No KXL Pipeline ~ Native Americans and First Nations March on Washington

Some amazing Native Americans and First Nations from Canada marching on the Washington DC Mall against the Keystone XL Pipeline. My heart is with them, and I hope President Obama is watching (he's traveling in Korea today). According to Rolling Stone, the President has decided to reject the pipeline and is merely waiting for a good time to announce it. I hope and pray that is true. If it is, I'm actually glad he didn't undercut this great show of solidarity by the Cowboy and Indian Alliance and every Native and Conservation Group. There will be other fights and this just brings everyone closer together. There are battles to come because Big Oil never sleeps.

#rejectandprotect https://t.co/WV17zE92fi
— Andrew Nazdin (@andrewnazdin) April 26, 2014

Rolling Stone

. . . the president is likely to announce his decision on the northern leg of the Keystone XL, the hugely controversial 1,179-mile-long pipeline that would bring tar-sands oil down from Alberta to Gulf Coast refineries. Although no final decision has been made, two high-level sources in the Obama administration told me recently that the president has all but decided to deny the permit for the pipeline – a dramatic move that would light up Democratic voters and donors while further provoking the wrath of Big Oil. Finally, Obama is positioning the U.S. to play a key role in negotiations on a new global-climate treaty that will begin next year, establishing American leadership on climate issues and giving him one last chance to lead the world to a cooler future before he leaves the Oval Office.

EDITOR'S NOTE: On Friday April 18th, after the print version of this story had closed, the State Department announced that the decision on the Keystone XL Pipeline would be delayed due to legal challenges to the pipeline's route, effectively putting off resolution of this controversial issue until after the election. The text has been updated to reflect these latest developments.

A beautiful song is leading our march #nokxl #rejectandprotect https://t.co/gw9bsYRAh3
— Greenpeace USA (@greenpeaceusa) April 26, 2014

"Hey, Obama, we don't want that pipeline drama!" #RejectAndProtect #NoKXL pic.twitter.com/Vu5kkxuoUR
— Friends of the Earth (@foe_us) April 26, 2014

Heroes ~ Native Americans and First Nations in Canada fighting against #KeystoneXL Pipeline #edshow pic.twitter.com/921d5e3C48
— Jeanne K. (@SnarkAmendment) April 23, 2014

#RejectAndProtect is writing new history this week to say #noKXL -- read all about it: http://t.co/OF5Esr916d pic.twitter.com/F2f73cVAC8
— Greenpeace USA (@greenpeaceusa) April 25, 2014

There's alot of people here #nokxl #rejectandprotect #xldissent pic.twitter.com/UsXD3aobMS
— David Goodner (@davidgoodner) April 26, 2014

"Make the decision for future generations" #NoXL #KeystoneXL #StopXL #FirstNations #RejectAndProtect pic.twitter.com/sBtgo7UlzY
— Jeanne K. (@SnarkAmendment) April 26, 2014

Stop #KeystoneXL : Reject & Protect: Opening Ceremony (Video) http://t.co/afWjAT3uA5 #tcot #p2 #RejectAndProtect pic.twitter.com/fANnJYGjkR
— Blue DuPage (@BlueDuPage) April 26, 2014

Neil Young, pipeline fighter, is here at #RejectAndProtect. #NoKXL pic.twitter.com/p91XVRDXM4
— 350 dot org (@350) April 26, 2014

Neil Young urging Obama to make world history by saying #NoKXL. #RejectAndProtect pic.twitter.com/8yPdIujaYi
— Adam Greenberg (@Pragmactivist99) April 26, 2014

Neil Young and a woman protest the southern-leg of KXL in Texas #RejectAndProtect pic.twitter.com/ZdfO8tuqmY
— Jamie Henn (@Agent350) April 26, 2014

Thousands March to Protest Tar Sands Pipeline and Fracking

For the first time in 120 years the The Sierra Club is urging citizens of the U.S. and Canada to practice Civil Disobedience against the XL Pipeline, planned to carry toxic tar sands from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. This weekend, many protests took place across the country, and celebrities chained themselves to the gates of the White House leading to the arrest of Michael Brune, head of the Sierra Club, Julian Bond, Darryl Hannah, and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr..


Protests Across the Country

Thousands of people rallied in downtown San Francisco on Sunday to urge President Obama to reject construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, an action they said would prove he is committed to fighting global warming.
The demonstration across from the Ferry Building was held at the same time as similar events in cities including Chicago, Seattle and Los Angeles. The main event in Washington, D.C., drew tens of thousands of supporters in what was billed as the largest climate change rally in U.S. history.

Activists Arrested in White House Protest Over XL Pipeline

Celebrities and environmental activists, including lawyer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and civil rights leader Julian Bond, were arrested Wednesday after tying themselves to the White House gate to protest the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada.
Sierra Club executive director Michael Brune also was arrested – the first time in the group's 120-year history that a club leader was arrested in an act of civil disobedience. The club's board of directors approved the action as a sign of its opposition to the $7 billion pipeline, which would carry oil derived from tar sands in western Canada to refineries along the Texas Gulf Coast.



Activist Bill McKibben, actress Daryl Hannah and NASA climate scientist James Hansen also were arrested, along with more than 40 others. They were charged with failure to disperse and obey lawful orders, and released on $100 bond each.

. . . Kennedy, president of the Waterkeeper Alliance, a New York-based environmental group, said he was being arrested "with regret," noting that he would prefer to contest the pipeline in court – and may eventually do so.
Kennedy, whose father was an attorney general and U.S. senator, called the pipeline "a boondoggle of monumental proportions" that will "ruin the lives of millions of people," through increased carbon pollution and likely spills.

Romney Dredges Up "Drill Baby Drill"

Good old Mitt Romney ~ as a hurricane moves into the Gulf threatening everything including the precarious Oil Industry, he brings up the idea of drilling offshore and in the Alaskan Wildlife Refuge as a good thing.

Yeah, how did that work out for McCain/Palin?  And I know Mitt doesn't care to remember, but the Gulf suffered through the horrible Deepwater Horizon Spill since the last election. Good luck, Mitt. Even your toady, Bobby Jindal, might not back you on this one.

Via San Francisco Chronicle

HOBBS, N.M. (AP) — Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney promised on Thursday to aggressively expand off-shore oil drilling along Virginia, North Carolina and the Gulf of Mexico, changing the subject from social issues like abortion and Medicare that have dominated the debate in the days before the critical Republican National Convention.

Speaking to voters in the heart of New Mexico's oil and gas industry, Romney declared that his energy plans — which include drilling for oil in a federal Alaskan wildlife reserve — would create 3 million jobs and more than $1 trillion in new revenue. And he predicted complete "North American energy independence by 2020, a never-realized goal claimed by presidential candidates for decades."

"That means we produce all the energy we use in North America," Romney said, emphasizing an expansion of oil and gas over wind and solar production. "This is not some pie-in-the-sky kind of thing. This is a real achievable objective."

 

Earthquakes and Fracking

Rachel Maddow did an excellent spot about the connections between natural gas "fracking"  - forcing wastewater from drilling into deep underground wells - and earthquakes in Texas where historically few have occurred.

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