226.1 - Good News: Keystone XL on life support

Good News: Keystone XL on life support

Updated Starting with some good news, but which may be good news for a different reason than you think.

It's about the Keystone XL pipeline. I've talked about this a number of times before; Keystone XL is the pipeline that would drag tar sands, which are about the dirtiest, most polluting, most climate-damaging way to get oil there is, across the US plains states to refineries in Texas. And just as a reminder of what we are talking about, that picture on the right is not a close-up of some oil streak, that is an aerial view of a tar sands field in Alberta, Canada.

The project has been held up by opposition from everyone from environmentalists to farmers and Native Americans along the proposed route and has been subjected to various reviews, including a major one by the State Department - which is involved because the project crosses and international boundary.

Well, on November 2, Trans-Canada, the outfit that wants to build the pipeline, asked the State Department to halt indefinitely its ongoing review of the project.

Now, initially, that might sound like good news, like when Shell decided to not drill for oil in the Arctic "for the foreseeable future." That is, like the company was in effect throwing in the towel.

And it is good news, but not for that reason. The company is not giving up, they are making a strategic move. Because, you see, the reason the company gave for asking for a delay is is to await a decision by regulators in Nebraska about a possible change to the pipeline's route in that state. But that decision isn't expected for seven months to a year, which would likely push a final decision to after the 2016 elections. All the GOPper presidential candidates say they are for the Keystone XL; all the Democrats say they are against it. (Hillary Clinton came to that place rather late in the game, but she got there and that's what counts right now.) In other words, Trans-Canada is trying to engage in a stall to put things off until - they hope - a GOPper is in the White House.

So why is that good news? Because it means the company calculates that the Obama White House is going to reject the plan.

I've said on a few occasions that I think that Obama is leaning toward rejecting the project - he has expressed skepticism about it - but is too worried about possibly "offending" right-wingers, particularly right-wing Democrats in the plains states where the pipeline would run. Apparently, Trans-Canada thinks the same thing about the Amazing Mr Os preferences.

There are reasons to think we both have it right. For important one, the White House responded by saying the request to withdraw the permit was "unusual" and that it intends to continue with the review with the idea that Obama would make a final decision before the end of his term.

All of which means that the Keystone XL pipeline is on life support. It's not dead - and even if it's rejected, Trans-Canada could still start the permitting application process all over again under whatever new administration takes office in January of 2017 - but even given all that, it is still on life support. And that truly is good news.

Updated with the news that the day after the show was done, the White House did reject the project, just as predicted. More next week.

Sources cited in links:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/nov/2/keystone-xl-pipeline-project-doubt-after-builder-a/
http://www.newsweek.com/keystone-xl-pipeline-isnt-dead-yet-heres-what-you-need-know-about-what-comes-390383
http://www.wsj.com/articles/white-house-says-it-plans-to-complete-keystone-xl-review-despite-request-to-halt-1446591393

149.4 - Update: Keystone XL pipeline

Update: Keystone XL pipeline

I have two updates regarding the Keystone XL pipeline

About a month ago, I talked about the State Department's Final Environmental Impact Statement, or FEIS. I slammed it on a couple of bases, one of which was its conclusion that Keystone would not significantly affect the overall level of greenhouse gas emissions - greenhouse gases, of course, being those that cause global warming - because if the pipeline isn't built, the oil simply will be transported by other means.

I said the State Department was trying to change subject, to focus solely on the physical structure of the pipeline without regard to what would be in it and I later criticized the assumption that the gunk would just be sent another way.

The word "gunk" was chosen deliberately, by the way. Just as a reminder, we are talking about transporting tar sands, about the dirtiest, most polluting way to get oil there is, from Alberta, Canada to refineries in Texas. This stuff is so thick, so sludgy, that you have to in effect melt it and mix it with water just to get it to a point where it's able to flow through a pipeline.

Well, now the Carbon Tracker Initiative, which is based in the UK and focuses on how carbon budgets interact with financial markets, has looked at that same State Department conclusion and thought the same thing I did. Except, of course, they could back it up with detailed analysis, not just intuition

According to that analysis, The State Department's final environmental impact statement downplays the significance the pipeline would have for development of the Canadian tar sands and therefore underestimated the amount of greenhouse gas emissions that would come with that development.

In short, the State Department concluded that approval or denial of any specific project to transport oil, including Keystone XL, is unlikely to significantly impact the rate of extraction in the tar sands. But Carbon Tracker calls this the "significance trap." The pipeline is only deemed insignificant because the State Department's report didn't consider the ways the pipeline would affect production of the tar sands.

Grossly oversimplifying for the sake of brevity, shipping by rail costs more than shipping by pipeline. So including transportation costs, the cost per unit of production, the cost per barrel of oil produced, is higher shipping by rail than by pipeline, which would tend to hold down production. If you have the pipeline, your transportation is less, so the unit cost is less, so you can produce more (and so make more profit) for the same investment.

Carbon Tracker estimates that oil companies could produce as much as 525,000 more barrels of oil per day out of the tar sands if they have access to the Keystone XL pipeline.

Which means the pipeline would be responsible for generating a whole lot more emissions than the State Department accounted for because it would be facilitating more rapid development of the tar sands, which would create its own emissions in turn.

What's more and what's worse, other research has shown that in all of the Keystone-generated-emissions scenarios that were considered in the State Department's report, none of them - not a single one - would meet the US's declared target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020. The emissions estimates are also not consistent with the goal of limiting global warming to no more than 2 degrees Celsius, which is generally agreed to be the upper safe limit; in fact they are consistent with trends that would see a 6 degree Celsius - nearly 11 degrees Fahrenheit - rise in average global temperature by the end of the century, a level of heating reasonably described as disastrous.

So fortunately, there is some good news to be found in the other update on the pipeline.

The process by which the route for the Keystone XL pipeline through the state of Nebraska was established involved taking the authority for making the decision away from the state’s Public Service Commission and giving it to Gov. Dave Heineman, who gave the TransCanada Corp., the folks who want to build the pipeline, permission to build on private land.

Now, a state court judge has ruled that that process was illegal.

So as of now, unless a higher court reverses the decision, TransCanada may have to reroute the entire pipeline or else seek permission from every single landowner whose property it would cross. That could set the whole schedule back for at least a year. And frankly, the more delay, the more the opposition to this thing increases and the more opportunity it has to increase.

I still think Obama wants to approve the thing if he can find a way to do it without generating too much backlash from his environmentalist supporters. But I am getting a little hopeful - just a little, but still hopeful - that we can actually kill this thing.

Sources:
http://www.carbontracker.org/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/03/keystone-xl-emissions-state-department_n_4892806.html?icid=maing-grid7%7Chtmlws-main-bb%7Cdl26%7Csec1_lnk2%26pLid%3D450211
http://www.carbontracker.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Kxl-The-Significance-Trap_FINAL_03_03_2014.pdf
http://priceofoil.org/2014/02/17/kerrys-state-department-ignored-obamas-climate-action-plan/
http://www.salon.com/2014/02/20/nebraska_just_made_things_a_lot_harder_for_keystone/

146.4 - Keystone XL and the jobs lie

Keystone XL and the jobs lie

I've got an Update about the Keystone XL pipeline. Actually, I should call it a follow-up rather than an Update, but what the heck.

