A to Z Challenge - S is for STOP

 In honor of Earth Day, I am switching from my theatre theme to write about something that is of great environmental importance. Those of you who have read my blog for some time know that I have written frequently about the XL Keystone Pipeline and all the reasons it is bad for our country.

Even though the infrastructure for the north/south route of the pipeline - which will stretch from Canada to the Gulf Coast - has been under construction for sometime, final approval by the U.S. State Department has not been given.

In an article in the Huffington Post, Frances Beinecke, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, listed several good reasons for why that approval should not be given. In the article, she described the process of mining for the tar sands oil that devastates areas as large as Chicago in Canada's boreal forest. It takes at least two tons of sand to get a single barrel of tar sands crude called bitumen, a low-grade, high-sulphur hydrocarbon that takes considerably more refining to be turned into fuel.

According to Beinecke, "Producing tar sands crude is so energy intensive that it generates up to 4.5 times more climate-changing carbon emissions as the production of conventional crude oil. In fact, producing, refining and burning tar sands the KXL pipeline would increase our carbon footprint as much as putting up to 4.3 million additional cars on the road, the Congressional Research Service reported last month."

That's even before considering the environmental impact of spills when pipes break, and they will, no doubt about that. It's already happened in Kalamazoo, MI, where the Kalamazoo river was contaminated when the Eastern leg of the pipeline has been in place for some time.

I first heard about the XL pipeline three years ago when several local landowners formed an action group STOP Tarsands Oil Pipeline to formulate a plan to lobby against the pipeline, which is coming through some of the prettiest land in East Texas. One landowner, who has natural springs on his property that feed a creek so clean you can drink directly from it, did not want the pipeline to come through because of the potential for contaminating the water.

One of the clear, clean pools in East Texas

That concern is magnified when you consider the pipeline is slated to cross the major water tables in the heartland of America, as well as aquifers in North and East Texas. A leak would contaminate those water systems for hundreds of years.

There is another issue at play here, and that is the use of Eminent Domain to acquire the land for the pipeline if owners refuse to sell. Eminent Domain is only supposed to be used if the property taken is somehow going to have a large enough benefit that it trumps ownership. Those in favor of the pipeline say that the tarsands oil will reduce the price of gasoline in the U.S. Wrong. The oil will go into foreign markets first.

If you would like to meet some of the East Texas people who have been impacted by this, here is a link to Land Owners Against Trans Canada Pipeline. If you would like to join the cause, there are links on that site for sending feedback to President Obama and others to ask them not to approve the pipeline.

And if you would like to celebrate Earth Day with something just for fun, you can check out the Google doodle for today. It is very clever.

Friday's Odds and Ends

Today on Friday's Odds and Ends we start with a quote from President Obama, "This administration has no interest in leaking classified information."

But does that mean that they didn't?

This comment was in response to allegations that the White House disclosed sensitive information to mold Obama's image as tough on terror.

Memo to Obama: Stop letting advisers "mold" you into anything. We the people sure would like a president, or any government servant, to be real, not some statue that only becomes what someone else thinks he or she should be.

In a recent economic speech in Cincinnati, Ohio Mitt Romney promised that the Keystone Pipeline would be approved on day one of his administration. "It will be built if I have to do it myself."

David Daniel, an East Texas resident who started STOP Tarsands Oil  and has been fighting to stop the Keystone Pipeline from coming through his property and destroying his natural springs and much of his timber, had this response. "I found that quite interesting from a man who probably has never lifted anything heavier than a silver spoon."

Daniel was also a bit surprised that this has become such a hot political issue, and he wishes folks would spend less time and effort blasting the other party and work together to find an alternative to fossil fuels. "The Republican's try to get mileage from supporting the pipeline because of lobbyists wno support them and the oil industry. And the Democrats are appealing to all the environmentalists who are concerned for the future of our planet. Once the election is over, will any of the politicians care?"

Ruptured pipe in the pipeline in Michigan. It dumped toxins into the Kalamazoo River.

That's an interesting question. Candidates rally around issues to garner votes, but what happens to those issues after the elections?

While our democracy works so well on so many levels, it is stuck in a political quagmire. We desperately need to have political reform: Do away with lobbyists and the two-party system.

To end on a lighter note. I can really relate to a recent Garfield cartoon. Jon is out mowing the lawn and when he finishes he smiles and says, "Finally."

In the next panel, there is a large BOOM, and the clouds open up to dump rain on him and the newly mowed grass. Then the sun comes out and there is a loud SPOING.

The next panel has Jon peeking out of grass that has grown to his nose. "That's not fair," he says.

Garfield says, "Suck it up mow boy."

Rising Gas Prices - What's the Fix?

With each uptick of the price of gas, people start clamoring for the government to do something, which has led President Obama to fast-track approval of the XL pipeline from Oklahoma to the Gulf Coast of Texas. The Canadian pipeline originates above Montana, and was halted in the midwest due to serious concerns about the huge aquifer that serves water to many states should the pipeline ever break. Or perhaps I should say, when the pipeline breaks.

There is no doubt the pipeline will break. Pipelines break all the time, and one branch of the XL has already contaminated a large area of Kalamazoo, Michigan in 2010, and effects are still being felt. The chemicals needed to break down this tar-sands oil so it can flow through the pipes can contaminate water and land for generations, making it unsuitable for life.

What people who are pushing to approve this pipeline venture, as well as more domestic drilling, fail to understand is that supply has little to do with current gas prices. The oil companies control pricing, period. They sell crude and refined oil to whatever country pays the most, and if that is Japan or China, that is just fine with Exxon - Mobil.

