Do you support the Keystone XL pipeline?

I love Canada and Canadians, but when I hear a Canadian company is involved in gold mining or oil outside of Canada I know an environmental disaster is brewing, the only question is: how big? Have you read about Canadian companies and their mining disasters in the US, New Guinea, etc?

I have not followed Canadian activities that closely, because I was lulled by a feeling they are harmless and are friends.

Just a little one:

Canadian gold miner NovaGold Resources Inc and its unit Alaska Gold Co have agreed to pay almost $1m to settle water pollution charges in Alaska, according to the US Government.

A Mining Weekly report notes that under an agreement with the US Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency, filed in Anchorage, the mining company will pay $883 628 in civil penalties to settle pollution charges at its Rock Creek Mine near Nome, Alaska. The charges concerned multiple violations from April 2007 to September 2008, when sediment-laden storm water flowed into three area creeks during mine construction, federal officials said.
Full Mining Weekly report

http://www.legalbrief.co.za/article.php?story=20090519090623515

Chile: Canadian Gold Mining Company Accused of Polluting Rivers

by George Nelson, 11 April 2013.
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A Chilean court has ordered the Pascua Lama gold mine to suspend operations amid claims that rivers supporting indigenous communities have been polluted.

Due to the serious nature of the allegations, the construction of the multi-million dollar project may be halted for a number of months. The mine is run by Canadian-based Barrick Gold Corp, the world’s largest miner of gold.

No a Pascua Lama [2]

No a Pascua Lama by da.bo, on Flickr
The Court of Appeals in Copiapó, located in the northern Atacama region, have heard evidence from indigenous communities who claim Barrick’s activities have unlawfully destroyed glaciers and polluted valuable rivers used for drinking water by inhabitants of the area.

“The suspension could be upheld for several months, it is very likely that the situation will end up in Chile’s Supreme Court,” said a source from the judiciary.

The Chilean interior minister, Andrés Chadwick, said: “It doesn’t surprise me at all that we have been able to successfully suspend work on the mine through a judicial body, environmental allegations must be dealt with very seriously. It is better to suspend operations now while the mine is still being developed.”

Barrick declined to comment because the company has not yet been notified of the court ruling. “We have not yet been informed by the court, so it is impossible for us to talk on the matter and potential implications. Once we have been notified, we will review in detail and make a plan of action,” said a Barrick spokesperson.

The Chilean Commission of Environmental Assessment fined Barrick US$260,000 last February for irregularities in the company’s environmental assessment.

Pascua Lama is the first bi-national mining project in the world. The project is an open-pit gold mine located over 4,000 meters above sea-level. Copper and silver will also be mined.

http://www.argentinaindependent.com/currentaffairs/newsfromlatinamerica/chile-canadian-gold-mining-company-accused-of-polluting-rivers/

Senate GOP Accused Of ‘Closing Off Debate’ During Keystone XL Pipeline Votes

Source: ThinkProgress

Democrats in the Senate are accusing Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of breaking his promise of an “open amendment process” for legislation to approve construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, after two Democrat-sponsored amendments were not brought to a vote on their merits on Tuesday.

Instead of taking up actual “yes” or “no” votes on the amendments, the Senate voted to table — meaning, effectively kill — those two measures. One, sponsored by Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), would have required that all the Canadian oil shipped through the Keystone XL pipeline stay in America, and not be shipped overseas. The other, sponsored by Sen. Al Franken (D-MN), would have required that only American-made steel and iron be used to build the pipeline.

The vote to table meant that Senators were not voting on whether they agreed with the content of the amendment, but whether to consider the amendment at all. According to Markey, that doesn’t count as an “open” process.

“Senate Republicans promised an open amendment process, but they are closing off debate, and not allowing a vote on the very first amendment considered by the Senate,” Markey said in a statement following the vote to kill his amendment, National Journal reported.

Read more: http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/01/21/3613404/first-keystone-xl-amendment-votes-senate/

Water supply off-limits in Montana town after Yellowstone River oil spill
Source: Los Angeles Times

More than 5,000 people in the rural Montana city of Glendive have been told not to use municipal water because elevated levels of cancer-causing benzene were found downstream from a weekend crude oil spill into the Yellowstone River.

Officials said they were distributing fresh water being trucked in after a warning was posted for the residents not to drink or cook with the city water supply because of the high level of benzene, which has a sweet odor and could be a health danger over the long term.

About 1,200 barrels of crude oil, or approximately 50,000 gallons, leaked Saturday from the 12-inch Poplar pipeline near where it crosses the Yellowstone.

The pipeline is owned by Bridger Pipeline, a subsidiary of True Cos., a privately held Wyoming company. The pipeline was shut down within an hour of the discovery of the leak, and more than 50 people are working to clean up the spill, the company said.