Very quick reminder: The Keystone XL pipeline would move tar sands oil - the dirtiest, most polluting way to get oil there is - from a huge pit in Alberta, Canada, across the prairies of the US, to refineries in Texas, after which it will sold on the international market.

I talked last week about the State Department report on the pipeline and how supporters were trying to spin it into something virtually requiring quick approval despite the report's obvious shortcomings. The biggest shortcoming being how it tries to avoid the whole question of the major and if you will majorly bad effect of expanding tar sands production on global climate change even as it admits the pipeline will promote that expansion. The effect on the climate, the report admitted, would be like putting the exhaust from an additional 6 million cars into the atmosphere.

It also develops that the report's contention that the pipeline will have little impact on greenhouse gas emissions because the sludge would just be transported another way is a view not shared by Canadian government and industry officials. Even Ross Girling, CEO of TransCanada, the company pushing the pipeline, said that developing tar sands will be set back "for decades" if new pipelines are not available "immediately."

But what I wanted to mention here is another part of the report which has gotten less attention than it deserves: jobs.

All along, supporters have been claiming the project will create untold tens of thousands of jobs. And all along, their predictions have proved to be grossly inflated. For example, in 2012, TransCanada was claiming that the project would "create 20,000 construction and manufacturing jobs in the US" as well as "118,000 spin-off jobs" - nearly 140,000 jobs in total. A year later, those 20,000 construction jobs had shrunk to 9,000.

So what does the State Department report say? It claims that during construction, the project will "support" - remember that word, it's important - will "support" a total of 42,100 total jobs, "direct, indirect, and imputed." Sounds impressive until you get into the details: "Direct" means jobs actually involved in building the pipeline. There will only be about 3900 such jobs, the report concludes. "Indirect" means jobs at companies supplying materials and equipment needed for the construction project. "Imputed" refers to jobs - again - "supported" by the money those workers will spend: A pipeline worker goes into town and has dinner at a restaurant or buys a new pair of boots, the jobs of that waitperson or sales person is an "imputed" job.

What's more, after saying this, not there but on the next page, the report gets around to defining what it means by a "job," which, it turns out, is "one position that is filled for one year." Since the project is estimated to take two years, that means they're not talking about 42,000 jobs but 21,000 jobs, only 1950 of which will be in constructing the pipeline - little more than a fifth of what TransCanada claimed and less than a tenth of their original claim.

But then get this: The report even qualifies that by saying that the term "support" includes jobs that are already filled but that would be directed to support of the pipeline project. So this ever-shrinking number is not even additional jobs but includes people who are already working.

And to cap the climax, which is a great old expression, I love that expression, to cap the climax, after the thing is built, after all those jobs vanish, during its operations, how many jobs would the pipeline require in the US, according to the State Department? Fifty. Yes, 50: 35 permanent workers and 15 temporary contractors.

Interestingly, when it's talking about the 42,000 "supported" jobs, it talks about the economic stimulus involved, about all the money being pumped through the economy. But when it talks about the 50 jobs, it reassuringly says such a small number will have "eligible impacts on population, housing, and public services in the proposed Project area." That is, in each case it focuses on what looks better for the project.

Opponents haven't given up. On the day the State Dept. report came out, a call also went out for vigils to express opposition to the pipeline. Three days later, thousands of people turned out for over 250 vigils that covered all 50 states. Some vigils had just a few people; others had several hundred or over a thousand. And there are already plans being laid for both court challenges and large-scale civil disobedience should Obama approve the project.

No matter how much those who Teddy Roosevelt called "the malefactors of great wealth," those "curses to the country" who "sacrifice everything to getting wealth" - everything here including the future of the planet - those people who want us to just give up and go away, the fact is we are not about to do so.

Sources:
http://keystonepipeline-xl.state.gov/documents/organization/221135.pdf
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/11/us-usa-keystone-idUSBREA1A23S20140211
http://content.sierraclub.org/press-releases/2014/01/statement-state-department-walks-away-significant-impact-new-keystone-xl
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-marx/reject-the-keystone-xl-pi_b_4761072.html
http://mediamatters.org/research/2013/02/14/5-myths-about-keystone-xl-debunked/192668#jobs
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=keystone+xl+vigil
http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2010/04/theodore-roosevelt-malefactors-of-great-wealth.html

151.4 - Update: Keystone XL pipeline

Update: Keystone XL pipeline

I've talked about the Keystone XL pipeline a number of times. Over the last month or so, I've gone after the State Department's Final Environmental Impact Statement, or FEIS, on the project; first for dodging the issue of the pipeline's impact on global warming, then for its lies and deceptions about the jobs it would but mostly wouldn't provide, then just two weeks ago about a scientific study showing just what the impact on climate change could be.

Now, another update about that same report.

It turns out that the development of the report was riddled with conflicts of interest.

We already knew that one contracting company which worked on the report had previously worked for TransCanada, the corporation that would build and own the pipeline. The issue was dismissed by an inspector general, who said this was all fine so long as the firm fully disclosed its ties to the industry and completed its work with TransCanada before undertaking the review - in other words, so long as I tell you I may well be biased, then I'm not biased. Or something.

By the way, that inspector general reached that conclusion even though the State Department had redacted the information from its report, thus serving to hide the contractor’s ties to the fossil fuel industry.

Now it develops that another firm contracted by the State Department to evaluate Keystone - specifically, to look at greenhouse gas emissions - also had ties to TransCanada. That company promised to take steps to "mitigate" any conflict of interest, but the State Department redacted that information as well, so what those steps might be and if they actually are adequate is unknown.

That same company, by the way, has also consulted to the American Petroleum Institute and to the fossil fuel industry generally. Which again, you wouldn't know from the State Department's report.

Just by the way, during the 90-day window for public comment on the report, there were over 1 million negative comments - and 60% of the positive comments were linked to people and organizations within the oil industry.

Sources:
http://whoviating.blogspot.com/2014/02/1456-state-of-keystone.html
http://whoviating.blogspot.com/2014/02/1464-keystone-xl-and-jobs-lie.html
http://whoviating.blogspot.com/2014/03/1494-update-keystone-xl-pipeline.html
http://www.salon.com/2014/03/13/the_state_departments_keystone_review_is_riddled_with_conflicts_of_interests/
http://act.350.org/letter/a_million_strong_against_keystone/
http://insideclimatenews.org/content/60-pro-keystone-xl-comments-tied-industry-group-says

145.6 - The State of the Keystone

The State of the Keystone

The Keystone XL pipeline is back in the news. I have talked about this several times, most recently in December. This is the pipeline intended to carry 830,000 gallons of tar sands oil a day from Alberta, Canada, to refineries in Texas. From there, the refined oil will be exported to be sold on the international market.

The reason it's in the news again is that the State Department has issued its report on the pipeline. State was involved because the project crosses an international boundary. Supporters of the pipeline are saying the report gives Obama no real choice but to approve its construction. And at first glance, based on the spin it's being given, that could seem to be the case.

However, there is a real problem with the report: It attempts to change the subject, or, more exactly, to change what question is being asked.

In Obama's climate speech last June, he said to be approved the pipeline must be in the national interest and that would only be true if, his words now, "this project does not significantly exacerbate the problem of carbon pollution."

Okay, but what constitutes "significant?"

