24 Hours to Stop the Pipeline - Be the Solution

Every once in a while an opportunity comes along for all of us to be the solution. This is one of those times. We're collecting a half million messages to stop the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline in the next 24 hours.

This dirty, dangerous tar sands pipeline is not in the national interest. It's that simple. And the United States Senate, officials of both parties, need to hear that message loud and clear and fast because some of them are threatening to push a bill as soon as Tuesday, to approve it.

Go to www.stoptar.org and send a message. Then turn up the volume and send it to everyone you know....tweet it, Facebook it, blog it...urging everyone you know to become part of the solution in the next 24 hours. Go to www.stoptar.org, please, and send a message.

This U.S. Senate has to stop looking towards the past and move into the new century. If only some of these politicians showed the same level of passion for creating new markets around cleaner forms of energy, as they're showing for crippling a sitting president with a dirty, potentially highly dangerous, old-school Canadian tar sands pipeline.

This struggle is about every parent's fears for our children's future. And this struggle is about every young person's hope for their immediate future. It should be every parent's worst nightmare that these people we sent to Washington to lead us into the future, will continue to embrace the flawed philosophical case for doing nothing.

This do nothing option is the same flawed recommendation that economists made in the 1960's and 1970's to the automobile industry. Imagine something like seat belts being seen as the jobs killer of that day. We should not make the same mistake around energy.

Be the solution. Send a message! Go to www.stoptar.org.

 

 

 

Comments

[GeneTea]

12:38 PM on 02/17/2012

The shortest route to China for the Canadian oil is by tankers off British Columbia.

Let the Chinese refine the dirty oil in China. We don't need any EXTRA toxic emissions.

There is no doubt that that's where the Canadian oil will end up.Let the Chinese pay for the pipeline through British Columbia.

The only Americans that would benefit from a 30 inch pipeline down through America would be the people that would make a fortune selling for leasing the land.

The only steady American (?) jobs that would 50 or 60 people that would watch for and report the inevitable leaks in the line.

No permits: pleas

[corwin]

11:07 PM on 02/20/2012

60-80 people ? why not 70-90?
Mom, I can't stp laughing!ANd my stomach's hurting

[Lucile S]

01:02 PM on 02/15/2012

800,000 messages sent to Senate by noon on yesterday -- 500,000 in just 7 hours according to NRDC.
Together, we registered an overwhelming Yes to clean energy and No to climate-destroying tar sands. Together, we told the Senate loud and clear that we will not stand for any amendment that forces approval of this fossil fuel boondoggle, said NRDC. Indeed that's the Senate to take responsability since now.

[Brooke Doris]

04:55 PM on 02/14/2012

There was NOTHING mythical about the Enbridge Tar Sands Oil Pipeline Spill of 2010. Just ask the folks in Michigan who are still living with this environmen­tal disaster.

Check out the news reports and ongoing damage of the Enbridge Pipeline Spill in Michigan in 2010:

http://for­um.general­hospitalha­ppenings.c­om/2009/01­/10/headli­nes-and-cu­rrent-even­ts-talked-­here/page3­04/

Learn the truth about the Keystone Pipeline and job creation:

http://www­.ilr.corne­ll.edu/glo­ballaborin­stitute/re­search/upl­oad/GLI_Ke­ystoneXL_0­11912_FIN.­pdf

Finally, TransCanad­a has already experience­d problems with its first Keystone Pipeline! It has leaked 14 times in its first year of operation just in the U.S. sections. Learn more about that here:
http://www­.nrdc.org/­energy/fil­es/keyston­ejobs-4pgr­.pdf

What is more precious to human life...oil­...or fresh, clean, WATER?

[luv2livzen]

12:26 AM on 02/15/2012

F&F! ... Great Post! And this Keystone pipeline to the Gulf results in the oil going to China! Some posters on the Huffington-Post site on their last Keystone article written are under the assumption this pipeline will reduce our auto gas prices. Not! Maybe heard that on Fox! The North Dakota spill of around 21,000 gallons of this goo has resulted in those land owners not being happy! Per news articles, TransCanada told them a spill like that would happen once every 35 yrs.!! And it happened in the first year! I verify news I see/read with people who live in that area. The Truth!

