You Won't Believe These Suez Canal Conspiracies
3 years ago
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Friday, March 29, 2013
Sanders Amendment on Social Security, Disabled Veterans
sanders admendment passed
how that would translate in the "grand bargain", who knows?
Thursday, March 28, 2013
VoteVets.org Ad: "Anyone"----gun control ad
lot of flap over this vid. pressure on conservative dems
AARP chained cpi calculator
AARP:
click link for calculator
from site
click link for calculator
from site
How Much Would You Lose?
Some Washington politicians are proposing a budget deal that would change the cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA) for Social Security and veterans' benefits, resulting in a combined $146 billion in cuts over the next ten years.
The COLA change would hurt seniors and veterans who are already living on tight budgets stretched by prescriptions, utility bills, mortgages and health care costs.
Use the calculator below to see exactly how the COLA change would impact you. Then send a message to your Senators – urge them to reject this shortsighted change and instead find responsible ways to address our nation's budget challenges. Tell them to leave your hard-earned Social Security and veterans' benefits out of any shortsighted budget deal.
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Behind the Brands: The truth about women and chocolate - Oxfam America
oxfam won victory over this film. here is the promo
mars company made some concessions this week
mars company made some concessions this week
Monday, March 25, 2013
Senate Unanimously Votes Against Cuts to Social Security: Media Don’t Notice
Senate Unanimously Votes Against Cuts to Social Security: Media Don’t Notice
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This pattern of coverage was clearly on display last weekend. Both the New York Times and Washington Post decided to ignore the Senate's passage by voice vote of the Sanders Amendment. This was an amendment to the budget put forward by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders that puts the Senate on record as opposing the switch to the chained CPI as the basis for the annual SocialSecurity cost of living adjustment (COLA).
Switching the basis for the COLA to the chained CPI is one of the most beloved policies of the Washington elite. The idea is that it would reduce scheduled benefits for retirees by 0.3 percentage points annually. This amounts to a cut of 3 percent after ten years, 6 percent after 20 years, and 9 percent after 30 years.
If a typical retiree lives to collect benefits for twenty years the average cut in benefits over their retirement ends up being around 3 percent. This is a much bigger hit to the typical retiree, who relies on Social Security for more than two-thirds of their income, than the tax increases put into law this year were to the typical rich person.
But the magic of the chained CPI is that everyone gets to run around saying that they are not really cutting benefits, they are just "adjusting" the cost of living formula. And the media do their best to assist the politicians pushing these cuts. They almost always uses euphemisms like "changing" or "restructuring" Social Security, trying to conceal the simple reality that politicians are pushing cuts to the program.
click link
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This pattern of coverage was clearly on display last weekend. Both the New York Times and Washington Post decided to ignore the Senate's passage by voice vote of the Sanders Amendment. This was an amendment to the budget put forward by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders that puts the Senate on record as opposing the switch to the chained CPI as the basis for the annual Social
Switching the basis for the COLA to the chained CPI is one of the most beloved policies of the Washington elite. The idea is that it would reduce scheduled benefits for retirees by 0.3 percentage points annually. This amounts to a cut of 3 percent after ten years, 6 percent after 20 years, and 9 percent after 30 years.
If a typical retiree lives to collect benefits for twenty years the average cut in benefits over their retirement ends up being around 3 percent. This is a much bigger hit to the typical retiree, who relies on Social Security for more than two-thirds of their income, than the tax increases put into law this year were to the typical rich person.
But the magic of the chained CPI is that everyone gets to run around saying that they are not really cutting benefits, they are just "adjusting" the cost of living formula. And the media do their best to assist the politicians pushing these cuts. They almost always uses euphemisms like "changing" or "restructuring" Social Security, trying to conceal the simple reality that politicians are pushing cuts to the program.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Saturday, March 23, 2013
How rich “moochers” hurt America
How rich “moochers” hurt America
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Privatizing natural monopolies. The classic productive capitalist wants to found a company to provide a new, socially useful good or service and make money by sales. In contrast, the classic parasitic rentier wants to bribe the state legislature into privatizing and selling state roads so that he or she can make money without effort or innovation every time somebody drives and pays a toll. Not only progressives but mainstream conservatives used to agree that natural monopolies, such as many infrastructure services—water, electricity, transportation — should be either publicly owned or publicly regulated utilities. Today, however, some plutocrats, seeking guaranteed, recurrent streams of money for little or no effort, fund politicians and ideologues who favor privatizing or deregulating infrastructure and public utilities and cutting or voucherizing Social Security andMedicare , to force the elderly to buy financial products and costly health insurance from the rentier sector.
