Obama approves oil pipeline from Alberta tar sands to Texas coast

[babsbunny]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/aug/26/obama-approves-pipeline-alberta-texas

Obama approves oil pipeline from Alberta tar sands to Texas coast

Campaigners disappointed as White House says 1,700-mile pipeline will not cause significant environmental damage

Suzanne Goldenberg, US environment correspondent

The Obama administration gave an important approval yesterday to a controversial pipeline that will pump oil from the tar sands of Alberta to the Texas coast.

In a blow to campaigners, who have spent the last week at a sit-in at the White House, the State Department said the proposed 1,700-mile pipeline would not cause significant damage to the environment.

The State Department in its report said the project – which would pipe more than 700,000 barrels a day of tar sands crude to Texas refineries – would not increase greenhouse gas emissions. It also downplayed the risks of an accident from piping highly corrosive tar sands crude across prime American farmland.

Campaigners accused the State Department of consistently overlooking the potential risks of the pipeline.

[newfie11]

1. I have no words to describe what I feel now.

:grr: :nuke: :banghead: :shrug: :argh:

[TheWraith]

44. THIS ARTICLE'S HEADLINE IS FALSE.

If you read to the end of the article, it explains that no, Obama has NOT approved said pipeline, and that the State Department recommendation was expected by the campaigners.

"Bill McKibben, who helped organise the protests at the White House, said the approval from the State Department had been expected. The secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, indicated last year that she favoured the pipeline.

"Everyone has known exactly what they would say all along. And everyone knows that they've valiantly ignored the elephant in the room - the fact that this would go a long ways towards opening up the world's second-largest pool of carbon," he wrote in an email.

However, McKibben held out hope that Obama - who still has final authority over the project - might step in to stop the pipeline."

[mattclearing]

2. Outrage. n/t

[QC]

3. Hopetastic!!! n/t

[stuckinarut]

4. Everybody saw this coming...3..2..1 til

All the posts rationalizing this decision, quickly followed by outright threats of President Perry descend on this thread.

[elocs]

11. I would love to see an explanation of how the next President will NOT either be Obama

or the Republican. This has nothing to do with rationalizing his decision, with which I disagree.

[itsallhappening]

5. Sounds like something Bush would have done. Of course there's

also the ongoing wars, the bailouts, the tax cuts....

Wait. How is this guy different than Bush?

[stuckinarut]

7. x 1000

[madrchsod]

29. well he makes grandiose speeches that mean nothing.....

bush could just barely speak....

[INdemo]

6. Will the Koch bros now be loading up Obama campaign treasure

chest?.They will certainly benefit from this while the environment suffers.

http://solveclimatenews.com/news/20110210/koch-brothers-positioned-be-big-winners-if-keystone-xl-pipeline-approved

http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2011/08/26/26climatewire-hansen-says-obama-will-be-greenwashing-about-72041.html

[HereSince1628]

14. The Koch Bros are deeply invested in the Canadian Tar sands

and were undoubtedly behind Lee Terry's push to force the decision by Nov.

Recently it seems that every leaf you turn over was hiding a Koch-roach.

[Pooka Fey]

19. Koch-roach! Hee-hee I like it! n/t

[INdemo]

34. Yes I like that too

obviously the Obama campaign appreciates their money though

[blkmusclmachine]

8. When's the "Change" begin???

At this point it looks like the WH is throwing everything it can out there to ensure a crushing defeat to the Teabag GOP in 2012. Who's this guy working for, again???

[Lorien]

37. The change began when Obama endeavored to change all of his followers

into willing foot soldiers for the corporate elite. The "New old GOP".

[TBF]

9. This must be his idea of new jobs. nt

[Lost-in-FL]

10. Across red states???!!!!???

I am fine with that.

[dixiegrrrrl]

15. those red states contain Dems as well as "prime American farmland."

and I do not think any of the animals, fish, birds, insects that will be affected in the inevitable leaks are red or blue, politically speaking.

Sheesh.

[Lost-in-FL]

46. But very little...

I KID... I KID! :+

[Lorien]

38. Your planet will die even faster because of this

and I'm not fine with that. There are some things which are far, far more important than "punishing" States that you don't like for political reasons.

[Lost-in-FL]

41. The planet will be ok. We are the ones killing each other for profit.

The planet will be just fine without us once it heals itself.

If the people in those states care about the future, their communities will have to raise up and stand up against this. See... I do have a problem with this pipeline but maybe you have much more patience than I. I have lost faith in America because someone coming up with an idea like this one with the purpose (possibly, don't know yet) of scoring a few 'job points' or for mere politics shows that there is something wrong with all of us. Maybe it will take a lot of "fucking up" the and losing a great part of the beauty of America before people place their homes, their kids and families first, not politics.

[Lorien]

47. No it won't. It won't be able to generate enough oxygen to sustain life

and if that's not a concern then no other issues should matter to any of us either. It's all going to happen a hell of a lot faster than most people think. There are many dead planets out there that once had a healthy atmosphere; ours will soon be one of them if we don't grow up and take action swiftly to stop all of this.

