passive people despite any and all of the egregious things he has done against their interests.
It is also hard to sell this position because there is no coherent and unified alternative candidate put forth by the left, the environmentalists et al. We really need to put aside our childish and petty egos and get to work on this, to get a unity candidate, supported by a unity movement, who will represent and fight for core demands like shutting down the war machine, restoring constitutional rights, labor rights, moving away from fossil fuels. creating jobs which do useful and non-destructive things, and protecting our social institutions such as Social Security, national parks and most of all public education. Economic justice for the 99% is what we need, and the political changes that will allow this.
If enough Amereichans voted their conscience, instead of their usual Pavlovian "D" or "R" response, we could have a "people's President" in the WH, even if he/she wasn't on the ballot. There is, after all, the option to "write in" anyone you want. Unfortunately, in this Plutocratic Fascist Media-dominated Oligarchy, the only way to "spread the word" about someone is advertising - which costs a ton of $$. And that, of course, brings us right back around to candidates trolling and whoring for bucks from those who have it - which is the 1% Plutocratic Fascist corporate Oligarchy. Round and round we go.
"If" may be the biggest word in the English language. The problem is how to get there. In this "herding cat"s left, I think we need to agree on someone or else we will all write in our favorites, or our moms, or whomever strikes our fancy. I do not see how that will help. "If" we could agree, then there is hope to get ballot rights, and move from there. It just occured to me that we could try to get ballot rights for a party by starting on the state or local levels. I am no genius strategist, but we need some strategy.
when the intelligent and caring unite under ONE BANNER....then, and only then will voting mean anything
Cameron is planning to sell off major British roads. Is this what is next for Obama, now what he signed an executive order giving power over everything? He has shredded the Constitution and no one is stopping him. We need to get together and back one candidate. And it needs to be a non-politician; I could even go for Roseanne Barr. At least she would not screw the people.
Look at what our government is doing. The NDAA Act, formulated in secret, allows US citizens to be arrested for being belligerent, held without charges until the end of hostilities. How can they take away our Constitution right to protest is a one year defense spending bill? Think about and remember this Act passed with BIPARTISAN approval.
I don't know how long it will take y'all to wake up and recognize that Obama is just a closet Republican, and all the Obamabots are retarded conservatives.
I miss George! (Back then, we all knew where we stood).
What does the fact that the pipeline is more dangerous and less beneficial have to do with anything?
Obama did not "pick" sides. He was hand picked a long time ago and is doing exactly what he was picked by the 1% to do. Like all other Presidents, he is just a corporate shill for the 1%; otherwise, he would not have been allowed to be President!
Perilous Keystone Pipeline
The Canadian oil sands pipeline is not only the most environmental destructive venture in our quest for energy––it will forestall renewable energy development and conservation measures––––hence increasing our reliance on foreign oil and our trade deficits. It underscores the shameless disregard for our planet and its inhabitants by the energy cartels, who have fabricated data and science to promote fossil fuel expansion and block renewable energy development.
Despite the industry’’s assurances to the contrary, oil sand mining devastates hundreds of square miles of pristine lands, contaminates groundwater, while adding still more pollution through the large quantities of energy required for its extraction.
Its job creation would be minor, compared to those that could be achieved through alternative energy development. The
Our president now has the opportunity to halt this project, and reverse our destructive environmental course. If he does this, history will treat him well, even if it costs him an election. If he defaults this duty, he will be remembered for his sellout to our planet’s survival.
Spectakular movement of the Merkan elite establishment to the extreme right. Fortunately for the people, the people are now seeing the political spectrum in a new clear and coherent way. All of the elite establishment teeters and crumbles over the extreme right gutter. And everything that's good for the people is over here on the far left terra firma. In between is "no mans land".
Yes the sell out has really put on a big oil sale.
Come on, guys! B.O. is just continuing the "War on Terra".
Obama has chosen to be a dinosaur, like Repubs. Whatever does the most damage to the earth and the vast majority of its peoples--do that. Fortunately, earth's dinosaur problem was once solved...very effectively.
As I stated elsewhere,
Obama has the democrat delegates now.
So, again, as we saw in 2008, the closer we get to the election, his displays of disdain for the people, the environment, and for the Constitution will become even more blatant.
The nomination is his and, with the help of his republican game playing colleagues, the election will be his.
The repudiation of the wishes of the people is a delight for the owners of the democrats, the republicans, and the libertarians. These three "parties" all share the same owners and Obama's ability to simultaneously stir up "hope" and blatantly crush those same hopes is especially delightful to the owners.
The democrats have systematically poured delegates into Obama's coffers to the point that he doesn't need to pretend anymore that he gives a rat's ass about anything beyond money. His love of corporatism and his disdain for the Constitution will probably appeal to many republican voters also.