Anti-inflationary macroeconomic policy. The rentier class overlaps largely with the creditor class, much of whose wealth is in the form of debts that must be repaid by governments, businesses and individuals. In all times and places, the creditor elite has lived in fear that its wealth may be reduced by inflation, which permits the debtors to repay their debts in currency, which is nominally the same but in reality of ever-dwindling value.
Moderate inflation is the friend of governments with high debt loads, allowing them to pay down debts more easily without hurting the economy by raising taxes too much or cutting spending too much. Most businesses can live with moderate inflation, as long as they pass on price increases in inputs to their customers. Nor is moderate inflation a threat to the working-class majorities in the U.S. and similar industrial democracies, as long as wages and social insurance, like Social Security, are adjusted for inflation. (Only an affluent minority of Americans have substantial private retirement savings that could be harmed by inflation.)
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Privatizing natural monopolies. The classic productive capitalist wants to found a company to provide a new, socially useful good or service and make money by sales. In contrast, the classic parasitic rentier wants to bribe the state legislature into privatizing and selling state roads so that he or she can make money without effort or innovation every time somebody drives and pays a toll. Not only progressives but mainstream conservatives used to agree that natural monopolies, such as many infrastructure services—water, electricity, transportation — should be either publicly owned or publicly regulated utilities. Today, however, some plutocrats, seeking guaranteed, recurrent streams of money for little or no effort, fund politicians and ideologues who favor privatizing or deregulating infrastructure and public utilities and cutting or voucherizing Social Security and
Anti-inflationary macroeconomic policy. The rentier class overlaps largely with the creditor class, much of whose wealth is in the form of debts that must be repaid by governments, businesses and individuals. In all times and places, the creditor elite has lived in fear that its wealth may be reduced by inflation, which permits the debtors to repay their debts in currency, which is nominally the same but in reality of ever-dwindling value.
Moderate inflation is the friend of governments with high debt loads, allowing them to pay down debts more easily without hurting the economy by raising taxes too much or cutting spending too much. Most businesses can live with moderate inflation, as long as they pass on price increases in inputs to their customers. Nor is moderate inflation a threat to the working-class majorities in the U.S. and similar industrial democracies, as long as wages and social insurance, like Social Security, are adjusted for inflation. (Only an affluent minority of Americans have substantial private retirement savings that could be harmed by inflation.)
Is the Keystone XL pipeline a jobs creator?
Is the Keystone XL pipeline a jobs creator?
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Since the State Department report dropped, Republicans and Democrats in both houses of Congress have been pressuring the Obama administration to approve the controversial pipeline, which is four years in the making. Similarly, AFL-CIO, one of the nation’s largest labor unions, all but endorsed the contentious project citingthe jobs it would create. A recent budget proposal from Paul Ryan also trumpeted a high level of job creation. (President Obama recently said the jobs numbers have been exaggerated.)
Despite the growing drumbeat of support from oil-connected D.C., Indigenous and First Nation activists from the “Idle No More” movement continue to resist Keystone XL construction. They say the pipeline will destroy ecosystems vital to their treaty rights. Citing environmental justice concerns, Latino and African American activists in Texas have also joined Idle No More in their opposition to the project.
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Since the State Department report dropped, Republicans and Democrats in both houses of Congress have been pressuring the Obama administration to approve the controversial pipeline, which is four years in the making. Similarly, AFL-CIO, one of the nation’s largest labor unions, all but endorsed the contentious project citing
Despite the growing drumbeat of support from oil-connected D.C., Indigenous and First Nation activists from the “Idle No More” movement continue to resist Keystone XL construction. They say the pipeline will destroy ecosystems vital to their treaty rights. Citing environmental justice concerns, Latino and African American activists in Texas have also joined Idle No More in their opposition to the project.