[Lucile S]

03:32 PM on 02/14/2012

There are more than 2.7 million people working in the U.S. clean energy jobs economy according to the Brookings Institution—more than the entire fossil fuel industry put together. Investments in petroleum based projects generate 1 out of every 4 jobs created with the same amount of investment into clean energy jobs. The clean energy sector employs 227,000 people in the six states along the proposed route for Keystone XL, an increase of over 25,000 over the last three years. Clean energy investments create about 16.7 jobs for every $1 million in spending. Spending on fossil fuels, by contrast, generates just 5.3 jobs per $1 million in spending.

http://www.nrdc.org/energy/files/keystonejobs-4pgr.pdf

[corwin]

11:11 PM on 02/20/2012

DIffidently, I point out, the vast majority of the 'clean' energy jobs are subsidized.And,going away. CBO estimates 70 % gone by 2013.Freeing up a lot of applicants for Mickey Dee's.
Many of us in science feel the initial mistake the Green Groups made was their failure to repeal the Second Law of ThermoDynamics

[mojobujak]

03:26 PM on 02/14/2012

Oh, good grief, the know it all Hollywood guy has to pitch in to hurt middle class Americans with higher gas prices. What else is new?

[luv2livzen]

12:59 AM on 02/15/2012

OMG -- the oil is destined for China! Not auto gas. Nothing for the U.S. The new & already up & running Keystone pipeline --ends at Oklahoma & gets refined -- I'm assuming that's used by the U.S. What is made, I don't know. Do check out a post that was written after yours. Maybe 3 posts later. It lists a website about the spills resulting from this almost new pipeline. TransCanada AND Koch (the refiners - Billionaire brothers) that are benefitting from this both have Poor / Bad environmental records. In fact, Koch's are spending $100 million, as of now, to get Obama ousted in Nov. He put a hold on their Money Making pipeline project, AND Koch wants to eliminate the EPA, which isn't going to happen easily with Obama in their way. The 99% will Not Benefit in any way from this project. Why help Billionaires make $$$ AND pollute. Having clean rivers, lakes, etc., is great for hunting, skiing, fishing, canoeing, wildlife, etc.etc.

[mensadude]

04:04 AM on 02/15/2012

Hard to believe that reading scripts and hiding out in a Utah enclave can make one as enlightened as RR (btw: ur film festival selections r more often than not, dozers). Anyway, RR is unaware that having the Dem-controlled Senate wound (not kill, it'll come up again when the GOP controls that body next year) Keystone only gives the GOP a 2012 campaign issue by painting the Dems as anti-job at a time when unemployment is at historic highs. YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO STOP IT NOW,THAT'S WHY THE GOP PASSED IT ON TO YOU. GET IT? God,is RR dumb or what? There, I said it.

[raycunneff]

12:18 PM on 02/14/2012

Despite grossly-inflated GOP projections of as many as 200,000 jobs being created by Keystone XL, a more realistic projection is only a few thousand TEMPORARY jobs during construction. Perhaps they're counting the jobs that will be created during the inevitable clean-up after a disastrous spill.

The environmental hazards on both sides of the border aside, extraction of oil from tar sands is a very inefficient process, requiring nearly as much energy to produce as it can generate. In the end, this isn't about jobs or energy independence, it's about corporate profits and the consequences be damned.

[Lucile S]

02:57 PM on 02/14/2012

Yes certainly, more jobs created by cleaning up that mess afterwards than by building this pipeline. The State Department stated that the pipeline will only create 20 permanent jobs. Not enough to revive the econony as you see.
http://www.keystonepipeline-xl.state.gov/clientsite/keystonexl.nsf/16_KXL_FEIS_Sec_3.10_Socioeconomics.pdf?OpenFileResource
p.80

[luv2livzen]

01:17 AM on 02/15/2012

F&F ...Great post. I've thought of all the clean up jobs also! About the jobs laying pipe - how many Canadians that have already worked for TransCanada would come & work? Also - welding is a job that requires training & experience. The semi-trucks with the pipe require CDL licenses. Maybe the supplier delivers them to the site. If crane operators are needed - requires training / experience. To work all along the pipeline, you obviously need to be away from home. Single parents couldn't do that. So -- while there would be some jobs, that is a very small benefit compared to risking the environment for TransCanada, Koch, & China. None of the 3 care about the 99% or the U.S. environment. (Re: jobs--they are specific & only people experienced in them Could be employed) Keep spreading the word to your network!

[john456]

11:41 AM on 02/14/2012

Do the people posting here honestly believe that when the Obama Administration said it would consider this after the election that it wasn't a "done deal"? Because the Republicans forced a pre election decision it was temporarily rejected and to be reconsidered later. I believe a far better strategy would be to put environmental protections into the proposed legislation and create an insurance trust fund as part of the approval to care and pay for any possible damage. To try to prevent exploitation of the Tar Sands and to not allow it to be built is putting one's "head in the sand" for the Sands will be exploited, with or without this pipeline, and a pipeline either to the West Coast of Canada (at much greater expense going over the Rockies) or eventually to the Gulf will be built. As to who receives the oil that is not an issue as when one section of the world increases its reserves the sections that were providing that section redistribute to other areas in the most efficient manner possible. (Universities have been teaching these matrix equations for at least the last 70-80 years)

[luv2livzen]

