Tuesday, February 14, 2012

The cost of the Keystone XL Pipeline is estimated to begin at US$7 billion.

It carries the dirtiest and most environmentally costly oil in the world.


Girling pictured left over estimated the number of jobs created due to the XL Pipeline to be 20,000.  Even at that estimate job number it is an estimated cost per job of $350,000.  The USA Right Wing always complains the government spends too much on job creation.  Hello?

Girling does not have impressive credentials.  He is former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of TC PipeLines GP, Inc. (general partner of TC PipeLines, LP). He is also the former Chairman of TransCanada Power.  He is the former Chairman of the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America (INGAA) and the Natural Gas Council (NGC), and a former Director of the Canadian Energy Pipeline Association (CEPA).


After proposing the most destructive project to American Agriculture, Mr. Girling is now a Director at Agrium a major retail supplier of agricultural products and services in North and South America.


I am not sure what his ambition is at this point, but, considering the imperiled state of American agriculture with his old project the Keystone XL Pipeline he may see a great profit margin for agricultural products rather than CRUD (not crude) GRADE OIL FROM SAND.  The less the agricultural commodity to sell the higher the price.


A tar sands tailings pond (click title to entry - thank you) north of Fort McMurray, Canada. California is seeking to enforce a rule that would discourage the oil's use. Photograph: Alamy


...California's low-carbon fuel standard is the world's first attempt to require oil suppliers to slash the carbon footprint of their motor fuels, measured not just by emissions from tailpipes but across their full lifecycle, from extraction to combustion. Eleven Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states, and the European Union, are closely tracking California's case because they are working to adopt similar rules....


The Keystone XL Pipeline has no customers now and will have even less in the future.  It is a White Elephant and a great deal of threat to American farmlands.  It is nothing but a SIMPLETON political play in hopes of maintaining and possibly gaining seats in the US House and Senate while attempting to embarrass President Obama's decision as pandering to HIS BASE.  Has anyone checked what his base actually consists of these days?  It isn't exactly limited to environmentalists considering he has legislation such as The Dream Act and the American Jobs Act that was scoffed at by the GOP.

Chiquita joins companies avoiding oilsands fuels

Date: Thursday Dec. 15, 2011 5:07 PM ET
A major American food company (click here) is promising to avoid using fuel from Alberta's oilsands.
Chiquita Brands, which sells hundreds of millions of dollars of fruit, juice and snacks around the world, says it has joined 13 other companies and one city in trying to reduce its carbon footprint.
"We are committed to directing our transportation providers to avoid, where possible, fuels from tarsands refineries," says a letter from Chiquita vice-president Manuel Rodriguez to Aaron Sanger of the environmental group ForestEthics.
"We will identify all fuel providers for these (Chiquita-)owned or dedicated trucking fleets and work with ForestEthics to identify any connection between Chiquita's fuel providers and tarsands refineries toward the goal of eliminating fuel from these providers that is connected with tarsands refineries."
Other companies that have joined the ForestEthics campaign have taken a variety of actions.
Cosmetics giant Avon and U.S. drugstore chain Walgreen's have both made commitments similar to Chiquita's.
Others, such as Gap, Levi Strauss and Timberland, have only said they are trying to reduce the environmental impact of transporting their products. The city of Bellingham, Wash., has guidelines minimizing fuel purchases that take oilsands feedstock....

Oh, profitability is not all the concern of the project.  The Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation needs financial support as well.  They have risked all they have to protect their lands after Shell Oil chronically took advantage of their impoverishment and inability to fight back against lack of corporate adherence to agreements with the tribe.

Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation sues Shell for tar sands destruction (click here)

November 30th, 2011
London – On the eve of the 17th COP of the UNFCCC, the world’s climate summit, the UK Tar Sands Network will serve papers to Shell UK executives on behalf of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation (ACFN). ACFN plans to sue Shell for failure to meet contractual agreements made between Shell and the First Nations regarding existing tar sands projects within ACFN traditional territory and Canada’s pristine Athabasca, a UNESCO heritage site  . Later today, Chief Allan Adam along with the entire council of ACFN will rally outside Shell Canada corporate headquarters in downtown Calgary and hold a press conference.
After years of agreements with Shell Oil, the Athabasca Chipewyan people have decided to risk everything by challenging Shell’s practices and filing suit. “We’re drawing the line, and taking a strong stand against Shell. ACFN wants no further developments until Shell is brought to justice and our broader concerns about the cumulative impacts in the region are addressed,” stated Chief Adam...

Donations to the tribe can be made by contacting them.  Click here for their website link.  Their 'contact' link doesn't work, but, there is information at the bottom of the webpage.

Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation 
P.O. Box 366, Fort Chipewyan, AB, T0P 1B0
Canadian Phone:  1-780-697-3730
Toll Free:  1-888-420-7011
(Fax) 1-780-697-3500
UNESCO World Heritage Site


...Situated on the Northern Boreal Plains in the north-central region of Canada, Wood Buffalo comprises a vast wilderness area (44,807 km2 ) which is home to North America's largest population of wild bison. It is also the natural nesting place of the whooping crane. Another of the park's attractions is the world's largest inland delta, located at the mouth of the Peace and Athabasca rivers....

Wood Buffalo is not simply a cute name, it honors an endangered species of buffalo, called The Wood Buffalo.  And they live within these lands.

Published 07 December 2011
Updated 22 December 2011
This is not the case, and on 30 November, California's Air Resources Board sent a reaction letter to the EU Climate Action Commissioner Connie Hedegaard, seen by EurActiv, explaining that their fuel standard had not failed and was indeed ongoing.
'Robust' regulation
“We believe that a robust greenhouse gas (GHG) regulation to address transportation fuels like LCFS must account for differences in the carbon intensity of crudes,” the letter says.
“The principle of accounting for the lifecycle GHG emissions of transportation fuels, including those associated with the production and transportation of crude oil continues to be an important feature of the LCFS,” it says.
California’s LCFS, which was implemented at the beginning of this year, obliges a 10% reduction in the carbon intensity of the state’s transport fuels by 2020....


Lying Lobbists, sounds like the USA GOP at work.  "When all else fails, lie!"


The oil sands map above is typical of Republicans that know 'how best' to handle environmental issues.  Just like their Gerrymandering.  Draw lines that make sense while ignoring the fact clear air and water and wildlife habitat within the new lines actually matters.  After all, the wildlife have to be able to honor the rights of corporations to turn sand into oil, otherwise they are FAIR GAME!


And whom owns the GOP exactly?

Jack Gerard, Oil Industry Chief, Warns Obama On Canada Pipeline (click here)

First Posted: 1/4/12
Updated: 1/5/12

WASHINGTON (AP) — The oil industry's top lobbyist warned the Obama administration Wednesday to approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline or face "huge political consequences" in an election year.
Jack Gerard, president of the American Petroleum Institute, said it would be a "huge mistake" for President Barack Obama to reject the 1,700-mile, Canada-to-Texas pipeline. Obama faces a Feb. 21 deadline to decide whether the $7 billion pipeline is in the national interest.
"Clearly, the Keystone XL pipeline is in the national interest," Gerard said at the trade association's annual "State of American Energy" event. "A determination to decide anything less than that I believe will have huge political consequences."
Gerard said the oil group has teamed up with at least 15 unions to support the pipeline, which would create thousands of jobs....

So, oil has the USA political system in its back pocket, huh?

Really?


Whom exactly is backing this idiotic project in the USA Congress?  A project with no customers, a diminishing source of CRUD oil sands while threatening endangered species and tribal rights.  Whom exactly might that be?