Tar sands pit

You have to remember that tar sands are about the ugliest, messiest, dirtiest way to get oil there is; the stuff is so thick, gummy, and sludgy it has to be heated - that is, you have to melt it - and mixed with water just to get it to flow though the pipes. The EPA has determined that on a well-to-tank basis, oil from tar sands produces 82% more greenhouse gas emissions than conventional crude oil does: nearly double. Which certainly sounds significant to me.

However, that State Department report has its own notion of what "significant" means: It concluded that the Keystone XL pipeline would not significantly affect overall greenhouse gas emissions because the oil will be transported through other means if the pipeline isn't built.

In the words of the report,

approval or denial of any one crude oil transport project, including the proposed Project, is unlikely to significantly impact the rate of extraction in the oil sands or the continued demand for heavy crude oil at refiners in the United States....

Which frankly is like arguing that there is no significant danger to smoking cigarettes because one more cigarette is not going to significantly change your risk of getting lung cancer.

The point is, the report changed the question. Instead of asking if, in the light of climate change, it's in our national interest to help promote and expand use of the dirtiest oil source there is, it restricted the question to the means of transporting the oil from the well to the refinery. And because the impact on greenhouse gas emissions by sending the gunk by pipeline won't be much different from that by sending it by train, well, therefore the project has no significant impact on greenhouse gases, no significant impact on global warming.

Put another way, the State Department considered the means of transportation but gave no thought to what it is that's being transported. It tried to change the subject and do it to the benefit of Big Oil.

As Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University put it, the report "self-portrays the US Government as a helpless bystander to climate calamity" and as "trapped in the Big Oil Status Quo."

And State maintained this attitude even as it was forced to acknowledge that the Keystone XL pipeline will drive tar sands expansion and therefore accelerate climate change - which was supposed to be the question under discussion, remember? When Obama addressed the pipeline, it was in the context of global warming.

This isn't the last word on the project and it still faces considerable opposition. But there are also powerful voices behind it and in the wake of the State Department report, they already are using it to push for a quick approval - no doubt fearing, with good reason, that delays will allow time for the failures and misdirections of the report to become more widely recognized.

But if, as I think is true, Obama wants to endorse the project but wants to find a way to do it without generating too much backlash from his environmentalist supporters, the danger is that this report could provide an opening to him to do it. And on climate change, that would be a disaster.

Sources:
http://keystonepipeline-xl.state.gov/documents/organization/221135.pdf
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/03/obama-keystone-xl_n_4719401.html
http://whoviating.blogspot.com/2012/03/left-side-of-aisle-50-part-1.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-sachs/keystone-the-pipeline-to_b_4716229.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-redford/reality-check-on-keystone_b_4719253.html
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/broad-coalition-backs-keystone-xl-oil-pipeline-22363514

Left Side of the Aisle #97 - Part 2

Global warming protest draws 40,000

Something I didn't get to last week for lack of time so I wanted to do it early this week to make sure I got it in.

On Sunday, February 17, the largest climate protest ever occurred in Washington, DC. Some 40,000 people from 30 states along with Canadian indigenous rights activists turned out on a cold, blustery day to demand that Barack Obama reject the Keystone XL oil pipeline and live up to his pledges to act on climate change.

Four days earlier, on February 13, 48 environmental, civil rights and community leaders - including Julian Bond, Robert Kennedy, Jr., Bill McKibben, and Daryl Hannah - blocked a sidewalk in front of the White House in an act of civil disobedience around the same issues.

A significant addition to that number was Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club. It was important because it was the first time in its 120-year history that the Sierra Club had taken part in civil disobedience, an indication of how much importance the group attaches to the issue.

I talked about the Keystone XL pipeline before: It's intended to carry tar sands from Alberta, Canada to refineries in Texas. There are two big problems with the plan: One is the danger of leaks, spills, and other threats to local environments, including wildlife and water supplies. In fact, the risk is likely bigger than you think. Look at the picture to the right. I know it's hard to see, but notice the thin light line.

In early December, three activists locked themselves inside a segment of the pipeline located in Winona, Texas. In the morning, they found sunlight had illuminated gaping holes in the pipe left behind by faulty welding. The photograph was taken from inside the pipeline and the light is daylight coming through what is supposed to be a water-tight, air-tight pipe.

The three protesters were arrested and held for 24 days in prison. An hour after the arrest, TransCanada, the corporation that wants to build the pipeline, took that segment of pipeline and put it in the ground where it can't be seen. The pipeline is supposed to be checked by independent inspectors, but "independent" apparently has as much meaning here as does the requirement that superPACs don't "coordinate" with a political candidate's campaign does in campaign finance: TransCanada pipeline contractors are permitted to choose their own inspectors.

But here's the other problem, the even bigger one: Tar sands is about the dirtiest, most environment-fouling, air-polluting, greenhouse gas-generating, global warming-pushing way of producing oil there is. Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org, one of the groups organizing the climate rally along with the Sierra Club and the Hip-Hop Caucus, says development of tar sands means "game over" on climate change and likened it to lighting a "carbon bomb."

The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that the pipeline will boost annual US carbon emissions by up to 27.6 million metric tons, the equivalent of adding nearly six million cars on the road. In fact, Oil Change International says those estimates are too low because they don't take into effect the full range of effects. The group says the pipeline and the associated boost to the tar sands industry will raise total emissions by at least 13 percent.

Which only emphasizes the point that the rally was, again, about more than the Keystone XL alone; it was about the whole threat of climate change and a demand that the Amazing Mister O live up to his promises to act.

We can't avoid the truth of climate change, we can't escape it except by willful self-delusion: The more time goes by the higher the mountain of evidence becomes.

For example, in November, the World Meteorological Organization, an agency of the United Nations, reported that the volume of greenhouse gasses went up by 30% in 2011, with the gasses ranked most harmful - carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide - all reaching record high concentrations.

Bill McKibben's group, 350.org, gets its name from the fact that atmospheric scientists say that 350 parts per million is the "safe upper limit" for concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to head off significant climate change. Current concentrations of CO2 are above 395 parts per million and rising.

Michel Jarraud, Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization, noted that until now, carbon sinks such as trees and, significantly, the oceans have absorbed nearly half of the carbon dioxide humans emitted into the atmosphere but there are clear signs - such as the increasing acidity of the oceans - that those sinks may be reaching the limit of their ability to take up carbon.

More recently, last month the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued its annual State of the Climate Report, which noted that 2012 was the hottest year on record for the US. Just days later, the National Climate Assessment Development Advisory Committee published its draft of the nation's third climate assessment report, intended to be a comprehensive review of the latest and best peer-reviewed science on the extent and impacts of global warming on the United States. It was put together by a group of 240 scientists. The final report, after a period of public comment, is due next year.

For those of us who have been following the issue, that report doesn't tell us anything we didn't know - but it is still sobering, even depressing, reading. It says that evidence is stronger and clearer than ever that the climate is rapidly changing, even more rapidly than predicted, primarily as a result of human activities, including the use of fossil fuels. Weather extremes are on the rise, and the evidence for a connection between such events and climate change is stronger than ever.

Scientists say that we need to keep the overall increase in world temperature below 2C (3.6F) to head off the worst effects of climate change. The bad news is that right now we are on track to hit a 4C increase - or more - by the end of the century. The good news is that according to the latest research, it is still possible to stay below that 2C increase. The bad news is that doing so will require worldwide emissions to peak in 2016 and then decline 5% per year for the next 34 years.

