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OpEdNews Op Eds    H3'ed 12/22/12

The People Must Lead the Way to Save the Planet

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" Violates tribal sovereignty and tramples on private property rights of U.S. citizens

" Endangers the water supply such as the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer, which provides water to more than 10 million Texans

The environmental risk is real. Chris Hedges reports that the proposed 1,700 mile pipeline:

"...will pump 1.1 million barrels a day of unrefined tar sand fluid from tar sand mine fields in Canada to the Texas Gulf Coast. Tar sand oil is not conventional crude oil. It is a synthetic slurry that, because tar sand oil is solid in its natural state, must be laced with a deadly brew of toxic chemicals and gas condensates to get it to flow. Tar sands are boiled and diluted with these chemicals before being blasted down a pipeline at high pressure. Water sources would be instantly contaminated if there was a rupture. The pipeline would cross nearly 2,000 U.S. waterways, including the Ogallala Aquifer, source of one-third of the United States' farmland irrigation water. And it is not a matter of if, but when, it would spill. TransCanada's Keystone I pipeline, built in 2010, leaked 12 times in its first 12 months of operation."

In Canada, an area the size of New York State will be dug up to extract the Alberta Tar Sands. The resulting environmental damage has indigenous Canadians urging people to join them in stopping pipelines now.

Every step along the way, from extraction to travel through the pipeline and transport across the Gulf of Mexico, the environment will be put at risk. Of course, the greatest risk is to the climate. The top U.S. climate scientist, James Hansen, who now heads NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, has described Keystone XL pipeline as the "fuse to the biggest carbon bomb on the planet."

The Tar Sands Blockade is the most important citizen's action in the country. If Americans join the blockade we can stop the construction of the Keystone XL. This will be a major victory for the environment and a victory of the people against trans-national corporate power. It will be a victory on which we can build a broad-based movement to challenge corporate power and put human needs and the health of the planet ahead of corporate profits.

The Tar Sands Blockade is escalating their efforts to stop the pipeline. They have announced a training camp and mass protest from January 3 to January 8th. We have decided to attend the camp and participate as we have been inspired by the courage of Tar Sands blockaders who have built tree houses, stood in front of tractors, chained themselves to pipeline equipment and barricaded themselves inside the pipeline to block construction. There is still time for you to sign up and participate in this  historic resistance.

F or more information, Clearing the FOG radio has covered this issue in two shows:

The climate crisis from Doha to East Texas where Anne Petermann of the Global Justice Ecology Project discusses the failed climate conference in Doha, Qatar which she describes as a trade show for corporations looking to profit from climate change not a conference about solutions; and the increasing exclusion of citizens voices. She says solutions to the climate crisis are coming from the bottom up. Ramsey Sprague of the Tar Sands Blockade describes the growing resistance to the Keystone XL Pipeline and the upcoming direct action training camp and action Jan. 3 to 8. And ecology activist Diane Wilson, who is on a hunger strike, describes why she is risking her life to hold Valero Oil accountable to her community.

Interview with Tom Weis, President of Climate Crisis Solutions who tells us about the Keystone XL Pipeline, the truth about the effect it will have on climate change (James Hansen calls it "Game Over"), our drinking water and jobs; and describes in a series of videos the broad coalition of Americans trying to stop the pipeline from being constructed.

*Kevin Zeese, JD and Margaret Flowers, MD co-host Clearing the FOG on We Act Radio 1480 AM Washington, DC, co-direct Its Our Economy and are organizers of the Occupation of Washington, DC.

 

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Kevin Zeese is co-chair of Come Home America, www.ComeHomeAmerica.US which seeks to end U.S. militarism and empire. He is also co-director of Its Our Economy, www.ItsOurEconomy.US which seeks to democratize the economy and give people greater (more...)
 
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