Read more: http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-yellowstone-river-oil-spill-20150120-story.html

Cleanup underway for nearly 3M-gallon saltwater spill in ND
Source: AP

By REGINA GARCIA CANO

Cleanup is underway after nearly 3 million gallons of brine, a salty, toxic byproduct of oil and natural gas production, leaked from a pipeline in western North Dakota. It's the largest spill of its kind in the state since the current energy boom began.

Operator Summit Midstream Partners LLC says its "full and undivided attention" is focused on cleaning up and repairing any environmental damage. A contractor will be on site Thursday, assessing the damage.

The full environmental impact might not be clear for months. A million-gallon saltwater spill in 2006 is still being cleaned up nearly a decade later.

It wasn't immediately clear when the spill began. State health officials on Wednesday said they weren't given a full account of the size until Tuesday.



In this photo taken Jan. 12, 2015, crews dig up land at a saltwater spill site near Blacktail Creek outside Williston, N.D. A North Dakota health official called the 70,000 barrel spill the state's largest during the state's current oil boom. (AP Photo/Williston Herald, Zack Nelson)

Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/bbef653db63346008a3849e0d99b8cdf/cleanup-underway-nearly-3m-gallon-saltwater-spill-nd

Pipeline Explodes In West Virginia, Sends Fireball Shooting Hundreds Of Feet In The Air

From Climate Progressive:
A gas pipeline in Brooke County, West Virginia exploded into a ball of flames on Monday morning, marking the fourth major mishap at a U.S. pipeline this month.
No one was hurt in the explosion, but residents told the local WTRF 7 news station that they could see a massive fireball shooting hundreds of feet into the air. An emergency dispatcher reportedly told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that the flames had melted the siding off one home and damaged at least one power line. The gas pipeline is owned by Houston, Texas-based The Enterprise Products, L.P., which said Monday evening that it is investigating the cause of the explosion.
The West Virginia explosion is the fourth in a string of news-making pipeline incidents this month. Earlier this month, a gas pipeline in Mississippi operated by GulfSouth Pipeline exploded, rattling residents’ windows and causing a smoke plume large enough to register on National Weather Service radar screens. On Jan. 17, a pipeline owned by Bridger Pipeline LLC in Montana spilled up to 50,000 gallons of crude oil into the Yellowstone River, a spill that left thousands of Montanans without drinkable tap water. Just a few days later, on Jan. 22, it was discovered that 3 million gallons of saltwater drilling waste had spilled from a North Dakota pipeline earlier in the month. That spill was widely deemed the state’s largest contaminant release into the environment since the North Dakota oil boom began.
Here’s some footage of Monday’s explosion’s resulting fire, via WTRF 7: http://www.wtrf.com/story/27940731/authorities-responding-to-gas-line-explosion


More:
http://thkpr.gs/3615805

With the supply of oil increasing and dropping prices, the pipeline will only exacerbate the problems.

With more hybrids and electric cars being sold, oil will have less demand.

Plus a lot of these pipelines cross frack fields prone to numerous earthquakes.

EPA REVIEW Of Keystone XL 'National Interest' Ought To BE ENOUGH For Obama To Say 'NO' To Pipeline

Bitumen, the petroleum of the tar sands.

“..In a city where bureaucrats rarely say things right out loud, the EPA has come pretty close. Its knife-sharp comments make clear that despite the State Department’s relentless spin, Keystone is a climate disaster by any realistic assessment. The president's got every nail he needs to finally close the coffin on this boondoggle...”





Obama said he won't approve KXL if it "significantly" worsened CO2 emissions. @EPA just used "significant" 4 times to describe KXL's impact

— @Agent350



The State Department is nearing the end of the process of determining whether or not the Keystone XL pipeline is in the "national interest." Neela Banerjee at InsideClimate News has written an excellent piece about that process. Among its key elements are examining more than two million public comments about the pipeline and pondering what eight federal departments and agencies have to say about the environmental review. The reports from those eight were due Monday. The Environmental Protection Agency had this to say in the report it released publicly:


The analysis of climate change issues has also improved from the Draft SEIS. The Final SEIS makes clear that oil sands crude has significantly higher lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions than other crudes. The Final SEIS states that lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions from development and use of oil sands crude is about 17% greater than emissions from average crude oil refined in the United States on a wells-to-wheels basis.

The Final SEIS also finds that the incremental greenhouse gas emissions from the extraction, transport, refining and use of the 830,000 barrels per day of oils sands crude that could be transported by the proposed Project at full capacity would result in an additional 1.3 to 27.4 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents (MMTC02-e) per year compared to the reference crudes. To put that in perspective, 27.4 MMTC0 2-e per year is equivalent to the annual greenhouse gas emissions from 5.7 million passenger vehicles or 7.8 coal fired power plants.3 Over the 50-year lifetime of the pipeline, this could translate into releasing as much as 1.37 billion more tons ofgreenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

Until ongoing efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with the production of oil sands are more successful and widespread, the Final SEIS makes clear that, compared to reference crudes, development of oil sands crude represents a significant increase in greenhouse gas emissions.

http://www.epa.gov/compliance/nepa/20140032.pdf



The EPA also notes that if oil prices remained high, the assessment that tar sands petroleum would make it to market even if the pipeline weren't built is probably correct, even if it meant sending that petroleum via more rail, which is more expensive. But if the price of oil remains low, then building the pipeline would mean more tar sands would be extracted and shipped than would otherwise be the case. Bill McKibben, co-founder of the climate change group 350.org and a lifelong environmental activist, said: “In a city where bureaucrats rarely say things right out loud, the EPA has come pretty close. Its knife-sharp comments make clear that despite the State Department’s relentless spin, Keystone is a climate disaster by any realistic assessment. The president's got every nail he needs to finally close the coffin on this boondoggle.”