Let me be blunt: With current international negotiations on climate change hoping to have a deal by 2015 which won't go into effect until 2020, I really doubt we're up for it.

And here's part of the reason why:40,000 people marched in Washington. The largest climate demonstration in US history. And the major network newscasts - CBS, NBC, and ABC - could barely be aroused to notice. CNN did some live coverage, but we tend to forget that the Big Three evening newscasts still swamp cable outfits in terms of numbers of viewers. And people can't care about what they don't know about.

Sources:
http://rt.com/usa/news/us-biggest-keystone-xl-458/
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/17/us-usa-climate-keystone-protest-idUSBRE91G0GZ20130217
http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2013/02/keystone-pipeline-protest-rally-climate-change-washington
http://www.care2.com/causes/activists-find-literal-gaping-holes-in-keystone-xl-pipeline.html
http://www.juancole.com/2013/02/against-thousands-washington.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/17/forward-on-climate-rally_n_2702575.html
http://ecowatch.org/2013/48-leaders-engage-in-historic-act-of-civil-disobedience-to-stop-keystone-xl-pipeline/
http://www.wmo.int/pages/mediacentre/press_releases/pr_965_en.html
http://www.care2.com/causes/stop-dooming-the-rest-of-us-climate-change-deniers.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/11/national-climate-assessment-global-warming_n_2458905.html
http://ncadac.globalchange.gov/
http://articles.latimes.com/2013/jan/11/nation/la-na-climate-assessment-20130112
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/13/climate-change-study-emissions-limits_n_2467995.html
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nclimate1793
http://fair.org/take-action/media-advisories/media-and-the-keystone-march/
http://www.fair.org/blog/2012/01/25/usa-today-keystone-job-cops/

Left Side of the Aisle #193

Left Side of the Aisle
for the week of February 26 -  March 4, 2015

This week:

Good News: Keystone XL bill vetoed
http://www.aol.com/article/2015/02/24/defying-gop-obama-vetoes-keystone-xl-pipeline-bill/21146258/
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/keystone-xls-climate-impacts-need-revisited-epa-says/
http://www.salon.com/2015/02/03/epa_keystone_xl_would_absolutely_contribute_to_climate_change/

Clown Award: John Boehner
http://www.speaker.gov/press-release/national-embarrassment-speaker-boehner-president-obama-s-veto-keystone-jobs-bill
http://whoviating.blogspot.com/2014/02/1464-keystone-xl-and-jobs-lie.html
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/24/us-usa-keystone-idUSKBN0LS2FH20150224
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/02/keystone-pipeline-veto-obama-boehner-mcconnell-115445.html

Update: last week's Clown Award
http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2015/02/details_emerge_in_flower_mound_white_power_sign_incident.php
http://www.dallasnews.com/news/community-news/lewisville-flower-mound/headlines/20150220-flower-mound-plano-east-teams-show-unity-week-after-white-and-power-signs.ece

Update: Trayvon Martin killing
http://www.aol.com/article/2015/02/24/justice-dept-no-federal-charges-in-trayvon-martin-death/21146221/

Everything You Need to Know: about police violence in the US
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/eugene-robinson-its-a-crime-that-we-dont-know-how-many-people-police-shoot-to-death/2014/12/01/adedcb00-7998-11e4-b821-503cc7efed9e_story.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-0uqFTBclo
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/02/12/1363996/-Pasco-Washington-police-have-killed-more-people-than-police-in-Germany-the-UK-combined?detail=email
http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2014/08/armed-police

Hero Award: Ron Smith, president of the Seattle Police Officers’ Guild
http://www.thestranger.com/blogs/slog/2015/02/18/21739167/seattle-police-union-president-to-cops-get-with-the-times-or-get-out-of-this-city

RIP: Leslie Gore
http://www.tmz.com/2015/02/16/lesley-gore-dead-its-my-party-dies-cancer/
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/17/arts/music/lesley-gore-teenage-voice-of-heartbreak-dies-at-68.html

BP and Deepwater Horizon: still weaseling
http://www.eoearth.org/view/article/161185/
http://marcellus.com/news/id/119211/bp-appeals-u-s-judges-ruling-on-size-of-gulf-oil-spill/
http://www.nola.com/business/index.ssf/2015/02/bp_oil_spill_size_ruling_appea.html
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/is?s=BP&annual
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_impact_of_the_Deepwater_Horizon_oil_spill
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/11/health-impacts-unclear-bp-oil-spill_n_5130545.html

Outrage of the Week: drug testing the poor
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/11/welfare-drug-testing_n_6655712.html
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2015/02/10/3621267/tennessee-drug-tests-after-six-months/
http://www.startribune.com/politics/statelocal/235888681.html
http://www.wbir.com/story/news/politics/2015/02/08/drug-testing-of-welfare-applicants-yields-few-positives/23086333/
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2014/12/16/few-welfare-applicants-caught-in-drug-screening-net-so-far/

Obama's war
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/isis-terror/u-s-official-american-forces-may-help-iraq-retake-mosul-n309241
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/daesh-adopted-as-new-name-for-isis-by-u-s-france-1.2861108
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/16/obama-ground-forces-iraq_n_5829744.html
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/09/26/241245/us-combat-role-in-iraq-not-off.html#emlnl=Afternoon_Newsletter

Left Side of the Aisle #97

Left Side of the Aisle
for the week of February 28-March 6, 2013

Good news: White House files brief calling DOMA unconstitutional
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/22/obama-supreme-court-doma_n_2745594.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/26/republicans-gay-marriage-supreme-court_n_2764743.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/26/us/politics/prominent-republicans-sign-brief-in-support-of-gay-marriage.html?_r=0

Global warming protest draws 40,000
http://rt.com/usa/news/us-biggest-keystone-xl-458/
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/17/us-usa-climate-keystone-protest-idUSBRE91G0GZ20130217
http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2013/02/keystone-pipeline-protest-rally-climate-change-washington
http://www.care2.com/causes/activists-find-literal-gaping-holes-in-keystone-xl-pipeline.html
http://www.juancole.com/2013/02/against-thousands-washington.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/17/forward-on-climate-rally_n_2702575.html
http://ecowatch.org/2013/48-leaders-engage-in-historic-act-of-civil-disobedience-to-stop-keystone-xl-pipeline/
http://www.wmo.int/pages/mediacentre/press_releases/pr_965_en.html
http://www.care2.com/causes/stop-dooming-the-rest-of-us-climate-change-deniers.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/11/national-climate-assessment-global-warming_n_2458905.html
http://ncadac.globalchange.gov/
http://articles.latimes.com/2013/jan/11/nation/la-na-climate-assessment-20130112
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/13/climate-change-study-emissions-limits_n_2467995.html
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nclimate1793
http://fair.org/take-action/media-advisories/media-and-the-keystone-march/
http://www.fair.org/blog/2012/01/25/usa-today-keystone-job-cops/

Clown Award: OK state Rep. wants to ban insurance coverage of contraceptives
http://www.care2.com/causes/oklahoma-may-deny-women-affordable-birth-control-because-it-poisons-their-bodies.html
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/02/22/1627441/oklahoma-birth-control-poison/
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=504&articleid=20130222_16_A1_CUTLIN363111

