We Speak For Earth
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Media Note
Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
May 4, 2012The State Department has received a new application from TransCanada Corp. for a proposed pipeline that would run from the Canadian border to connect to an existing pipeline in Steele City, Nebraska. The new application…
Heads up.
WTFrack?!
Honestly, what on earth is the argument for giving subsidies to companies netting millions and billions in profits? (Let alone oil companies?!)
Seriously, could someone explain this to me?!
(via thegreenurbanist)
Save the last 130 Western Gray Whales The western gray whale is on the edge of extinction. There are probably fewer than 130 remaining with less than 26 breeding females. Every year, they come to feed off the coast of Sakhalin Island, Russia, but now a new oil platform threatens the survival of this critically endangered whale.
130 left?! That’s really, really, really bad news. A lot of people think it works like Noah’s Ark - if you have 2 or 7, then you’re fine. Sadly, that’s not reality. Most animals need their “community” to survive, just like we do. 130 individuals is… really low.
Take half a minute to sign this; you get to draw a whale afterward =D
(via wwf)
It seems they’ve reached their goal of half a million signatures! w00t! That’s pretty damn awesome! The real question is, what now? Will the Senate listen? I hope so, and not just for the pipeline, as big of a deal as it is, but bc it could show that democracy isn’t dead in the USA, that like the sopa/pipa fight, citizens can use the internet to spread awareness and share outrage, and use that to help direct actual policy. On the other hand, I could easily see certain corrupt individuals fighting this petition and similar ones for precisely those same reasons. So, it’s a bit of a toss-up.
Let’s see what happens.
Dear friends,
When we started the Keystone fight there were just a few of us, and no one thought we had a chance.
But with hard work and lots of great organizing we scored an unlikely victory when the President eventually rejected the pipeline last month. However, the oil industry’s representatives in Congress are eager to undo that, and it looks like a deal could be coming together in the Senate this week to sabotage that win. It’s time for us to defend our victory.
Beginning at noon today, every environmental group in the nation, not to mention great allies like MoveOn.org and CREDO Action, will come together for the most concentrated burst of environmental advocacy this millennia. We’re aiming to send half a million messages to the Senate in the next 24 hours. And they’ll all have the same message: back the President and make sure this pipeline doesn’t get built.
This is what movements look like. And we need you to play a big part.
1—Send a message right now to the Senate: act.350.org/sign/kxl/
and
2—Make sure that everyone else you know does the same thing.
The arguments by now are clear: This pipeline won’t create jobs (that’s why the biggest labor unions in the country support the President). It puts the heartland of the country at risk from spills — the kind of leaks that devastated the Yellowstone and Kalamazoo Rivers in the year past. And after the year with the most weather disasters in the nation’s history, and amidst this weird and out-of-kilter winter, the fight against climate change must start here.
The only argument for the pipeline comes from folks like the Koch Brothers—“we can make a lot of money.” It’s not a good argument, but that money buys votes in Congress, unless we stand up.
So: stand up.
…With deep thanks,
—Bill McKibben for 350.org
P.s. My personal message when I signed:
“Enough is enough! Let’s stop letting Big Oil & Big Money dictate US policy while trampling on the health of our citizens, wildlife, and environment.
It’s time to invest in green energy. It’s time to do what’s right. It’s time to put a stop to the pipeline!”
Pps. They already have over 300,000 signatures! But still 200,000 away from their goal of a half-million. Come on guys, I know tumblr itself can make a huge dent in that! Let’s get this done already!
EPIC.
Congressmen Battle Over Koch Brothers Keystone Pipeline Subpeona
Democratic Congressman Henry Waxman got an angry response from Republican Congressman Ed Whitfield over the idea that the right wing billionaire Koch brothers should be subpoenaed over their financial interest in the Keystone XL Pipeline. Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian break it down.
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/oh-snap-congressmen-brawl-over-subpoenaing-koch-br…
This gives you a pretty good idea of how politics, environmental concerns, money, the 1%, and the 99% currently work in the USA-inc system.
Forty-four Senators who introduced legislation today backing the controversial Keystone XL pipeline received $22.3 million in campaign contributions from the oil and gas industry since 1989, according to analysis by 350.org and Public Campaign Action Fund
It also has a list of who got what amount. Guess who’s #1?
John McCain, at nearly 3 million.
#4 is another favorite of mine: James Inhofe. (See my posts about him here and here.)
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I think it’s fair to say that [across] the political spectrum it’s recognized that money is corrupting politics and democracy.
The will to change that, though… that’s less common. That requires action. It requires YOU.
(via onearth)
A few other facts about the oil giant’s mind-blowing billions.
And yet they and other oil-profiteers still get incredible tax-subsidies and are hardly held accountable for endangering - and often wrecking - the environment.
That’s just really, really sick.
Conservatives are expressing outrage over Solyndra but the money involved in that ‘scandal’ is a tiny fraction of what the US spends on energy subsidies for oil, nuclear and coal. The Young Turks host Cenk Uygur breaks down the numbers and gives some perspective.
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2011/0309/Budget-hawks-Does-US-need-to-…
Solid report. Check it out.
cwnl:
US president Barack Obama has rejected plans for a vast oil pipeline reaching from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, The Washington Post is reporting.
The Keystone XL pipeline has been criticised by environmentalists, but promoted by Republicans because they argue it would create jobs.
Canadian energy infrastructure firm, TransCanada had applied for a permit to build the pipeline. It would ferry bitumen from the Alberta oil sands to refineries on the Gulf of Mexico. Environmentalists cited the enormous greenhouse gas emissions from the fuel that would be produced, as well as the risk to the sensitive ecosystem of the Nebraska Sandhills, through which the pipeline was planned to pass.
Last November the government announced a new environmental review of the project, delaying the final decision until 2013 - after the upcoming presidential election. However, late last year Republicans forced the government to make a decision within 60 days.
The rejection is not final - TransCanada will have the opportunity to reapply for a permit to build the pipeline along a route that avoids the Sandhills region. Still, Republicans - including US presidential candidate Mitt Romney - have reacted by excoriating Obama for his decision. By turning down the permit, Romney said “the president demonstrates a lack of seriousness about bringing down unemployment, restoring economic growth and achieving energy independence”, according to the Post’s article.
And Agence France-Presse quotes John Boehner, speaker of the US House of Representatives and a Republican as saying:
If we don’t build this pipeline to bring that Canadian oil, and take out the North Dakota oil and deliver it to our refineries in the Gulf Coast, that oil is going to be shipped out to the Pacific Ocean and be sold to the Chinese… This is not good for our country.
Canada is also developing another pipeline to carry bitumen away from the Alberta tar sands. The proposed Northern Gateway would terminate on the West Coast, in British Columbia, where it could be shipped across the Pacific to China.
By contrast, many environmentalists regard Keystone as a key test of Obama’s green credentials, which have taken a battering since he came to office.
