Little has been said about the withdrawal of a presidential permit needed to continue with the construction of the Keystone pipeline here in the United States. But, as you may recall, that is one of the bills signed by President Biden the first day he was in office. To revoke that presidential permit given by the previous president was a monumental decision, a gigantic step in the fight against climate change! Kudos to our new president for revoking TC Energy’s corporate stranglehold. The 1,700 mile Keystone Pipeline was being built to “transport raw, toxic tar (bitumen) sands from Alberta, Canada to refineries” in the U.S.A.—all the way to Texas. The threats and problems it creates for drinking water, Native Americans, farmers, environmentalists, wildlife habitat, and landowners of homes in the right of way is a true concern. TransCanada (TC) in October, 2011 had “34 eminent domain actions against landowners in Texas and 22 in South Dakota. Image via ktvh.com Our Native Americans have objected and opposed the pipeline siting “damage to sacred sites, ‘ancient and historical cultural resources,’ pollution, and water contamination…” The indigenous women who live in tribes close to the pipeline face a risk of sexual violence due to the unpoliced camps of men working close by. Image via Yahoo.com The water sources being threatened include the Yellowstone river crossing , the Platte river crossing and the Missouri river crossing along with numerous lakes. Not to mention the Ogallala Aquifer which is the largest fresh water underground reserve in the U.S.A. It is under eight states and provides water for two million people. A study by University of Nebraska professor John Stansbury states, “We can expect no fewer than 2 major spills per state during the 50-year projected lifetime of the pipeline. These spills could release as much as 180 barrels of oil each.” Remember, Stansbury is speaking PER STATE. In both 2016 and 2017 leaks occurred in the pipeline with thousands of barrels of oil damaging farmland in South Dakota. It was later found under a federal investigation that 408,000 US gallons of crude oil had been spilled, many times more than what TC Energy had reported. Building the pipeline also brings with it increased carbon emissions, the atmospheric abundance which is already increasing global temperatures. “As of 2013, producing and processing tar sands oil results in roughly 14 percent more greenhouse gas emissions than the average oil used in the U.S.” Another source states (U.S. Department of State’s Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement) “…that over the proposed 50-year timeline of the pipeline, this could mean releasing as much as 1.37 billion more tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.” Can you connect the dots and understand what is happening? Why the glaciers are melting, coastlines are flooding without storms, why the ocean is more acidic and coral reefs are dying, why the extreme weather events are prevalent? All of this with only one degree rise in the Earth’s overall temperature! James Hansen, eminent climatologist, and NASA scientist believes beyond a doubt that an irreversible ecological crisis is now happening. In 2013, this grandfather/scientist in his 70’s decided to become a protester, preforming civil disobedience in a number of causes, one of the first against the Keystone Pipeline. But this grandfather’s protests have never been violent, although he has been arrested a number of times. Nor has Bill McKibbon’s activist actions been subversive. This inspiring man is an educator, author, and an environmentalist activist who organized 350.org, a climate campaign group. When I lived in the Northeast, I attended a lecture of his at a Global Change seminar. Our brief conversation left me with imbued with the desire to make changes in my own life and to help others understand the importance of their actions in climate change. If you have a leader whose entire agenda is for capital economic growth but has no foresight for the future of our planet, no love, understanding or empathy for the natural world, no understanding and compassion for the children who must survive a future living on a planet in dire jeopardy, you have a person for whom “greed” is God. Let’s pray our newly elected President Biden doesn’t get pulled down into that rabbit hole. His challenges are truly overwhelming. He is trying to bring the Covid 19 pandemic under control. He is attempting to unify a divided nation. He is trying to address the issue of climate change. And, numerous other pressing issues, including social and racial injustice and the economy, plus re-establishing our nation’s reputation in the world. How overwhelming is that?! I am wondering if the differences between resuscitating an ailing Earth and capitalism can be reconciled? Is it even possible when corporate America has tremendous control? CEO Rex Tillerson, ExxonMobil, was asked about the opposition to the Keystone pipeline. His reply, “My philosophy is to make money.” [email protected] ©Ann Rains February, 2021
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