Friday, March 22, 2013
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Koch Brothers Led Fight to Defend Formaldehyde Despite Cancerous Effects
used at cancos in varied applicatiions over the year in varied forms
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Truthdig - The Last Letter
Truthdig - The Last Letter
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Your positions of authority, your millions of dollars of personal wealth, your public relations consultants, your privilege and your power cannot mask the hollowness of your character. You sent us to fight and die in Iraq after you, Mr. Cheney, dodged the draft in Vietnam, and you, Mr. Bush, went AWOL from your National Guard unit. Your cowardice and selfishness were established decades ago. You were not willing to risk yourselves for our nation but you sent hundreds of thousands of young men and women to be sacrificed in a senseless war with no more thought than it takes to put out the garbage.
I joined the Army two days after the 9/11 attacks. I joined the Army because our country had been attacked. I wanted to strike back at those who had killed some 3,000 of my fellow citizens. I did not join the Army to go to Iraq, a country that had no part in the September 2001 attacks and did not pose a threat to its neighbors, much less to the United States. I did not join the Army to “liberate” Iraqis or to shut down mythical weapons-of-mass-destruction facilities or to implant what you cynically called “democracy” in Baghdad and the Middle East. I did not join the Army to rebuild Iraq, which at the time you told us could be paid for by Iraq’s oil revenues. Instead, this war has cost the United States over $3 trillion. I especially did not join the Army to carry out pre-emptive war. Pre-emptive war is illegal under international law. And as a soldier in Iraq I was, I now know, abetting your idiocy and your crimes. The Iraq War is the largest strategic blunder in U.S. history. It obliterated the balance of power in the Middle East. It installed a corrupt and brutal pro-Iranian government in Baghdad, one cemented in power through the use of torture, death squads and terror. And it has left Iran as the dominant force in the region. On every level—moral, strategic, military and economic—Iraq was a failure. And it was you, Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney, who started this war. It is you who should pay the consequences.
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Monday, March 18, 2013
Friday, March 15, 2013
reminder 3-19-13 mineworker action in St. louis
this upcoming tuesday, the 19th; mineworkers protesting insurance injustices in
st. louis.
10 am at the federal courthouse and march to Kiener plaza.
soar will have folks around. retired usw folks proud to stand with mineworkers and wish them luck
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Ryan Budget Highlights House Republicans' Extreme Demands
Ryan Budget Highlights House Republicans' Extreme Demands
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It's back. The Ryan–GOP budget that gives seniors "coupons" to pay for health care and guts Medicaid and public investment to enrich millionaires and billionaires was once again proposed by the House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) today.
Less than six months ago, voters rejected the Ryan–Romney agenda of more prosperity for the super wealthy at the expense of the rest of America's working families, yet Ryan can't seem to resist this austerity plan. And this time, the Ryan–GOP budget is "on steroids."
Ryan and the Republican leadership are demanding outrageously lower tax rates for Wall Street and the wealthiest 2%—and they want to pay for them by voucherizing Medicare (giving seniors essentially "coupons"), cutting Medicaid benefits, increasingMedicare premiums for middle-income beneficiaries (means testing) and essential services that working people depend on.
The Ryan–GOP budget would cut spending by $5.7 trillion—devastating programs like child nutrition, cancer research and transportation and shrinking government to the size it was in the 1950s.
click link
snip
It's back. The Ryan–GOP budget that gives seniors "coupons" to pay for health care and guts Medicaid and public investment to enrich millionaires and billionaires was once again proposed by the House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) today.
Less than six months ago, voters rejected the Ryan–Romney agenda of more prosperity for the super wealthy at the expense of the rest of America's working families, yet Ryan can't seem to resist this austerity plan. And this time, the Ryan–GOP budget is "on steroids."
Ryan and the Republican leadership are demanding outrageously lower tax rates for Wall Street and the wealthiest 2%—and they want to pay for them by voucherizing Medicare (giving seniors essentially "coupons"), cutting Medicaid benefits, increasing
The Ryan–GOP budget would cut spending by $5.7 trillion—devastating programs like child nutrition, cancer research and transportation and shrinking government to the size it was in the 1950s.
