Time's Running Out to Stop the Keystone Tar Sands Pipeline -- Take Action Now
by Tara Lohan
04 June 2011
The disastrous mining of tar sands in Alberta has wreaked havoc on the environment and communities in northern Canada, not to mention its massive emissions of CO2. Of course the hopelessly oil-addicted US wants in on the action, too.
A proposed pipeline, Keystone XL, will pump the dirty oil through six US states, risking the drinking water of over 2 million people.
The Sierra Club reported that, "They estimated that it would ONLY leak once every seven to eleven years. But they neglected to include the pipeline's pumping stations, which have already sustained 11 reported spills in the last year!"
This isn't a potential threat -- it's already impacting communities and we're running out of time to stop it. The public comment period for the pipeline ends on June 6. The decision to green light this project is in the hands of Secretary Clinton. As Robert Greenwald explained in the Guardian recently:
The proposed Keystone XL pipeline deals with what is called "dirty oil" tar sands. Tar sands production carbon dioxide emissions are three times higher that those of conventional oil. The amount of oil Keystone XL would carry is equal to the pollution level of adding six million new cars to our roads. Tar sands mining operations involve a vast drilling infrastructure, open pit mines, and toxic wasteland ponds up to three miles wide. The extraction process involves strip-mining and drilling that injects steam into the ground to melt the tar-like crude oil from the sand and requires a massive amount of energy and water.
In addition to pollution and harm to the environment, Keystone XL directly puts at risk the land of families across a full stretch of our country. The pipeline would cross through six states and several major rivers, in addition to the Ogallala aquifer, which supplies clean water to two million Americans.
You can take action on this right now by signing the petition below. Change.org|Start an Online Petition » .
Tara Lohan is Senior Editor at AlterNet.org. This article originally appeared atAlterNet.org.
Jan Lundberg commented on her webpage:
I signed the petition. I was an oil industry analyst in the 1970s and '80s before going after oil pollution as a career, and I wish I could say I've helped fight the tar sands schemes. Only indirectly, unfortunately. But I'll put Tara Lohan's alert on our Culture Change website.
I urge people to not only stop the pipeline but to give a kick to megapolluters where it hurts: boycott petroleum products -- if you feel you must drive, you can at least get many of the plastics out of your home.
From EnergyBulletin.net, below is a UK peak oil group's report mentioning tar sands' role all the way over in Europe.
For energy-related environmental activism and information pertaining to slashing oil use and changing lifestyle, see http://CultureChange.org and http://SailTransportNetwork.com
Jan Lundberg
ODAC Newsletter - June 3
Staff, Oil Depletion Analysis Centre
The inherent contradictions of the UK government’s approach to energy and
climate policy were made clearly visible this week. On the one hand
Thursday saw the release of further detail around the Green Deal, a
fairly ambitious bill aimed at facilitating the retrofitting of private
homes in order to improve energy efficiency. On the other, evidence
emerged that the UK is one of just two EU governments (the other is the
Netherlands) stalling on a new EU fuel directive which would see oil
from the Canadian tar sands banned in Europe, due to their high
emissions. [read the report]
Culture Change mailing address: P.O. Box 3387, Santa Cruz, California, 95063, USA, Telephone 1-215-243-3144 (and fax). Culture Change was founded by Sustainable Energy Institute (formerly Fossil Fuels Policy Action), a nonprofit organization.
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The disastrous mining of tar sands in Alberta has wreaked havoc on the environment and communities in northern Canada, not to mention its massive emissions of CO2. Of course the hopelessly oil-addicted US wants in on the action, too.