The U. S. exports 1.5 million barrels of oil a day, so that begs the question, why do we do that and then turn around and import 13 million barrels? Some of the reasons are explained HERE, but the basic reason is that that is the way world commerce works.

I'm not sure that just because this can be explained, that is reason enough to keep doing something that might not be the right something. As Megan McArdle pointed out in a recent article about corporations that keep repeating the same mistakes because they are afraid to change, maybe it is time we, the people and the government, need to make drastic changes in how we deal with energy issues. We cannot bury our heads in the sand and pretend that our reliance on fossil fuels is not a problem. There are children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren who are counting on us to give them a world they can live in.

On a different note, I am again part of a Mega-Event to help an author showcase her work. There will be a blog-fest and lots of other fun things happening from mid-April to mid-May, but ahead of time there are some neat opportunities for some free gifts.

Download a FREE copy of the Artella eBook, Artella Mae's NEW Altered Ancestors!, a 58-page eBook overflowing with ideas and techniques for using vintage photos in your artwork. Download your copy here!

Friday's Odds and Ends

I started to do my usual odds and ends, then got into some research about this method of drilling for natural gas, and decided to just write about this issue today.  Wouldn't it be good to protect this beauty?

A town destroyed by Fracking - Dimock, Pennsylvania - “Fracking,” as it’s colloquially known, involves injecting millions of gallons of water, sand, and chemicals, many of them toxic, into the earth at high pressures to break up rock formations and release natural gas trapped inside. Not only has Dimock been affected on the surface with large areas of land cleared for drilling, the chemicals have gotten into the aquifer and seriously affected the water supply. People and animals are getting sick, dying, and wells are spontaneously combusting.

Yet the companies behind the drilling process claim that it is perfectly safe.

Hydraulic Fracturing - from the site Hydraulic Fracturing/Energy Tomorrow. Hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” is a proven and well-regulated technology. First used in the 1940s, hydraulic fracturing has unlocked massive new supplies of oil and clean-burning natural gas from dense deposits of shale — supplies that increase our country’s energy security and improve our ability to generate electricity, heat homes and power vehicles for generations to come. Fracking has been used in more than one million U.S. wells, and has safely produced more than seven billion barrels of oil and 600 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

More Dangers - from the website, Earth Times - The dangers of fracking are not limited to the effect on water supplies. Fracking has been tied to earthquakes, and a recent study by a Cornell University professor shows that fracking has a higher greenhouse gas footprint than coal and oil because of the methane that is released during the drilling process. That gas is highly toxic, and one woman in East Texas who was exposed to that gas, now has a lung disease that is incurable.

Just like those favoring the XL Pipeline bringing tar sands oil from Canada to the Texas Gulf Coast, proponents of natural gas say it is all safe and we nay-sayers need to stop with the negative propaganda.  Of course they want us to stop. They want to be able to continue drilling and making profits without taking into consideration the long-term effects.

More Facts about Fracking

STOP the XL Pipeline

I've posted about this issue before, and I only raise it again because apparently government approval of the XL Pipeline that will bring tarsands oil from Canada to refineries in Houston is close. Robert Bryce, in a recent column said that President Obama will probably give that approval because not doing so will hurt his chances of re-election.

So, the president is considering something that could prove to be an environmental disaster because of politics? Or is that just Bryce's opinion? Either way, we should let the president know that we don't want the XL Pipeline.

Bryce points out all the ways that the pipeline will benefit the U.S., while downplaying the environmental issues, which are huge.

First of all, this is not regular crude oil that will be coming through these pipes. It is a thick substance that needs chemicals to thin it out and keep it flowing.Those chemicals are highly toxic and could ruin water systems for generations.

The Sierra Club has been following this issue for some time and recently posted a report released by the University of Nebraska that details the disastrous results of a worst-case scenario spill from Keystone XL. According to the report, a tar sands oil spill from the Keystone XL "into the Platte River in Nebraska would form a plume of oil that could extend more than 450 miles, contaminating drinking water for people as far away as Kansas City, Mo., and threatening wildlife habitat….a worst-case spill in the Sandhills region of Nebraska could pollute 4.9 billion gallons of groundwater with a plume of contaminants 40 feet thick, 500 feet wide and 15 miles long."

Read the full article HERE

Unlike crude oil spills, the contamination would last for generations, not just a few months until some cleanup is complete. We are looking at the possibility of destroying a water source completely, and that is true for every state that the pipeline crosses.

An organization, STOP Tarsands Oil Pipeline, that was started right here in East Texas has a website with a lot of facts that the oil companies and politicians fail to mention when talking about this pipeline, including the significant threat to the water supply in Texas should there ever be a leak.

Maybe I shouldn't say "should there ever be a leak." We are all painfully aware of how prevalent oil leaks are.

The other significant environmental issue is the increase of carbon emissions at the refineries. Tarsands production creates three times the greenhouse gases than crude oil. The bay area of Texas is already a hot bed of cancer and other illnesses directly related to pollutants, so we are just going to dump more on them?

Shame on us.

Shame on our government.

And shame on the oil companies who are pushing for this, despite the dangers. All in the name of profit.

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On another note, I have just found this great site that features the top e-books for Kindle. It is a great place to find quality books, as they only take books that have ranked high enough among readers that they have been "vetted" so to speak. I am thrilled that they considered One Small Victory one of those books. If you have a Kindle and are looking for some good recommendations. I suggest to bookmark the site and visit when you can. http://digitalbooktoday.com/