Outrage of the Week: SCOTUS gives cops even wider latitude
http://whoviating.blogspot.com/2005/01/and-so-we-bid-fond-sad-farewell-to.html
http://whoviating.blogspot.com/2004/04/when-sniff-makes-sniffle.html
http://www.usconstitution.net/xconst_Am4.html
http://www.npr.org/2013/02/19/172431555/latest-supreme-court-decisions-give-police-one-victory-one-loss
http://www.care2.com/causes/drug-dogs-at-traffic-stops-scotus-says-go-for-it.html

Guns: More pushback against the gun nuts
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/lapierre-access-to-semi-automatics-is-about-survival
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/02/wayne-lapierre-fox-news-sunday.php
http://sayanythingblog.com/entry/man-attempts-shooting-spree-at-the-hobbit-movie-premier-stopped-by-gun-carrying-audience-member/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/18/sandy-hook-solutions-megan-mcardle_n_2324045.html
http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2012/12/Oh-Husky-12-Year-Old-Boy-The-National-Review-Weighs-in-on-the-Newtown-Shooting
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/335996/newtown-answers-nro-symposium#
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/26/steve-stockman-useful-idiots_n_2764856.html?ref=topbar
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/02/25/rep-stockman-obama-machine-used-fake-twitter-accounts-to-send-gun-control/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/25/colorado-lawmakers-get-th_n_2760325.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuiDBr0WnZU
http://www.mercurynews.com/crime-courts/ci_22666985/field-poll-california-voters-feel-new-gun-controls
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/washington-post-poll-finds-support-for-stricter-gun-control-laws-in-maryland/2013/02/26/71fdabc0-7f98-11e2-8074-b26a871b165a_story.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/page/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2012/12/17/National-Politics/Polling/question_9271.xml
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/24/us/court-finds-no-right-to-conceal-a-firearm.html?ref=todayspaper&_r=0
http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Appeals-court-upholds-concealed-weapons-ruling-4300811.php
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/clout/chi-2nd-congressional-district-jackson-20130226,0,4718425.story
http://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/Tough-gun-laws-linked-to-fewer-deaths-4145605.php
tinyurl.com/cj5x6vq

Economy: Arguing over which way to screw ordinary people

192.5 - Update on Keystone XL

Update on Keystone XL

Our next update has to do with the Keystone XL pipeline, the one intended to carry tar sands, about the most polluting, dirty, way to get oil there is, from Alberta to refineries in Texas. We've talked about this a number of times, here's the latest.

As you may well know by now, the Asylum and the Senate recently have both passed bills approving the pipeline and moving the authority to make the decision on it from the Executive Branch to Congress. The Amazing Mr. O has promised to veto the bill - although it's unclear if that's out of any environmental concern or personal pique at having some of his power taken away. Either way, let's hope that even if he wants to wimp out he'll realize that at this point, having  threatened to veto it enough times, he can't not veto it if he wants to remain relevant for the rest of his term. And while the bills passed with considerable support from the Dimcrats, who like oil and gas money as much as the GOPpers do, that support was not enough to overcome a veto.

Meanwhile, as I've mentioned before, the Nebraska state legislature passed a bill allowing TransCanada, the Canadian company that wants to build the pipeline, to file for eminent domain on properties along the pipeline's route and also stripped the state’s Public Service Commission of the authority to rule on final plans. Lower courts agreed with a suit claiming that violated the state constitution, but while a majority of the state Supreme Court agreed, it wasn't the supermajority required to overturn a law.

Shortly after their win in court, TransCanada filed eminent domain claims for the landowners who still hadn’t agreed to turn their land over to the company.

Which brings us to the immediate update.

A county district judge in Nebraska has granted a temporary injunction to landowners who are challenging the ability of TransCanada to use eminent domain to seize land.

Although the injunction only affects those along the northern part of the proposed pipeline route through Nebraska, TransCanada, which agreed to not oppose the injunction in exchange for an accelerated trial schedule, said it will delay land condemnation for all of the roughly 90 property owners along the route who have refused to sign easement contracts.

Meanwhile, the US State Department has been working toward a recommendation on whether or not construction of the pipeline is in the national interest. That recommendation was delayed, supposedly to await the resolution of the case that was before the Nebraska state supreme court. That case is now over. However, don't be surprised if this new case produces another delay in that State Department process.

Which actually is good: It often seems that the longer this drags out, the less "vital" the pipeline and the overall development of tar sands seems and the more transparent all the lies about all the jobs the project was supposed to provide become.

Sources cited in links:
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/02/11/house-approves-keystone-xl-pipeline-setting-veto-showdown-with-white-house
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/02/13/3622816/keystone-xl-injunction/
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/02/12/1364134/-Nebraska-judge-temporarily-blocks-TransCanada-s-ability-to-use-eminent-domain-for-Keystone-XL
http://www.omaha.com/news/nebraska/nebraska-judge-rules-in-favor-of-landowners-on-keystone-xl/article_a19c551a-b2f5-11e4-9440-fb3972ced98c.html

Left Side of the Aisle #146

Left Side of the Aisle
for the week of February 13-19, 2014

This week:

Good news: "Solidarity Singalong" arrests found unconstitutional
http://whoviating.blogspot.com/2013/08/left-side-of-aisle-120-part-5.html
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/02/05/1275428/-Unconstitutional-Unintimidated-in-Wisconsin?detail=email
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/02/05/1275373/-Dane-County-WI-Judge-Declares-Rule-Used-to-Charge-Singers-Unconstitutional

Good news : Moral Monday is back
http://whoviating.blogspot.com/2013/07/left-side-of-aisle-116-part-2.html
http://www.thenation.com/blog/178291/north-carolinas-moral-monday-movement-kicks-2014-massive-rally-raleigh
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greensboro_sit-ins
http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/encyclopedia/encyclopedia/enc_selma_to_montgomery_march/

Unintentional Humor: Francois Hollande and "powers others only dream of"
http://www.fair.org/
http://www.fair.org/blog/2014/02/07/you-wont-believe-what-they-let-the-president-do-in-france/
http://quotes.dictionary.com/I_hasten_to_laugh_at_everything_for_fear
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2014/02/6-unanswered-questions-obama-drones
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/03/clinton-tells-house-obama-would-ignore-war-resolutions.php
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/01/world/middleeast/syria.html?hp

Keystone XL and the jobs lie
http://keystonepipeline-xl.state.gov/documents/organization/221135.pdf
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/11/us-usa-keystone-idUSBREA1A23S20140211
http://content.sierraclub.org/press-releases/2014/01/statement-state-department-walks-away-significant-impact-new-keystone-xl
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-marx/reject-the-keystone-xl-pi_b_4761072.html
http://mediamatters.org/research/2013/02/14/5-myths-about-keystone-xl-debunked/192668#jobs
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=keystone+xl+vigil
http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2010/04/theodore-roosevelt-malefactors-of-great-wealth.html

Update: GOPpers still trying to push Iran sanctions bill
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/02/05/gop-will-force-reid-to-save-obama-s-iran-policy-over-and-over-again.html
http://thehill.com/blogs/global-affairs/middle-east-north-africa/197722-aipac-breaks-with-gop-on-iran-sanctions

Clown Award: Drug Free America Foundation
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/07/drug-free-america-foundation-marijuana_n_4745691.html
pic.twitter.com/cLc0nsQCcr
http://www.gallup.com/poll/165539/first-time-americans-favor-legalizing-marijuana.aspx

