Stop the Hogs!

Keystone XL flops, Council of Canadians available for comment

http://canadians.org/media/energy/2012/18-Jan-12.html

MEDIA ADVISORY For Immediate Release January 18, 2012

The Council of Canadians, reacting to the rejection today of the Keystone XL pipeline by the Obama Administration, had the following comments.

Andrea Harden-Donahue, energy and climate justice campaigner, Council of Canadians:

“Grandparents, youth, farmers, Indigenous peoples, scientists, collectively rejected Keystone XL and their voices were heard. We are honoured to have worked in solidarity with people on both sides of the border opposing the pipeline. We will continue to work with the many varied voices opposing the Enbridge Gateway pipeline, another tar sands export pipeline that will be stopped. I hope the Harper government sees this decision as an opportunity to question their unyielding support for tar sands export infrastructure. While the federal government appears intent on rubber-stamping the Enbridge Gateway pipeline, today’s rejection of Keystone XL – the direct result of mass opposition – should make it clear that final consent rests with public opinion.”

Maude Barlow, national chairperson, Council of Canadians:

“Today's decision by the Obama administration is a step in the right direction and should put the Harper government on notice. A powerful movement has succeeded in demonstrating widespread opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline and the expansion of the tar sands. We want to see a just transition to a sustainable energy future for North America and we hope that today’s decision brings us one big step closer to that future. We are committed to ongoing vigilance to make sure this project does not proceed in any form at any time. Our task now is to prevent the other attempts to expand tar sands export infrastructure – be it an alternative Keystone XL route, the Northern Gateway, or other pipelines. We will stand in solidarity with Indigenous communities vowing to block the export routes to slow the Northern Gateway project while we seek alternative energy sources.” –30–

For more information or to arrange interviews:

Dylan Penner, Media Officer, Council of Canadians, 613-795-8685, dpenner@canadians.org
Twitter: @CouncilofCDNS

QUOTE: "The Saskatchewan government paid $50,000 to commission the report.
Premier Brad Wall has been an outspoken supporter of new pipeline projects, most recently signing a letter, along with 10 U.S. governors, urging U.S. President Barack Obama to approve the Keystone XL pipeline."

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Pipeline squeeze could be 'devastating' to Canadian economy: report

http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/
pipeline-squeeze-could-be-devastating-to-canadian-economy-report-1.1147256

Lauren Krugel, The Canadian Press
Published Thursday, Feb. 7, 2013 2:17PM EST
Last Updated Thursday, Feb. 7, 2013 5:57PM EST

CALGARY -- The inability to get western Canadian crude to the right markets is costing the country's economy dearly, according to a new report paid for by the Saskatchewan government.

Each stalled pipeline project means a loss to the Canadian economy of between $30 million and $70 million every day, said the report penned by the Canada West Foundation, a Calgary-based think-tank.

"The economic impact is just devastating," foundation CEO Dylan Jones said in an interview Thursday.

The Saskatchewan government paid $50,000 to commission the report.

Premier Brad Wall has been an outspoken supporter of new pipeline projects, most recently signing a letter, along with 10 U.S. governors, urging U.S. President Barack Obama to approve the Keystone XL pipeline.

Alberta's oilsands, the third-largest reserves on the planet, get most of the attention when it comes to the pipeline debate.

But Saskatchewan, which has considerable oil resources of its own, is affected by the pipeline pinch as well, Wall said in Regina.

"We hope that this helps get the message out, even to a greater degree than it is now, that we have a pipeline capacity issue in western North America and that's costing Saskatchewan people a lot of money," he said.

"Because of the pipeline capacity issue, we're losing up to 19 to 20 per cent return on the taxpayer's resource."

MORE:

http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/
pipeline-squeeze-could-be-devastating-to-canadian-economy-report-1.1147256

Canada’s government is spending millions to get you to like the Keystone pipeline

[ http://grist.org/news/canadas-governmen ... -pipeline/ ]

By Claire Thompson May 22, 2013

Canada obviously has a huge stake in the fate of the Keystone XL pipeline. [ http://grist.org/slideshow/keystone-kom ... -pipeline/ ] If President Obama fails to approve it — a decision he recently put off yet again [ http://grist.org/news/obama-may-delay-k ... ntil-2014/ ] – the Canadian oil industry will have a tough time getting its abundant tar-sands crude to seaside ports. Prime Minister Stephen Harper recently came to the U.S. to make the case for the pipeline in person, as did Canada’s ministers of foreign affairs and natural resources and the premiers of Alberta and Saskatchewan.

And now our neighbor to the north is focusing its powers of persuasion directly on the American people. The country just launched a taxpayer-funded, multimillion-dollar marketing campaign extolling the virtues of tar-sands oil to U.S. citizens. From The Vancouver Observer: [ http://www.vancouverobserver.com/news/h ... l-new-york ]

To support the government position and its travelling ministers, Ottawa has launched a $16 million marketing campaign that includes a new website [ http://gowithcanada.ca/en/home.php ] and newspaper advertisements in the US to promote Keystone KL. The thrust of the campaign is the promotion of Canada as a reliable supplier of oil and a “world environmental leader” in the field of oil and gas development.

The millions of dollars being spent on marketing efforts and road trips is unsettling to many in the scientific and environment community.

“I think it’s pretty inappropriate for government ministers to be salesmen for particular industries particularly when opinion in Canada is so divided,” Sierra Club of Canada Executive Director John Bennett told The Vancouver Observer in an interview. “We cancelled regulations, we backed out of the Kyoto Protocol, we’ve had four different plans with three different (emission reduction) targets and each time they announced targets they were weaker and further off.”
MORE:

[ http://grist.org/news/canadas-governmen ... -pipeline/ ]

The false safety promise of Keystone XL

[ http://www.salon.com/2014/01/08/the_fal ... ystone_xl/ ]

The recent spate of train derailments is concerning, but it's no reason to support a pipeline

Lindsay Abrams Wednesday, Jan 8, 2014 03:55 PM CST

(***NOTE: Numerous LINKS - go to Original URL above)

Tuesday night, a train in New Brunswick, Canada careened off the rail. Dozens were evacuated as the derailed cars, which carried crude oil and propane, burned well into Wednesday.

This followed an accident last week in North Dakota, where a train derailed and exploded in what was described as a “giant fireball”, along with three other incidents over the past year, one of which, in Quebec, resulted in the deaths of 47 people.

Edward McConnell, mayor of the town that narrowly avoided catastrophe last week, called the crash a “wake-up call.” In an interview with Midwest Energy News, he said, “Environmentalists are complaining that pipelines are dangerous to the environment, but if you’re going to wreck some land, it’s not as bad as blowing up a town.”

McConnell isn’t the only one to question the significant risks of rail transport – and to argue that a pipeline is the logical solution.

Yet one need only look at Mayflower, Arkansas, where a pipeline rupture spewed at least 200,000 gallons of tar sands crude into the community last April, , to know that a pipeline wouldn’t quell safety concerns. Less dramatic than a fireball (although the images of black sludge infiltrating suburban yards were plenty disturbing), its environmental impact was nonetheless severe — and the threat to Mayflower’s residents was far from negligent. In the days and months following the spill, those exposed to the oil suffered a host of devastating health problems. And this was only one example of many: between 2008 and 2012, according to the Pipeline & Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, U.S. pipelines spilled an average of over 3.1 million gallons of hazardous liquids per year.

MORE:
[ http://www.salon.com/2014/01/08/the_fal ... ystone_xl/ ]