[Vision2020] FW: Turtle Island - North America under seige by dirty polluting industries and governments...Hey, Henry!

Tue Aug 30 14:31:02 PDT 2011

Here's a little something for Henry to read so he will know exactly how some Canadians feel about their Government's part in the oil sands.  Pollution does not recognize national boundries. . . . it impacts us all.  Ellen A. Roskovich Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2011 10:20:29 -0400
From: ienonlinenews at igc.org
To: gussie443 at hotmail.com
Subject: Turtle Island - North America under seige by dirty polluting industries and governments...

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		The Indigenous Environmental Network

									Turtle Island - North America under seige by dirty polluting industries and governments...

									Native American and Canadian First Nations To Take Part In Largest Act of Civil Disobedience to Stop Keystone XL PipelineWashington DC: The Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN) is a national environmental justice and indigenous rights organization taking part in the largest act of civil disobedience in decades happening in front of the White House in Washington D.C. from August 20 to September 3, 2011.

The purpose of these actions is to send a direct message to President Obama to deny approval of the 1,702 mile Keystone XL pipeline. The pipeline would be transporting pollution from the tar sands (also known as oilsands) of Canada to the United States by carrying 900,000 barrels per day of thick, corrosive, toxic, synthetic crude oil for refining in Texas and the Gulf States. If approved, the Keystone XL would lock the US into a dependency of energy intensive, hard-to-extract dirty oil and create a massive expansion of the world’s dirtiest and most environmentally destructive form of oil development currently taking place in northern Alberta Canada. These operations are already producing 1.5 million barrels per day and having horrendous environmental justice and human rights impacts on the way of life and health of the local Native communities of Cree, Dene and Métis.

The proposed pipeline threatens to pollute freshwater supplies in America’s agricultural heartland and grasslands with increased emissions in already-polluted communities of the Gulf Coast. The Keystone XL would cross Indian Country; States of Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas encompassing Indian-US treaty territories crossing water aquifers and rivers, grasslands, cultural sites and ecological sensitive areas. Leaks and spills are common occurrences from such pipelines that could result in disproportionate impact to Native Nations and thousands of tribal members. A spill from the Keystone XL poses an even greater threat, given that the pipeline would run directly through the Ogallala aquifer, which supplies one-third of our nation’s ground water used for irrigation, and drinking water to 2 million citizens.

The Indigenous Environmental Network is bringing tribal governmental and grassroots leaders from US and Canada, directly impacted by the proposed pipeline and the tar sands oil operations, to say “NO KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE” to President Obama.  This Indigenous Day of Action on September 2, 2011, at the gates of the White House will express the solidarity of Native Nations, standing with concerned citizens, workers, farmers, ranchers, unions, youth and a coalition of environmental groups from across the continent, in peaceful protest to protect Mother Earth and demand Obama respect the treaty rights and survival of Native Nations of the US and Canada.

“Nature is speaking, but Obama is not listening. The Keystone XL pipeline is a 1,700 mile fuse of the world’s largest carbon bomb. The Canadian tar sands, the proposed Keystone XL and all the other current and proposed pipelines are weapons of mass destruction leading the path to triggering the final overheating of Mother Earth”, says Tom BK Goldtooth, Executive Director of the Indigenous Environmental Network. “President Obama made promises to Native Nations and here is an opportunity for him to honor those promises and be a man of conscious by standing up to corporate power and say NO to the Keystone XL pipeline.”

A barrel of tar sands oil emits up to three times as much climate-disrupting gas as conventional oil. Building Keystone XL would be the greenhouse gas equivalent of adding roughly 6.5 million passenger vehicles to the road, or constructing 12 new coal-fired power plants.

“IEN is putting out a national call for ACTION and Solidarity on September 2nd. Even if your homes won’t be crossed by this pipeline, we are raising the consciousness of America to reevaluate its relationship to Mother Earth that would be ruined by the intensity of environmental devastation and of greenhouse gases created by the enormous tar sands oil infrastructure crossing North America. It’s like a giant spider web crossing our Turtle Island”, added Goldtooth.

