This is NOT a political decision. There is a lot on the line for the food supply of the USA. Need I remind there is excitement in the farming community regarding ethanol.
The dangers to the Midwest in regard to the changing climate was never so evident as this past year. The flooding caused the Army Corp to destroy levies and vital farmland lay under water in order to save lives and a town. There is just no room for error anymore. The petroleum industry has never been vigilant about their practices causing destruction of the Louisiana shrimp beds, polluted waters in the Gulf, substantial damage to the economies all along the southern border. We can't risk it anymore. Our nation's farmlands in the Midwest have never been more important.
The potential for farmers to grow prairie grass and other ethanol crops right next to fields and fields of vital food grains and crops is a wonderful use of these lands. There should not be more stress placed on these lands or any more danger in the way of adding more greenhouse gases to the troposphere causing drought.
This was not an easy decision for President Obama. He could have thrown caution to the wind. It would have been the easy and politcally lucrative thing to do.
I can't thank him enough and I hope this will also give the Canadian government pause to realize those oil sands will always be there. If the oil from those sands are vitally needed, would it not be more prudent to protect them now as a 'safety net' for the future and profound oil shortages.
There may be profits in the process of oil sands to extract oil, but, there is a negative energy return for the cost of the process. Generations have to inherit the future. We need to give them a future to inherit.
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, Nov 10, 2011 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- Environmental and citizen groups in British Columbia (click title to entry - thank you) say the federal government review process of the proposed Enbridge Gateway pipeline must include tar sands expansion and climate change impacts.
The groups are reacting to a decision by the State Department and President Obama to delay the proposed Keystone pipeline to include a new review of alternative routes and wider environmental impacts, including climate change.
"The State Department and the Obama administration's decision to delay the Keystone XL pipeline sends a clear signal to Canadian decision makers," says Nikki Skuce, Senior Energy campaigner with ForestEthics. "In the context of the climate change threat, credible pipeline review includes climate impacts."
A federal joint review panel is scheduled to begin hearing citizen testimony on Enbridge's proposed Gateway pipeline in January of 2012....
