Tar Sands Case Study

Because of the weight of the tar sands-pipeline issue, President Obama’s decision would significantly impact his chance for re-election and the alignment of the vote. That said, Obama sent the issue back to Congress, and decided to delay the vote on and official review of the pipeline until after the 2012 election. The new review is required to include a climate impact statement. (This is at the same time as there has been a move to re-route the pipeline.) Some say that this effectively kills the pipeline, while environmentalist Glenn Hurowitz says it is just a delay to catastrophe.

This is the map of all of the pipelines throughout the United States as of 2006. It makes me wonder, how much more damage will the Keystone XL pipeline actually do? It seems as though there are already pipelines going through environmentally sensitive areas. In fact, it almost looks like there are pipelines along the same route as that proposed for the extension.  Surprising, isn’t it?

This raises the question of WHY people protest the pipeline. Here are some possible reasons: we must disregard when these pipelines were built, and focus on the time we are in- do we want to support the mining of tar sands? Do we want to put the environment and people at greater risk [than they already are]? Are we against the pipeline in principle or for other reasons?

Excerpt taken from news.mongabay.com:

“Proponents of the pipeline say that it will allow the US to have a secure source of oil coming from a friendly nation and will create thousands of jobs.

“What these millionaire actors and professional activists do not seem to understand is that saying no to Keystone means saying yes to more conflict oil from the Middle East and Venezuela filling American gas tanks,” TransCanada spokesman James Millar said, referring to Hollywood actors, such as Mark Ruffalo. TransCanada initially estimated the pipeline would create around 5,000 jobs, but since then has boosted that to 20,000, though opponents say this job figure was pulled out of thin air.

The tar sands issues is controversial in Canada as well. The exploitation of the region has led to water pollution, political conflict with First Nations people, and large-scale deforestation in the Boreal. In addition, the rising emissions from exploiting the tar sands have forced Canada to back-off its climate goals.

Conflict-of-interest?

Meanwhile, the issue has become complicated by recently released emails showing an allegedly cozy relationship between the State Department and TransCanada lobbyists. A relationship, critics say, that has corrupted the entire review process.

In addition, the New York Times recently reported that TransCanada hand-picked the consulting firm that oversaw the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), which environmentalists criticized for not addressing the issues of greenhouse gas emission at all, and for painting a rosy picture of possible oil spills.

“The State Department should recuse itself from the Keystone XL decision and the whole permit process should be scrapped. [...] President Obama pledged to have “the most transparent government in history.” This runs completely contrary to that promise,” Henn said of recent revelations. ”

Check out this video showing the graphic images of the tars sands….

When it comes to land and environmental issues a great group to ask would be the indigenous populations. Watch the criticism of the Keystone XL project from the perspective of a Canadian Native.

Obama must recognize the importance of indigenous concern when he gave his speech at the University of Colorado in Denver and during Keystone protests.

In the words of Tom Poor Bear, Vice President, Oglala Lakota Nation

” I feel that the United States of America should fulfill their obligation to the Treaty Tribes of the territory of the 1851 and 1868 Fort Laramie Treaties, and also their obligation to us as the true owners of this territory. President Obama must honor these treaties. We just want Obama to respect our Mother, the Earth. We just want Obama to respect our water, which is life – and to respect our future generations. We ask all indigenous people to join us in our plight to oppose the TransCanada Keystone XL pipeline. We feel that Obama, in his position as President of the United States, should look at this issue very seriously because he also purports to represent us as indigenous peoples. So we are asking all indigenous peoples and Treaty Nations, as well as all other peoples who also respect our Mother, the Earth, to join our opposition and stop the TransCanada Keystone XL pipeline. Through a unified effort, we will accomplish this task. As our great leader of our ancestral days, Crazy Horse, once said: “You cannot sell the land your people are buried on.” I believe today he would say: “You cannot desecrate the land your people are buried on.”

In respect of Mother Earth and our Future Generations” – Excerpt from Tar Sands Action

How will Obama react to the negative criticism from the indigenous? Only a few more days…..