Guardian uk
TransCanada in it's arrogant, presumptuous manner has already begun the preliminaries to building the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline..even before approval is given. They have actually removed and relocated an endangered spiecies The American Burying Beetle before securing approval for the pipeline from the Obama Administration.
A Canadian company that is waiting for a federal permit to build an oil pipeline through the High Plains has used a technicality in U.S. environmental regulations to begin removing an endangered species—the black and orange American burying beetle—from the proposed route.
A spokesman for Alberta-based TransCanada said the company has done nothing wrong. The beetles were removed as part of TransCanada's "commitment to protecting the environment and endangered species along the Keystone XL route," Shawn Howard told InsideClimate News. According to Howard, the beetle is the only endangered species identified along the pipeline's proposed route from Alberta to the U.S. Gulf Coast.
But pipeline opponents say that by moving beetles from the Nebraska sandhills and mowing miles of grass where the insects once lived, TransCanada has illegally begun construction on the project. Because the pipeline would cross an international border, the U.S. State Department is in charge of the permitting process. The agency is expected to make its decision by the end of the year.
Guardian uk
Yesterday was the final public hearing for the Keystone XL Tar Sands pipeline and the State Department is denying bias toward the oil industry.
But one recurring theme, from environmental groups in Washington and pipeline opponents from Nebraska and other states, was that the State Department had taken sides with TransCanada, the company building the pipeline, and the oil industry.
The State Department has authority over the project, because it crosses the Canadian border, and is expected to make a decision in November.
However, environmental groups argue the outcome is already fixed, producing friendly emails between State Department officials and pipeline executives as evidence of bias.
The US is the clog in the process of trying to construct a global response to Climate Change. It's understandable with a divided congress that we will not have any meaningful plan to combat climate change in the near future. But thankfully, the Keystone XL Tar Sands pipeline does not rest with the US congress the final decision rests with The President.
And now is the time for him to fulfill his promise.
The issue of climate change is one that we ignore at our own peril. There may still be disputes about exactly how much we're contributing to the warming of the earth's atmosphere and how much is naturally occurring, but what we can be scientifically certain of is that our continued use of fossil fuels is pushing us to a point of no return. And unless we free ourselves from a dependence on these fossil fuels and chart a new course on energy in this country, we are condemning future generations to global catastrophe.
- Barack Obama
World's foremost climate scientist Dr. James Hansen has said that it is essentially "game over" if the XL pipeline is approved.
Save November 6 on your calendar to help encircle the White House in DC asking President Obama to reject the XL pipeline!
Update per Cedwyn public comments on pipeline accepted until Oct.9 click here to comment