Let's hope President Obama is digging in his toolbox for a hammer.




http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/02/03/1362009/-EPA-review-of-Keystone-XL-impact-statement-ought-to-be-enough-for-Obama-to-say-No-to-pipeline#

Bill would exempt thousands of tanks from post-spill safety law
Source: The Charleston Gazette

Thousands of chemical storage tanks across West Virginia would be exempt from the law passed in the wake of the Freedom Industries spill, under legislation introduced Tuesday in the House of Delegates.

The bill (HB2574) would rewrite the definition of “above-ground storage tank” so that only tanks located within “zones of critical concern” near public drinking water intakes would be subject to new state safety standards and inspection requirements.

Among other things, the 40-page bill would exempt from the law any above-ground storage tanks with a capacity of 10,000 gallons or less. Current law is much broader, covering tanks with a capacity of 1,320 gallons.

“That’s a bit much,” DEP Secretary Randy Huffman said of the proposed change in the size of tanks covered by the law. “That takes a lot of tanks that do pose a risk to our public drinking water supplies out of the regulatory structure.”



Read more: http://www.wvgazette.com/article/20150203/GZ01/150209736/1419


Well, read it and weep.

Republicans Rebrand Keystone Pipeline As ‘Freedom Juice Highway’

Republicans in Congress have decided to rebrand the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline as ‘Freedom Juice Highway.’



The pipeline would take oil from Canadian tar sands and deliver it to multiple locations in the United States. Environmentalists are deeply opposed the construction of such new pipelines and Obama has vowed to veto the bill when it reaches his desk.

“With a new name like ‘Freedom Juice Highway,’, it will be hard to veto,” Senate Leader Mitch McConnell told The New York Times. “Could anyone be against freedom? If the president doesn’t vote for freedom, he’ll be showing his true colors.”

The pipeline bill is expected to pass the House next week and delivered to Obama’s desk thereafter. House Leader John Boehner said the rebranding is, “A better description of what the pipeline is: freedom from the Middle East.

“Ask any American, do they want Freedom Juice and do they want it in Highway form? The answer is overwhelmingly yes.”

The timing is also meant to add pressure to the President, “We are adding some zing to the project. Sounds like something you want going through your backyard,” said Boehner.

......http://dailycurrant.com/2015/02/03/republicans-rebrand-keystone-pipeline-as-freedom-juice-highway/

Nebraska judge rules in favor of landowners on Keystone XL eminent domain

Source: Omaha World Herald

By Joe Duggan

LINCOLN — A Nebraska district court judge has temporarily halted the ability of a Canadian company to acquire right-of-way for the Keystone XL pipeline.

Holt County District Judge Mark Kozisek granted a temporary injunction Thursday to landowners who challenged the ability of TransCanada to use eminent domain to acquire land for the controversial pipeline.

The judge made the ruling after landowners filed new lawsuits challenging the state’s pipeline routing law, which was narrowly upheld by the Nebraska Supreme Court in a decision last month.

A spokesman for TransCanada said Thursday the company agreed to the injunction in exchange for an accelerated trial schedule. Although the judge’s order affects just the landowners along the northern part of the pipeline route, the company will offer to stall land condemnation for the roughly 90 property owners along the route who have refused to sign easement contracts.

FULL story at link.



Read more: http://www.omaha.com/news/nebraska/nebraska-judge-rules-in-favor-of-landowners-on-keystone-xl/article_a19c551a-b2f5-11e4-9440-fb3972ced98c.html

Perhaps you need to clean out your own barn first, as the old saying goes.

The Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaskan waters was the largest oil spill in the western world and worse still, Exxon have never paid the $18 billion fine levied against them in favour of the local people there, despite that it had been revised downwards by the USSC, many years ago.

" The other, sponsored by Sen. Al Franken (D-MN), would have required that only American-made steel and iron be used to build the pipeline."

That would be a violation of NAFTA.

So you're saying I should take KeystoneXL up the keyster because the Exxon Valdez washed up 30 yers ago, in spite of the fact it hasn't happened again and ships now are doubled hulled which has contributed to the fact that the valdez was a singular event.

I think the Keysone ought to run under yur house and through your kid's school.

So what? As if it couldn't got to Congress and tie Keystone up for a ton more years. I;ll settle for that. Let you Canadians refine your own ****.