Outrage of the Week: unemployment benefits, SNAP, and the minimum wage
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/06/unemployment-extension-senate_n_4739526.html
http://money.cnn.com/2014/01/20/news/economy/unemployment-insurance/
http://www.worldhunger.org/articles/Learn/us_hunger_facts.htm
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/30/us-child-poverty-report-unicef_n_1555533.html
http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/197291-sessions-says-food-stamp-cuts-not-deep-enough
http://money.cnn.com/2014/01/17/news/economy/food-stamps-cut/index.html?iid=EL
http://money.cnn.com/2013/10/25/news/economy/food-stamp-cuts/index.html?iid=EL
http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/government-oversight/197761-republicans-want-photo-id-requirement-for-food-stamps
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/01/23/1271896/-Republicans-believe-rich-people-just-work-harder-So-how-do-they-explain-these-statistics
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/27-shocking-numbers-that-reveal-the-true-state-of-the-union-20140128
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R42973.pdf
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/09/opinion/sunday/the-case-for-a-higher-minimum-wage.html
http://www.epi.org/minimum-wage-statement/

227.1 - Good News: Keystone XL pipeline rejected

Good News: Keystone XL pipeline rejected

Okay, as I always try to do, let's have some Good News at the top.

Last week, I said that indications were that the Obama administration was going to reject permits for the Keystone XL pipeline, the one intended to carry tar sands from Alberta, Canada, to refineries in Texas.

The day after I did the show, that is exactly what happened. The state Department, involved here because the project crossed an international boundary, refused to allow TransCanada, the corporation behind the pipeline, permission to proceed.

The department's press release gave five reasons for the rejection, among them a negligible impact on our energy security; a marginal contribution to the economy;concerns about local communities, water supplies, and cultural heritage sites; and the nature of what would be transported.

Secretary of State John Kerry, in whose name the release was issued, declared in it:

The critical factor in my determination was this: moving forward with this project would significantly undermine our ability to continue leading the world in combatting climate change.

Now, it's questionable if the US is "leading the world" in combatting climate change when its own promises to cut greenhouse gas emissions fall short of those of a number of other nations, but still, to hear that the potential impact on climate change was "the critical factor" in rejecting the project is welcome.

This, as always seems to be true, is not the end of the bigger issue. Canada is already shipping about 3M barrels of some sort of oil a day to the United States through 31 existing pipelines - and about half of that is heavy bitumen - tar sands - from Alberta. But without the Keystone XL pipeline to make it more price competitive, more of those tar sands are likely to stay in the ground - and in terms of global warming, that, not the pipeline itself, was the issue.

Another thing is that as I noted last week, the project may not be totally dead. TransCanada is said to be "exploring its options," including starting all over again with a new and hopefully for them friendlier administration in January 2017, pushing Congress to overturn the decision, or even filing suit under NAFTA, which would involve asking a business-oriented tribunal under the treaty to demand the US approve the pipeline or compensate TransCanada for lost potential profits.

However, newly-elected Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is unlikely to back a NAFTA challenge, the US has never lost a challenge under NAFTA, and the legislative route has already been tried and failed.

So trying again, starting from scratch, under a new administration is the only realistic option. But even with a favorably-disposed White House, the project would still face extensive and hardened local opposition all along the route. So pursuing it may well appear to the company to be throwing good money after bad. Ultimately, to me, TransCanada seems more likely to lick its wounds, write off its investment to date, and look elsewhere.

So while I don't feel I can be as definite as Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club, was in describing the pipeline as "dead" and "won't happen," I do think we can be pretty damned confident that this is the end of the line for the Keystone XL pipeline and a victory for people power and the environment. And that is Good News.

Sources cited in links:
http://www.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2015/11/249249.htm
http://climateobserver.org/open-and-shut/indc/
http://www.economist.com/news/americas/21678157-barack-obamas-rejection-oil-pipeline-blessing-and-curse-new-prime
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/259611-keystone-xl-not-dead-yet

122.6 - Update #4: Strike three for State Dept. report approving Keystone XL pipeline

Update #4: Strike three for State Dept. report approving Keystone XL pipeline

The last time I mentioned the Keystone XL pipeline, the one intended to carry polluting tar sands from Canada to Texas, was back in April.

At that time, I mentioned that the State Department, which was involved because the project crossed a national border, green-lighted the project, saying the environmental impact would be minor - but it developed that the report’s authors were not Department staff but outside contractors with ties to the oil industry and the one that produced the bulk of the report, Environmental Resources Management, has ties to tar sands extraction companies, a big no-no serious enough to have prompted an inquiry by the Department's internal watchdog.

That certainly should have been considered a strike against the State Department report.

Strike two was when the EPA said the report had "insufficient information" and failed to account for potentially vast greenhouse gas emissions and the risk to aquifers along the pipeline's proposed route.

Now comes "strike three yer out." Last week, the Department of the Interior posted on its website a letter from its Office of Environmental Protection and Compliance, calling the report's assessment of the effect on wildlife "inaccurate," warning instead of long-term, adversarial effects, and slamming it - in very polite bureaucratic language, of course - for failing to consider any effect on wildlife of spills or leaks.

With even Obama casting doubt on the you-hear-it-every-time claim of "jobs jobs jobs," saying "There is no evidence that that's true," there is still hope that this monstrosity can be stopped.

Sources:
http://whoviating.blogspot.com/2013/04/left-side-of-aisle-102-part-8.html
http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/315351-state-dept-watchdog-launches-inquiry-into-keystone-environmental-report#ixzz2cQqCIRKl
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/aug/20/interior-state-keystone-xl-pipeline-impact?google_editors_picks=true
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/jul/28/obama-reservations-keystone-pipeline-project

Left Side of the Aisle #192

Left Side of the Aisle
for the week of February 19-25, 2015

This week:

Good News: PA suspends death penalty
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2015/02/13/3623060/pennsylvania-death-penalty-suspended/
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/jan/03/racial-bias-us-death-penalty
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/documents/FactSheet.pdf
http://www.law.umich.edu/special/exoneration/Pages/detaillist.aspx?View={FAF6EDDB-5A68-4F8F-8A52-2C61F5BF9EA7}&FilterField1=Sentence&FilterValue1=Death
http://www.post-gazette.com/news/state/2015/02/13/Governor-places-moratorium-on-death-penalty-in-Pennsylvania/stories/201502130166

Update on same-sex marriage in AL
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/15/steven-reed-roy-moore-ala_n_6687706.html
http://www.al.com/news/birmingham/index.ssf/2015/02/alabama_supreme_court_agrees_t.html
http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/mandamus

Update on Net neutrality
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/12/net-neutrality-advocates-_0_n_6670850.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2015/02/10/republicans-are-about-to-benghazi-all-over-again-on-net-neutrality/

Update on right-wing changing the rules
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/06/congress-dynamic-scoring_n_6425926.html?utm_hp_ref=politics

Update on Keystone XL
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/02/11/house-approves-keystone-xl-pipeline-setting-veto-showdown-with-white-house
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/02/13/3622816/keystone-xl-injunction/
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/02/12/1364134/-Nebraska-judge-temporarily-blocks-TransCanada-s-ability-to-use-eminent-domain-for-Keystone-XL
http://www.omaha.com/news/nebraska/nebraska-judge-rules-in-favor-of-landowners-on-keystone-xl/article_a19c551a-b2f5-11e4-9440-fb3972ced98c.html