[Lost-in-FL]

48. There was a time when there was no oxygen on earth...

and there was only anaerobic organisms. Suddenly... several thousands of years later dinosaurs started hanging around.

So? You might ask. Well, it just comes to show that we are all replaceable. We are only one of 9.2 million earthly species. I don't think earth will miss us.

[spanone]

12. why is the american media ignoring this? google and it's the guardian and blogs

??????

[jpbollma]

13. Chill Out He's Got This!

Maybe this is just 3439567 dimensional chess to achieve solar and wind energy.

[stuntcat]

16. I know why they're ignoring it..

because people do not care. I am only 40, I'll have like 40 more years of constant disappointment..

I will go down the die I day knowing that humans do not care, it is proven to me over and over every hour of every day.. and by my closest relatives, the most sensitive people I know! So what about my fecund, SUV-collecting neighbors? I know what they feel just by looking at them.

This is the only truth I know in the whole world. It is wrong to have any faith in humanity, the rest of this century will be nothing but a shame on all of us.

[jpbollma]

18. That is true

Outside of the liberal and informed minority, most people simply do not care unless you can make them see how something directly affects them. Even then, the Koch brothers just need to release a few misleading ads and the sheeple are right back to supporting whatever is counter to their best interests.

[MisterP]

45. more like 30 more years

since both national-level parties are slashing retirement and other bennies
the USSR's fall, and Yeltsin's neoliberalism, slashed the Russian lifespan 10 years--and our only choices are between neoliberals and ultraconservatives now...

[Pooka Fey]

17. This isn't over.

But the damage is done, it's baked-in now. I'm not that much of a dreamer. There will be spills and the dirtiest shittiest filth - they PTB even admit that tar sands crude is so filthy that they don't even know how to clean it up.

Then we get to consider all the additional greenhouse gases this will spill into the environment. Do these people actually think that their money will allow them to purchase oxygen to breath?

[Lorien]

39. I always wonder about that. With the rate of increasing ocean dead zones and

deforestation along with this sort of crap the earth will soon lose it's ability to produce oxygen. Even if the wealthy think that they can purchase their own to survive, how will they grow food? What kind of quality of life do they think they'll have? Or are they all old enough that they think they'll dies before it gets that bad and they don't care what happens to their own kids?

[Pooka Fey]

40. All very good questions.

The best answer I can come up with is pathological addiction to sensation and addictive abuse of power.

:grouphug:

[hedgehog]

20. Technically, the article indicates that the State Department

concluded that the tar sands are going to be developed one way or another, which I perceive as a political judgment, not a scientific judgment. It sounds like the best way to stop this is to put the pressure on Canada.

[glowing]

21. What could possibly go wrong?

Wonder how "Unprecedented" the event will be when the first spill ruins crops and poisons aquifers?

[Pooka Fey]

22. Just to show that there are pockets of political sanity in the world

France becomes the 1st country to ban "Fracking" (June 30, 2011)

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/2011/06/30/france-becomes-first-country-to-ban-extraction-of-natural-gas-by-fracking/

[H2O Man]

23. He continues to betray

any trust that the Democratic Left had in him.

[doc03]

24. Did anyone really think he wouldn't ? n/t

[Name removed]

25. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[yardwork]

26. He may have just lost my vote.

[madrchsod]

27. the tar sand pipeline break in michigan....

http://www.nwf.org/Global-Warming/Policy-Solutions/Drilling-and-Mining/Tar-Sands/Michigan-Oil-Spill.aspx

http://environmentreport.org/show.php?showID=563


this shit is`t like regular oil. tar sand is far more deadly than anything that has been put through a pipe.


the kock bros and the rest of big oil will show their appreciation next year.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

28. Yay! Another stellar achievement for The List!

:puke:

[Doctor_J]

30. I predict he will change his party affiliation before long

It's kind of silly for him to keep calling himself a Dem.

[dameocrat67]

31. I wish he would hurry up then

n/t

[TheKentuckian]

32. Nope, it turns out "Change" is assimilation with traditional Republicans and corporate interests

By wearing his little circle d he can play pied piper and lead an appreciable percentage of our rank and file to support the aims of those we have long opposed.

[Lorien]

36. Ain't that the truth!

Sad thing is that he's leading the whole Nation off a cliff. We MUST take our party back from these corporate thugs!

[Name removed]

33. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Rex]

35. Someone tell him to check out the Gulf of Mexico, seems

BP never finished capping the well.

[AtomicKitten]

42. It's a mis-titled article. Hillary supports the pipeline and cleared it through the State Dept.

Obama has the final say and hasn't weighed in yet.

Read the whole article:

Bill McKibben, who helped organise the protests at the White House, said the approval from the State Department had been expected. The secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, indicated last year that she favoured the pipeline.

"Everyone has known exactly what they would say all along. And everyone knows that they've valiantly ignored the elephant in the room - the fact that this would go a long ways towards opening up the world's second-largest pool of carbon," he wrote in an email.

However, McKibben held out hope that Obama - who still has final authority over the project - might step in to stop the pipeline.

[TheWraith]

43. Edit: wrong place. nt