Protest Tar Sands Keystone XL Pipeline: Will Hasten Abrupt Climate Change and Foul Major Water Aquifer
The struggle over the Keystone XL pipeline – which would run
1,500 miles from Alberta to Texas, extending the reach of Canada's
filthy and addictive tar sands trade far into the United States – may be
the biggest environmental fight of the year.
When Alberta, Canada's tar
sands are fully developed, along with its vast proposed pipeline
network, North America and much of the world will be further addicted
to filthy, life destroying dirty energy for decades.
Tar sand production
and use is highly carbon intensive, and development of this and other
filthy synthetic fossil fuels (and coal) may well push the planet into
abrupt and runaway climate change.
From August 20th – September 3rd
environmental groups are planning a peaceful protest in Washington DC to
stop the pipeline as a step to defuse what they call the largest carbon
bomb in North America.
Additional Background
The U.S. State Department is now deciding whether to permit
the building of the Keystone XL pipeline, to bring tar sands oil from
Canada - 1,500 miles across six states, and the Midwest’s vital Ogallala
water aquifer - to refineries around Beaumont, Texas. The TransCanada
Corporation building the pipeline has a recent history of pipeline
leaks, with the precursor pipeline and its pumping stations having
leaked a dozen times in the past year. Yet the gravest danger of the
pipeline extension is the worldwide impact of burning large amounts of
additional carbon fuel, and the resulting increase in global warming.
Ultimately, the ability to grant approval for the pipeline rests with
the Obama administration.
Canadian tar sands development is the most ecologically destructive
project in the world. Producing oil from tar sands emits three times
the global warming pollution as conventional oil, requires excessive
amounts of energy and fresh water, destroys huge swaths of ancient
boreal forest, and is highly toxic. As climatologist Jim Hansen
explains, for any chance of getting back to a stable climate “the
principal requirement is that coal emissions must be phased out by 2030
and unconventional fossil fuels, such as tar sands, must be left in the
ground… if the tar sands are thrown into the mix it is essentially game
over.” Along with ending the use of coal, and protecting primary forests
and restoring old growth forests, dismantling tar sands is a keystone
response to the climate crisis and achieving global ecological
sustainability.
Later this August people power civil disobedience demonstrations in
Washington are planned to oppose the Keystone extension. Over 1,100
people have already registered at tarsandsaction.org to take part in the
August sit-ins outside the White House. Participants range from
indigenous elders from Alberta to Nebraska ranchers whose land is
threatened by the pipeline route. Organizers are expecting at least 50
to 100 people to risk arrest at the White House every day between August
20th and September 3rd. The choice whether to build the pipeline and
embrace decades of further fossil fuel addiction will affect America and
the world’s climate for decades to come -- either helping put the U.S.
and global economies on a green-job, low-carbon track, or locking in
decades of dirty, inefficient and ecocidal fossil fuels.
ByClimate Ark, a project of Ecological Internet
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August 12, 2011