02:29 AM on 02/15/2012

You bring up good points about insurance policies. Since TransCanada doesn't have a good reputation, it's hard to estimate how much would be needed in the fund. The spills in the U.S. from the almost new other Keyst. pipeline has upset citizens & landowners. The largest spill--about 21,000 gal.-- was in North Dakota. The farmer with the lift station on his land--not happy. According to news articles, landowners were told a spill like that would occur once every 35 yrs. It happened the first yr. Their risk mgmt. dept. either lied or is incompetent. SO - when you & others say the pipeline Will be built, you're forgetting about all of the farmers / ranchers / landowners that have to 'lease out' land to TransCanada. 60 Min. (or ?) had a report some time ago about how aggressive & disrespectful TransCanada reps were to landowners. Foreigners 'demanding' things of U.S. landowners!! Threatening eminent domain - foreigners! They did not even have U.S. government permission to be discussing leases on the 'not-yet-approved' pipeline. I grew up on a farm & have many relatives & friends that still live on farms. These are hard working, ethical people who protect the land. To do otherwise is to destroy your investment. The pipeline will Not: decrease gas prices, (goes to China!) OR benefit the 99%. The Koch Bros. Will benefit--BIG $$$ for them - already Billionaires! & they're Totally against the 99! AND want to eliminate the EPA!

[john456]

09:19 AM on 02/15/2012

I truly understand what you write. It is important that the safe gaurds are strong and are put into place prior to approval. Not doing something because we don't trust ourselves or our elected government speaks ill of our society. The point is that just as someone with a poor driving record pays higher premiums so must a TransCanada Pipeline. It falls to government to ensure (e not i) that the total cost for a catastrophe is indemnified. As to invoking eminent domain, perhaps some type of True compensation board needs to be established or make it known (part of the approval process using congressional approval) that eminent domain will not be used to provide a right of way. I personally have a difficult time with government using eminent domain for a private entity.

[Jill Press]

10:45 AM on 02/14/2012

Attention all HillaryClinton haters:

Because Keystone is a Canadian project, the State Department had to approve it before Congress could get a chance to vote on it. Here's you chance to disagree with Hill. Vote against Keystone!

[Lucile S]

10:10 AM on 02/14/2012

The tar sands are a huge pool of carbon, one that it does not make sense to exploit. It takes a lot of energy and water to extract and refine this resource into useable fuel, and the mining is environmentally destructive. Adding this on top of conventional fossil fuels will leave our children and grandchildren a climate system with consequences that are out of their control. It makes no sense to build a pipeline that would dramatically increase exploitation of this resource.

It will be soon too late. So act now.
Tell all these Repubs in Congress, Boehner the first, to think before acting.

[charles77]

10:06 AM on 02/14/2012

It is amazing how urban myths can spread on the internet. Look at all the false comments here that say Keystone oil will be sent to China! Unreal, first you cannot send oil to China from the Gulf coast as anyone who passed geography class would know. Tankers cannot go thru the Panama Canal. If it was going to China, the pipe would go to our WEST coast.

“The worst possible outcome for the U.S. — but now a more realistic possibility — is that Canada builds a pipeline to the their Westcoast and ships that crude to China. Opponents have not seriously considered this very real possibility, and if this is what happens then their actions will have actually increased global carbon emissions.”

http://oilprice.com/Energy/Oil-Prices/Why-I-Would-Approve-the-Keystone-XL-Pipeline-Despite-Environmental-Concerns.html

Keystone II would move the oil to the refineries on the Gulf Coast where our existing pipeline network would then move the gasoline to cities all over the country.
Look at this map of major US pipelines:

http://www.theodora.com/pipelines/united_states_pipelines_map.jpg

Or this one
http://www.pipeline101.com/overview/crude-pl.html

The “it will be send to Chine from the US gulf coast” is also proven FALSE here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/01/18/keystone-xl-pipeline-canada_n_1214356.html

[bbrecht]

11:27 AM on 02/14/2012

Nope. The worst possible outcome is that the pipeline leaks (as they do) and destroys one of our largest aquifers at a time when water is already our most precious resource.

[wlkcrk]

04:45 PM on 02/14/2012

They are widening the canal so those tankers CAN go through, as you read this.

[AirForceZoomer]

09:36 AM on 02/14/2012

Indeed, stopping a "dangerous" pipeline from being built is the way to go. But this act needs to be bolstered with a converse suggestion as how to meet our continual energy needs. Energy resources consumption is drastically down as our nation continues to expand. Nothing of the congered up 'mechanical' methods to produce energy (wind-sea-solar) have come within a believeable distance to fulfulling needs of the future, in fact, as Solyndra (sp?) has, and others have proven -- a pipe dream.