National Native organizations such as the National Congress of American Indians, the oldest and largest Native organization representing Native Nations are calling for a moratorium and better management practices on expanded tar sands development and opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline. NCAI requests the U.S. government to take aggressive measures to work towards sustainable energy solutions that include clean alternative energy and improving energy efficiency.

The IEN delegation will arrive in DC on August 30th and be participating in the August 31st Canadian Day of Action and staying until the Indigenous Day of Action on September 2nd.

For more information, please contact:

Marty Cobenais IEN Pipeline Campaigner
Cell: (218) 760 0284
Email: martyc at ienearth.org

Clayton Thomas-Muller IEN Tar Sands Campaigner
Cell: (613) 297 7515
Email: ienoil at igc.org

Tom Goldtooth IEN Executive Director
Cell: (218) 760 0442
Email: ien at igc.org

Kandi Mosset IEN Tribal Climate Campaigner
Cell: (701) 214 1389
Email: iencampusclimate at igc.org

Or visit www.ienearth.org/tarsands.html or www.tarsandsaction.org♦ Tar Sands: They Won’t Be Going to Asia without Keystone XLAlberta and its tar sands oil are landlocked, and without more pipelines to transport them to the either Canadian coast or to the U.S. Gulf coast, that is where the dirty, high-carbon fuel source will stay. All too frequently, industry has tried to “play the Asia card” when talking about Keystone XL. They make the false claim that if Keystone XL is not built, tar sands will be extracted and will be sent to Asia instead. This could not be further from the truth—at the moment it is largely impossible; the infrastructure simply does not exist and is not likely to be built any time soon.

How can this be? There aren’t similar pipelines in Canada? The short answer is no. And the only slightly longer answer is that proposals on the books to link Alberta tar sands operations to the British Columbia coast are facing even bigger hurdles than Keystone XL. The pipeline that thousands are in DC to protest is far more likely to open the Asian markets that Big Oil desperately craves to export what many call “the dirtiest oil on the planet.”

Enbridge’s Northern Gateway Pipeline, and its associated tanker traffic through sensitive British Columbia Coastal waters, faces tremendous opposition – especially by First Nation groups, who have the legal authority to block a pipeline that traverses their lands and waters. Their resistance has been fierce and continuous – the following are just some select examples of their opposition and is not a complete list:

On March 23, 2010, British Columbia First Nations of the Central and North Pacific Coast issued a declaration banning tar sands crude oil tanker traffic from traveling through their territories. West Coast Environmental Law’s Legal Comment on Coastal First Nations Declaration explains that “Coastal First Nations have the right to issue a ban on crude oil tankers in their waters, based in their own ancestral laws, in Canadian constitutional law, and in international law” and that they can “take steps to enforce their declaration under their own laws, through the Canadian courts, and/or through legal action at the international level.”

Read more....♦ How To Get InvolvedThe U.S. Department of State (DOS) has issued for public review the final environmental impact statement (final EIS) for the Keystone XL Project. The Notice of Availability of the final EIS will be published in the Federal Register on September 2, 2011. 

Following the release of the final EIS for the proposed Project, Executive Order 13337 calls on the Secretary of State, or her designee, to determine if issuance of a permit to the applicant would serve the national interest. DOS will consider a wide range of factors, including environmental, economic, energy security, foreign policy, and pipeline safety concerns, in making its decision on the application. As part of the review and analysis of the national interest, DOS will hold a series of public meetings to solicit comments on the subject. Meetings will be held at the following dates, locations and times:

Mon. September 26, 2011

Bob Bowers Civic Center 3401 Cultural Center Drive Port Arthur, Texas 77642 4:30 pm – 10 pm
Kansas Expo Center 1 Expocenter Drive Topeka, Kansas 66612 12 pm – 8 pm