Footnote: Keystone opponents getting visits from FBI
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/02/09/3620703/tar-sands-fbi-visits/

Clown Award: "White Power" sign at high school basketball game
http://www.wfaa.com/story/news/local/denton-county/2015/02/17/plano-east-parents-students-object-to-sign-at-game/23536145/
http://www.wtsp.com/story/news/weird/2015/02/17/texas-white-power-sign/23538823/

Update on NYPD "anti-terrorism" task force
http://gothamist.com/2015/02/03/nypd_announce_new_machine_gun-free.php
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/550-specially-trained-nypd-officers-handle-protests-article-1.2101319

Outrage of the Week: NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton blames the victims of police violence
http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2015/02/10/384990293/nypds-top-cop-wants-to-make-it-a-felony-to-resist-arrest
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlLTCYy2N54
http://wagingnonviolence.org/feature/activists-responding-nypds-attempts-thwart-blacklivesmatter/

Obama's AUMF for ISIS is about endless war
http://www.defenseone.com/politics/2014/11/obama-ask-congress-new-war-powers-fight-isis/98270/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/28/adam-schiff-aumf-isis_n_6559066.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/11/obama-isis-war-authorization_n_6662930.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/11/obama-aumf-congress-isis_n_6660208.html
http://whatalovelywar.com/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/13/obama-aumf-endless-war_n_6680210.html

183.1 - Good News: Keystone XL on hold

Good News: Keystone XL on hold

The Keystone XL pipeline, the one intended to carry tar sands - about the dirtiest, most polluting source of oil there is - from Canada to Texas so it could be sold overseas, and against which I have spoken here a number of time, is still on hold.

It looked for a while like it might not be. The House, striving mightily to prove that is it reactionary, not merely right-wing, easily passed a bill to move the pipeline forward. For a time it looked like the Senate would follow suit. All because of Mary Landrieu.

Mary Landrieu is the Democratic senator from Louisiana. She is facing a runoff election on December 6 which she is widely expected to lose, as her opponent is, and has consistently been, ahead in the opinion polls. In an attempt to make herself look good in Louisiana, she co-sponsored the pro-pipeline bill in the Senate, even though the section of the pipeline involved has nothing to do with her state.

So, proving yet again that partisanship outweighs policy and ego trumps the environment, the Senate Dimcratic leadership urged members of their caucus to vote for her bill just to slightly improve her dim chances of keeping her seat - even though, even if she did, the GOPpers would still hold the majority. The attitude seemed to be "She's a colleague! A member of our insular elite! No price to the environment is too great to help her!"

The hard reality of the Senate is that it still takes a filibuster-proof 60 votes to pass anything. A few days before the vote, she was assured of 59.  And when the vote came on Tuesday afternoon, that's what she got: 59. Those days of politicking and pressure from the party leadership failed to move one more member.

That is good news.

It's only temporary, though: The newly-GOPper-ruled Senate will take the pipeline up again when Congress reconvenes in January and it will very probably get through. Which means the focus will be - as in fact is has been all along - on Barack Obama, who will finally have to decide if all his environmental talk is anything more than that. Frankly, I'm not convinced it is - but I'm not convinced it's not, either. So we need to keep up the pressure.

Sources cited in links:
http://whoviating.blogspot.com/search?q=keystone
http://www.thenation.com/blog/190665/frantic-help-mary-landrieu-democrats-betray-their-base-keystone
http://www.politico.com/story/2014/11/keystone-xl-senate-vote-113008.html

188.5 - Good News: Obama signals opposition to Keystone XL pipeline

Good News: Obama signals opposition to Keystone XL pipeline

Our last bit of Good News can be dealt with at rather shorter length than the previous one.

With all that's facing us as a people, and with all the grandiose claims the right-wingers have made about what they are going to accomplish now that they control both houses of Congress, what did they start off with? What was one of the very first things they wanted to get done, the thing they introduced within hours of the new Congress convening?

A bill to approve the Keystone XL pipeline, designed to carry tar sands, about the most polluting source of oil there is, from Canada to refineries in Texas.

I have gone over the reasons to reject this monstrosity, gone over the lies of its proponents, several times and I won't repeat that here. What I will say is that the good news about this is that very soon thereafter, White House media representative Josh Earnest stated that Obama will veto the bill if it passes. He couched it in narrow terms, citing the fact that the issue of the pipeline's route through Nebraska is now before that state's Supreme Court, but still, he said it.

All along, I've been wondering if Obama's repeated stalling on a final decision on the pipeline was because he wanted to approve it but was afraid of backlash from his base, which includes the environmental community, or because he wanted to reject it but was afraid of backlash from energy corporations and conservative electorates in states where Democrats were hoping to hold onto seats. I still don't know how much of the stall was in a futile attempt to protect Dems, but at least it does appear - for now, anyway - that he is leaning toward rejecting it.

Which, I say again, is Good News.

Sources cited in links:
http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/Latest-News-Wires/2015/0106/Obama-to-veto-Keystone-XL-bill-according-to-press-secretary
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/white-house-says-president-would-veto-keystone-pipeline-bill/2015/01/06/d41cb6be-95d7-11e4-aabd-d0b93ff613d5_story.html

189.5 - Update: Obama renews veto pledge after NE Supreme Court ruling

Update: Obama renews veto pledge after NE Supreme Court ruling

Next we have an Update on something I talked about last week: the Keystone XL pipeline.

I said last week that the House had passed a bill to force approval of the pipeline - which, again, is intended to carry tar sands, about the most polluting source of oil there is, from mines in Alberta, Canada, to refineries in Texas - but Obama said he would veto the bill if it passed the Senate. Among the reasons was that the issue of the pipeline's route across Nebraska was before that state's Supreme Court.

On Friday, January 9, the Nebraska Supreme Court upheld the law in question. What had happened was that the state legislature passed a bill stripping from the state utilities commission the authority to rule on the pipeline's route across the state and giving it to the governor, knowing full well that he would do whatever TransCanada, the corporation that wants to built the pipeline, wanted him to do - which he promptly did.

Some people challenged the validity of the law under the state constitution. They won at two lover levels and the state Supreme Court found by 4-3 that the law should be struck down. Unfortunately, Nebraska requires a supermajority of 5-2 to strike down a law. So the law was upheld and the route is approved.

Meanwhile, the Senate is moving forward with a bill to approve the pipeline. A final vote on the Senate version is expected  sometime in the week of January 19.

However, in reaction to the decision in Nebraska, the White House repeated its statement that Obama will veto that bill and while the pipeline does has enough support to pass the bill, in neither house of Congress does it have enough support to get the 2/3 majority needed to overcome a veto.

Some have argued that O's real reason for a veto is that the bill would strip from the Executive Branch the authority to make the final decision, so it's his turf, not an environmental principle, that he is defending.

It is true, Obama does not like his authority being limited or questioned. However, this still does to me have the feel that he is leaning toward rejecting the pipeline. And that certainly would be Good News if he did.

