Monday, June 06, 2011

Dr. James Hansen

....on the Keystone XL pipe-line.  Nothing you haven't heard before, other than his opinion that the State Dept. is likely to give its approval. In any case, its the Northern Gateway that really needs to be stopped.  It's the one  oil-companies would use to sell to the Chinese if Americans demanded that we green the tar sands.

8 comments:

The Mound of Sound said...

From what I've heard from members of two northern, First Nations bands, the Enbridge pipeline is going to be a lightning rod for civil disobedience. Apparently the path crosses the territory of some 61 reserves. Harper is going to have to take down and imprison a lot of people over this, including some Gi'itgat - the Hartley Bay band who took to their small boats in the dark to rescue the passengers and crew of the Queen of the North. That'll infuriate a lot of non-native southerners in BC.

bigcitylib said...

The pipeline is very unpopular among all BCers as far as I've read. But some have argued that Enbridge will rain enough mopney down on people's heads to make everything OK. I hope not, but it could happen.

Holly Stick said...

Actually, there is an argument that Keystone XL would end up exporting oil to China too; and it is supposed to go under the Oglala Aquifer so there goes the drinking water for many:
http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2011/05/27/KeystonePipeline/

Holly Stick said...

Time for non-violent civil disobedience:
http://thestar.blogs.com/broadsides/2011/06/time-for-a-climate-of-change.html

Tof KW said...

Holly Stick said...
Actually, there is an argument that Keystone XL would end up exporting oil to China too...

Of course it would, ever hear of the Panama Canal?

david.sands said...

Mr. BCL, the comments by Dr. Hansen (and by Bill McKibben) are addressed – far more coherently than I could – by Michael Levi here: http://blogs.cfr.org/levi/2011/06/06/confused-thinking-on-keystone-xl/

…And by University of Alberta professor Andrew Leach here: http://andrewleach.ca/oilsands/on-the-potential-for-oilsands-to-add-200ppm-of-co2-to-the-atmosphere/

- David Sands, spokesman, Government of Alberta

sharonapple88 said...

- David Sands, spokesman, Government of Alberta

Looks like you've hit the big time, Mr. BCL. Either this or the Alberta government's on a really big push to sell this thing.

Anonymous said...

The arguments that the Keystone XL will provide "ethical", cheap oil, and that Tar Sands GHG emissions have been exaggerated, ignore the tremendous potential for environmental damage from pipeline spills/leaks, and the environmental damage already being done by Tar Sands production. It's not only about climate change, it's also about pollution.