Tues. September 27, 2011

Dawson Community College Toepke Center Auditorium 300 Community Drive Glendive, Montana 59330 4:30 pm – 10 pm
Pershing Center 226 Centennial Mall South Lincoln, Nebraska 68508 12 pm – 8 pm

Wed. September 28, 2011

University of Texas Lady Bird Johnson Auditorium 2313 Red River Street Austin, Texas 78705 12 pm – 8 pm

Thurs. September 29, 2011

Best Western Ramkota 920 West Sioux Avenue,  Pierre, South Dakota 57501 12 pm – 8 pm
West Holt High School (in the Sand Hills region) 100 N. Main Street Atkinson, Nebraska 68713 4:30 pm – 10 pm

Fri. September 30, 2011

Reed Center Exhibition Hall 5800 Will Rogers Road Midwest City, Oklahoma 73110 4:30 pm – 10 pm

Fri. October 7, 2011

Washington, District of Columbia To be announced via website and public notice

DOS will also accept written comments beginning on the date the final EIS is issued (August 26, 2011). In order to ensure that comments are processed and considered before the decision is made on the permit application, all comments must be submitted by midnight on October 9, 2011 (Washington D.C. time).  Comments can be submitted by the following methods: 

DOS Comments Page: Make a Comment 
E-mail at: keystonexl-nid at cardno.com;
USPS mail at: Keystone XL Project NID, P.O. Box 96503-98500, Washington, D.C. 20090-6503; or
FAX at: 206-269-0098

As noted above, in order for comments to be considered they must be submitted by midnight on October 9, 2011 (Washington D.C. time). Learn more.
 ♦ Say No to Tar Sands PipelineProposed Keystone XL Project Would Deliver Dirty Fuel at a High Cost

The Canadian pipeline company TransCanada has proposed a tar sands pipeline that could bring as much as 900,000 barrels per day (bpd) of costly and polluting fuel to the U.S. Gulf Coast. This pipeline, called Keystone XL, will lock the United States into a dependence on hard-to-extract oil and generate a massive expansion of the destructive tar sands oil operations in Canada. In addition to the damage that would be caused by the increased tar sands extraction, the pipeline threatens to pollute freshwater supplies in America’s agricultural heartland and increase emissions in already-polluted communities of the Gulf Coast.

Download/print Report 

Tar Sands Pipelines Safety Risks

Tar sands crude oil pipeline companies may be putting America's public safety at risk. Increasingly, pipelines transporting tar sands crude oil into the United States are carrying diluted bitumen or "DilBit" -- a highly corrosive, acidic, and potentially unstable blend of thick raw bitumen and volatile natural gas liquid condensate -- raising risks of spills and damage to communities along their paths. The impacts of tar sands production are well known. Tar sands extraction in Canada destroys Boreal forests and wetlands, causes high levels of greenhouse gas pollution, and leaves behind immense lakes of toxic waste. Less well understood, however, is the increased risk and potential harm that can be caused by transporting the raw form of tar sands oil (bitumen) through pipelines to refineries in the United States.

Download/print this report

									Contents:									   											♦ Tar Sands: They Won’t Be Going to Asia without Keystone XL																			   									   											♦ How To Get Involved																			   									   											♦ Say No to Tar Sands Pipeline																			   									   											♦ Join Us for up to the latest info, articles, video...																			   									   											♦ Keystone XL Tar Sands Oil Pipeline “Poses Grave Dangers” to Tribal Nations																			   									   											♦ Major Tar Sands Oil Pipeline Spill Adds to Doubts About Controversial Keystone XL Proposal																			   Help Us Fight the Assault!