[Pearlswan]

11:20 AM on 02/14/2012

Solyndra couldn't compete with Chinese solar panel companies because its technology was already outdated by the time it started production. It doesn't say anything at all about the demand for alternative energy sources. The reality is that if we continue to blindly focus entirely on petroleum products for our energy needs we do so at our own peril. Tar Sands oil is wringing-out the last drops of oil from within our earth. The energy market is switching to natural gas instead of oil for energy needs because its cheaper since the externalities generated in mining it are passed to the environment & local people in rural areas via water contamination, livestock contamination, and more. Natural gas is plentiful now but it also has a finite quantity that will run out in the future. Renewable energy is our best hope for a renewable future. XL Pipeline is a giant step in the wrong direction for America.

[AirForceZoomer]

10:47 PM on 02/14/2012

Nicely done. One au contraire though, no one dares to land on a very real impending danger........ world population growth in the near future will strain any resource availability..........and fail!

[Brooke Doris]

04:57 PM on 02/14/2012

NONE of this oil is intended for the U.S.. All if it will be exported overseas. Learn the truth.

[AirForceZoomer]

10:48 PM on 02/14/2012

Learn to read.

[demisfine]

09:34 AM on 02/14/2012

Republicans are willing to sacrifice our pristine pasture lands as drug mules for Canadian Oil Sands.
No surprise there, since the GOP likes to make other people do the work for which they take the glory.

[demisfine]

09:32 AM on 02/14/2012

I posted a link to the Exxon spill in the Montana Mountains yesterday, and a con replied that 15,000 gallons of oil isn't really that much.
Some times no amount of reason is enough.
This is a bad idea for our country, and a good idea for the profiteers in Big Oil.
It's as simple as that.

[celcius232]

11:22 AM on 02/14/2012

The reply was that the corrected volume of the ExxonMobil Silvertip pipeline release was approximately 1,500 barrels (63,000 US gal), not the originally estimated 1000 barrels. BTW the break occurred in river near Laurel MT, which is not in the mountains. There have also been other posts that stated falsely that the release was Canadian Syncreude when it was in fact Wyoming crude oil.

Why is it acceptable with green obstructionists to continually exagerate, misquote, distort, omit facts, and lie. Does the end justify the means or do ethics not exist anymore

[bboyy]

12:57 PM on 02/14/2012

Your second to last sentence is funny...thats all the gop do. Misqoute, distort, omit facfs. And lie.

[MegD12345]

06:13 PM on 02/15/2012

My question is why is it okay for Conservatives to do the same...? Regardless of whether it was 1000 barrels or 2 barrels, why is it ever okay for these spills to happen? Thats the big issue and the ever growing issue beyond that is the fact that we are still so dependent on a fuel source that is continually dwindling and will eventually run out. We need to put more effort into finding a more sustainable, less 'dirty' fuel.

[luv2livzen]

04:30 AM on 02/15/2012

F&F! ... I agree it's Great for TransCanada & Koch (refinery) & that's it. The Keystone pipeline that is already up & running has leaked more than a dozen times in various states in it's first yr. 21,000 gal. at a lift station on a farmer's land in ND. It spewed into a field. A photo of the lift station showed many large pipes, obviously above ground. An article on HuffingtonPost had the photo.

My reply to the con that 15,000 gal. isn't much: "Great! Then you won't mind if they dump / spew a few hundred gal. onto your lawn"! The typical 'not in my backyard' response would be expected!! The spills aren't always in some remote area. They are up close & personal to land owners! &/or nature lovers. & Earth lovers.

[JAdrianDurbin]

08:59 AM on 02/14/2012

I have a little experience with these oil and gas people through a producing (Shrewsbury gas field) gas well situated on my place in Sunfish. Rusted steel piping leaking gas and oil, produced water tank not getting emptied, tap on pipelines running on top or just slightly below ground level with no tracing tape, not to mention not getting paid royalties regularly and then reporting to IRS more $ than I am getting paid! Oh yeah...I have no idea if Atmos or Pioneer even have any insurance against an explosion or environmental damages! I think in 2012 I am going to NEED to address some ISSUES :=((

[William J Unverferth Sr]

08:34 AM on 02/14/2012

I love the online forms... just sent the following message.

"I love that some Senators are trying to force approval of the Keystone XL pipeline. Pass the legislation we need the jobs, we need the energy."

Thanks Bob!!

[MegD12345]

06:18 PM on 02/15/2012

Is this sarcasm? Lol I surely hope so! What jobs do people really think this is going to produce?? First of all, while blue collar jobs are indeed the foundation of this country, it is not the savior of it. Second, the amount of jobs is not NEARLY enough to boost our economy in any way. Third, the jobs they are offering are TEMPORARY and from what I recall, will be privately distributed -- there fore, many Americans may not even have the opportunity to get them. People need to weight the pros and cons here...I'd say the biggest problem is the potential for another disastrous leak as well as the continued dependence on oil. I say that outweighs the benefits..