No democrat.
No republican.
No libertarian.
I intend to vote for Jill Stein.
We have another teachable moment here. Do you still see a difference between the two parties? Are you represented?
As the essay states, there is "no middle ground" on this issue due to the environmental destruction that will occur. That oil piped into the country will get shipped abroad, so there's no gain in terms of fulfilling domestic energy needs.
Obama and the Democratic Party have sided with Big Oil of the dirtiest kind. No wonder Van Jones couldn't stand the hypocrisy of Obama's fake "green energy" policy (which also includes ramping up nuclear energy and coal). Today, Obama gave a speech about how he's increased domestic oil drilling over previous administrations.
Meanwhile, in the Gulf of Mexico, animals swim against the black BP curtain. Ecosystems die. It's an unstoppable machine.
Let's be blunt. There's no negotiation here. Bill McKibben can be as nice as he wants, but his nightmare is being built by the party he loves. The duopoly will never listen, though they may feign it.
People will have third-party choices and it will cost them nothing to opt for it. So, please, please, please - support an alternative political movement by vowing never to vote duopoly. Learn from this moment, remember the betrayal and vote third party.
Obama is our best chance, compared to the other choice. There is no third choice. We will HAVE to vote for him, or else experience a total breakdown of our rights, livelihoods, and, of course, the complete destruction of our own life support systems. Mother Earth WILL win in the end. She will shake us off like parasites, perhaps returning to the primeval oceans that preceded us millions of years ago, to re-birth something that excludes us from the plan.
BUT - what a terrible choice. We have no choice but to vote for this man who takes us down incrementally - reading the polls, and making promises when it's needed, then, when things have settled down to a manageble state, totally reversing his promise. It's sick, sick, sick. It's incremental murder, done slowly enough. He has no guts to stand up against those who killed his own (perhaps) dreams. And we all know who those are.
"Pfkisa"
Your "logic" is exactly why things keep getting corrupted more and more.
You think that you care, but you do not think you can do anything but support more debauchery.
Typical liberal disdain for integrity.
It is like saying that while someone is being raped, you think that helping the rapist is a way to make everything better.
Maybe Obama can use a slogan for his campaign -- More Chump Change we Can Believe In!
SJRyan, did I read that you tried to tie Obama to Clinton? Huh? There are always people that will try to demean Clinton, no matter what is being discussed. But, in reality, Clinton is a giant, and remains one of our greatest presidents; and, on leaving office, which he did "after" being constantly hounded and finally impeached by republican imbeciles, was polled as having tied with FDR as the most popular democratic president. Obama, by stark contrast, is a pint-sized mediocrity. Any effort to compare him to Clinton, or even Johnson or Carter, is ludicrous nonsense.
"johncp"
So, you are glad that Clinton unleashed the banks and prepared Iraq for George W. Bush to attack.
Just because a majority of people are stupid and have no integrity hardly means that their assessments aren't also stupid.
Damn, wrong again. I would have bet that O would approve this shit the day after the election...........
"Angryspittle"
He knows the election is his.
As in 2008, from here on, he will increasingly show his disdain for people, the environment, and the Constitution as we approach the ritual of voting because it is another way to please the owners of the country.
I'm afraid I disagree. I think he knows the election is anything but 'his'. No president with approval ratings this low has ever been re-elected. This is a political ploy to pretend to favor oil and gas development, when the pipeline was to be built anyway. It in no way needs his approval or any cutting through of red tape. He is merely posturing to the undecided voters who are unhappy every time they fill up with $4/gal gas.
This article doesn't make sense. Oklahoma is the hub for all oil sales brokered through the Chicago Mecantile exchange. America is producing more oil and gas, because of fracking, than Oklahoma can store or refine. If the oil is exported or used domestically, it helps hold prices down by increasing supplies. If a pipline ruptures, and they do every day, you simply pick it up. It is an organic natural substance and the harm is minimal. Look at prudo bay Alaska, or the Gulf coast of Louisiana. Everything in your house is tied to oil. Oil is one of the most beneficial natural products on earth. It only makes good sense to develop it here at home rather than have the money go to radical Islamic countries that are our sworn enemies. Canada is an ally. The billions of dollars spent on the keystone pipline from Canada will benefit everyone involved, from the taco stands, to the RV parks, to the motels etc. The oil is already here on the planet. The planet made it organically. The planet will be fine as we continue to use it.
Although I understand your concern Ms. Cha, I think it is important to mention that if the US does not take the tar sands oil, it will be shipped to China. So the world will have to absorb the repercussions of using that resource regardless.