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Thank you!♦ Join Us for up to the latest info, articles, video...  ♦ Keystone XL Tar Sands Oil Pipeline “Poses Grave Dangers” to Tribal NationsNCAI opposes Keystone XL Tar Sands Oil Pipeline; calls for energy demand to be met by responsible energy development

“The Keystone XL pipeline . . . would threaten, among other things, water aquifers, water ways, cultural sites, agricultural lands, animal life, public drinking water sources and other resources vital to the peoples of the region in which the pipeline is proposed to be constructed,” reads an NCAI resolution (PDF) passed at the organization’s most recent gathering of members this past June.

The organization is calling for domestic energy demands to be met by developing energy resources responsibly in order to protect vital natural resources, such as vast water reserves.

“Homeland and economic security starts with energy security, but Indian Country wants it to be done right; not at the expense of the health of our communities and resources, both tribal and non-tribal, ” said Jefferson Keel, President of NCAI, citing the importance of looking to clean domestic energy as a more reliable solution. “During challenging economic times in our country and in our tribal nations, domestic energy when developed responsibly can create jobs while ensuring that our people and natural resources remain safe and plentiful.”

The proposed expansion of the pipeline would cross through northern Alberta, Saskatchewan, Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Oklahoma with potential devastating impacts on communities in surrounding areas and states.  A recent study by a University of Nebraska hydrologist outlines a worst case spill scenario, estimating that Keystone XL could spill as much as 7.9 million gallons in Nebraska's Sandhills, polluting 5 billion gallons of groundwater with benzene, contaminating water used for agriculture and drinking drawn from the Ogallala Aquifer, and more than 6.9 million gallons of tar sands crude at the Yellowstone River crossing.  That estimate far exceeds the Exxon Mobil’s July 1, 2011 spill of 42,000 gallons near the Apsáalooke (Crow) Nation territory in south-central Montana, contaminating 240 miles of the Yellowstone River.  

Responsible alternatives to importing energy resources from outside the United States are abundant, and specifically on tribal lands.  In addition to plentiful traditional energy options on tribal lands, the National Renewable Energy Lab’s (NREL) estimates that the wind potential in Indian Country could provide 32 percent of U.S. annual electric generation, where as solar energy potential in Indian Country equals twice the total amount of electricity the U.S. generates per year. Read more.♦ Major Tar Sands Oil Pipeline Spill Adds to Doubts About Controversial Keystone XL Proposal"Pipelines are not safe," stated Sac & Fox Principal Chief George Thurman, headquartered in Stroud, Oklahoma. "These leaks in Canada only verify our concerns with the proposed Keystone XL pipeline. We must protect the water, air, land and our significant cultural and historical sites for future generations, therefore, the Sac & Fox Business Committee stands opposed to construction of the Keystone XL pipeline."

In the U.S., tar sands oil pipelines have come under increasing scrutiny in the last year. The proposed Keystone XL pipeline has drawn opposition from a wide range of U.S. officials, including Nebraska Senator Mike Johanns (R). Nebraska’s Ogallala Aquifer, a source of water for many of the nation’s farms, could be polluted by spills from the Keystone XL pipeline.

“These tar sands oil pipelines have been found to have serious safety risks,” said Marty Cobenais, pipeline organizer with the Indigenous Environmental Network, citing a recent report by the Pipeline Safety Trust and Natural Resources Defense Council. “This report concluded that Alberta’s pipeline system, which mostly carries tar sands oil, has had 16 times more spills from internal corrosion than the conventional crude pipelines that are in the U.S.,” Cobenais added.

A week earlier, the Trans Mountain pipeline in Alberta was shut down following a spill. A pin-sized hole in the pipeline released an unknown amount of oil into the ground and a nearby creek before being discovered by local landowners.
Last summer, a tar sands oil pipeline spilled nearly one million gallons of oil into Michigan’s Kalamazoo River, the largest oil spill in Midwest history. Nearly a year later, the impacts are still being felt and the EPA announced that a 30-mile section of the river will be closed to the public for this summer. Read more.

		The Indigenous Environmental Network • PO Box 485 • Bemidji, MN 56619

			http://www.ienearth.org/

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