Sources noted in links:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/09/nebraska-keystone-pipeline-route_n_6439466.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/12/senate-keystone-pipeline_n_6459386.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-redford/heres-why-keystone-kl-is_b_6434020.html
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/11/17/1345441/-CEO-of-TransCanada-Concedes-just-50-permanent-jobs-from-Keystone-XL-Pipeline

193.2 - Clown Award: John Boehner

Clown Award: John Boehner

That Good News about the Keystone XL lets us slide easily over into one of our regular features, the Clown Award, given as always for merit stupidity.

This week, the winner of the Big Red Nose is that champion goofball, Speaker of the House John Boehner or as he is more properly known, John Boner.

In a statement issued in response to the veto, Boner repeated the long-discredited lie that the project will create 42,000 jobs, a fanciful figure the State Dept. claimed in its report on the effects of the pipeline, a figure arrived at by, for example, defining one person working on the project for two years as two jobs, including jobs that are already filled but would provide some service or material to the project, and assumptions about jobs created by pipeline workers spending their paychecks locally.

And even the State Dept.'s own estimate of how many permanent jobs the pipeline would create stands at 35. Not 35 thousand, not even 35 hundred. Thirty-five.

Boner still citing that bogus figure of 42,000 jobs would seem to be enough, but not for the high standards of the Clown Award. No, there's more.

He also declared that Obama is "too close to environmental extremists" and "too invested in left-fringe politics."

The image of Barack Obama as "invested in left-fringe politics" is funny enough - Hey Johnnycakes, I freely admit, I am quite aware, that I am on the left-fringe of American politics. And The Amazing Mr. O ain't been seen anywhere around here.

But I have to say that what really got Boner the award - and I have to tell you, this genuinely made me laugh - he said that the "only winners" from the veto would be “bureaucrats, extremist environmentalists and the Chinese.”

Johnny Boner - we always knew it, but thanks for the confirmation that you really are a clown.

Sources cited in links:
http://www.speaker.gov/press-release/national-embarrassment-speaker-boehner-president-obama-s-veto-keystone-jobs-bill
http://whoviating.blogspot.com/2014/02/1464-keystone-xl-and-jobs-lie.html
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/24/us-usa-keystone-idUSKBN0LS2FH20150224
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/02/keystone-pipeline-veto-obama-boehner-mcconnell-115445.html

193.1 - Good News: Keystone XL bill vetoed

Good News: Keystone XL bill vetoed

Well, let's start, as is by now traditional around here, with some Good News.

He said he would do it and what do you know, he actually did. For just the third time in his years in office, Barack Obama has vetoed a bill, this time the bill approving of the Keystone XL pipeline and stripping from the Executive Branch the power to make the final decision.

As I have said before, it's unclear whether this veto was over environmental concerns about the pipeline or just a refusal to cede any authority - or, I suppose, it could even be both - but the fact remains that the result is that this project, the whole purpose of which is to promote the use of tar sands, the dirtiest, most polluting source of oil there is, the project is again on hold.

As I said last week, one reason these delays are good is that the longer this stretches out, the less "vital" to US national interests the whole thing appears.

In fact, the EPA wants the State Department - the State Dept. is involved because the pipeline crosses an international boundary - to "revisit" the effect the pipeline would have on global warming on the grounds that lower crude oil prices makes the development of tar sands make less economic sense. That calls into question the State Dept.'s contention that the global warming impact of the pipeline is insignificant because tar sands will be developed in any event. Instead, the EPA says, the project will result in a “significant increase in greenhouse gas emissions.”

And how that is not against the true national interest is beyond me. Which is why the veto, thus delaying the project, no matter why it was done, is good news.

Sources cited in links:
http://www.aol.com/article/2015/02/24/defying-gop-obama-vetoes-keystone-xl-pipeline-bill/21146258/
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/keystone-xls-climate-impacts-need-revisited-epa-says/
http://www.salon.com/2015/02/03/epa_keystone_xl_would_absolutely_contribute_to_climate_change/

138.2 - Clown Award: Paul Rantin'

Clown Award: Paul Rantin'

Now it's time for the Clown Award, given as always for meritorious stupidity.

This time the stupid is wrapped up in a nice package of "Say what?" Our winner of the big red nose this week is that dashing darling of fiscal foolishness, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Rantin'.

Speaking on the right-wing Hugh Hewitt radio program on Tuesday, Rantin' raised the possibility of demanding that the White House approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline as a condition for raising or suspending the debt ceiling. First, let's just take a moment to remember what the Keystone XL pipeline is. This is a proposed pipeline to carry tar sands from Canada to refineries in Texas, tar sands being about the dirtiest, most polluting way of getting oil that there is.

Now let's take another moment to remember what's involved with the debt ceiling. The debt ceiling is the limit placed on how much money the government can borrow through the sale of Treasury bonds and so on. Raising the ceiling does not create more debt; rather, it enables the government to have the means to pay the bills for the things Congress has already approved. Not raising the debt ceiling means the government being unable to pay its bills meaning potentially defaulting on its debts, meaning the cost of future borrowing is much higher assuming you can get buyers for your bonds.

Okay, with that in mind, back for more Rantin'. This is what he told Hewitt:

We’ve never just done nothing. We want to make sure that we’re taking steps in the direction of fiscal conservatism, of fiscal responsibility. I, for one, think we need to do more in the energy sector. I believe we need to approve Keystone pipeline. We need to produce regulatory certainties to all this private capital that develops this energy boon. We could be an energy independent continent within a decade if we stop the government from stopping it from happening. If we just get the government out of the way, it could be a real renaissance of oil and gas exploration in America, lower our gas prices, stop sending this money to foreign countries.

This is actually a big comedown from the right wing's glory days: They would really prefer to force cuts and changes in Medicare or Social Security or preferably both as a price for raising the debt ceiling, but they've figured out that just ain't gonna fly. So they're setting their sights a good deal lower, at a target the White House has already been suspected by environmentalists of favoring.

Okay, but where's the stupid? It's right there in the middle of the blather: "We could be an energy independent continent within a decade if we stop the government from stopping it from happening."

Yep, just "get the government out of the way!" It'll be "a renaissance of oil and gas exploration." And pudding for everyone!

First, the Keystone XL pipeline doesn't have a single thing to do with energy independence: The oil that would be refined in Texas would be shipped out to be sold overseas. There's the reason the proposed pipeline goes to a port, people!

Second, "get the government out of the way?" What, government like in the EPA? Have you looked at China recently?

But here's the real thing: Really? You want us to drill even more, become even more dependent on fossil fuels? Really?

Even in the face of all the scientific evidence of global warming, including more bizarre weather like snow in Cairo for the first time in over 100 years?

Even in the face of, coupled with that, the news that last month was, worldwide, the hottest November in at least 133 years?

That doesn't mean anything to you, Paulie? That doesn't give you pause in your desire to see more drilling, more oil, more gas, more pollution, more waste, more profits for Exxon and the rest, more more more?

I thought not. You really, really are a clown.

Sources:
http://blogs.wsj.com/canadarealtime/2013/12/17/rep-ryan-floats-tying-keystone-xl-to-raising-debt-ceiling/?mod=wsj_streaming_stream
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-12-13/chinas-extreme-smog-forces-pilots-to-train-for-blind-landings
http://www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-snow-israel-egypt-20131213,0,1691393.story#axzz2nN6nJ0Ja
http://www.livescience.com/42020-november-2013-hottest-on-record.html?google_editors_picks=true