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Wealthy CEOs Want Tax Breaks, Cuts to Poor and Elderly
from last November and with "new" ryan budget, same old
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
The Townsend Pension Plan in the 1930s
better plan than the present social security plan. add single payer and I would vote for it
Monday, March 11, 2013
Krugman: Slashing spending with a depressed economy is destructive
this was round one of krugman vs morning joe
Sunday, March 10, 2013
Saturday, March 9, 2013
Friday, March 8, 2013
James O’Keefe to pay $100K over ACORN sting
James O’Keefe to pay $100K over ACORN sting
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The ACORN sting was one of O’Keefe’s first and most successful operations, leading to a congressional prohibition on federalfunding for ACORN that caused the group to collapse. But Juan Carlos Vera, a former employee whom O’Keefe and accomplice Hannah Giles secretly filmed in a California ACORN office, said the tape violated a state law against recording someone without their permission, so he sued the two conservative sting artists.
Giles settled this summer, but the suit against O’Keefe is still in federal court.
click link
The ACORN sting was one of O’Keefe’s first and most successful operations, leading to a congressional prohibition on federal
Giles settled this summer, but the suit against O’Keefe is still in federal court.
Bill Would Require American Materials Used in All Federally | industrial - Equities.com
Bill Would Require American Materials Used in All Federally | industrial - Equities.com
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Bill Would Require American Materials Used in All Federally Funded Infrastructure Projects
Targeted News ServiceWASHINGTON, March 5 -- The Ranking Democratic Member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee issued the following news release:
U.S. Representative Nick J. Rahall, top Democrat on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, today was joined by Committee Members in introducing legislation to ensure that all Federal transportation and infrastructure investments support American jobs and domestic manufacturing. Under the "Invest in American Jobs Act of 2013", all future highway, bridge, public transit, passenger rail, and airport projects financed by U.S. taxpayers would be stamped "Made in America" and crafted with American workmanship. The bill is supported by a number of Labor organizations and domestic manufacturing companies.
"In just a few months time, one of the largest publically supported infrastructure projects in the country is scheduled to be completed with the opening of the $6.3 billion East Span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge," said Rahall. "But instead of steel cast in the Alleghenies or roadbed segments assembled in Alameda, cars and trucks using the bridge will be driving over 43,000 tons of steel imported from China which supported 3,000 Chinese jobs and was financed by U.S. taxpayers."
"Committee Democrats insisted on closing the loopholes in our 'Buy America' laws to prevent the continuation of this outrageous and economically harmful practice of outsourcing our federal highway and transit construction in last year's surface transportation bill. Unfortunately, many provisions we pushed for that would have ensured even stronger Buy America requirements for all surface transportation infrastructure investments were left on the cutting-room floor during the conference process. Today we are here to finish the job and ensure that all taxpayer funded infrastructure investments support American jobs."
The Invest in American Jobs Act which Rahall and all six Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee Ranking Members are introducing today would require all transit, rail, wastewater, or airport infrastructure investments financed by U.S. taxpayers to be made with American materials and American craftsmanship.
Specifically, the bill:* Strengthens existing Buy America requirements for investments in highway, bridge, public transit, rail, and aviation infrastructure and equipment to ensure that all of the steel, iron, and manufactured goods used in these projects is produced in the United States;
* Increases domestic content requirements for public transit rolling stock and Federally-procured aviation facilities and equipment, from 60 percent under current law to 100 percent by FY 2017;
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
The 32 Dumbest And Most Devastating Sequester Cuts
The 32 Dumbest And Most Devastating Sequester Cuts: pWith Congress unable to reach a deal to avert the indiscriminate spending cuts put in place in the Budget Control Act of 2011, President Obama on Friday signed an order authorizing the government to begin canceling $85 billion from federal accounts for this fiscal year. As Obama said during a press conference yesterday, “This is [...]/p
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on Mar 2, 2013 at 11:03 am
With Congress unable to reach a deal to avert the indiscriminate spending cuts put in place in the Budget Control Act of 2011, President Obama on Friday signed an order authorizing the government to begin canceling $85 billion from federal accounts for this fiscal year.
As Obama said during a press conference yesterday, “This is not going to be a apocalypse, I think as some people have said. It’s just dumb. And it’s going to hurt. It’s going to hurt individual people and it’s going to hurt the economy overall.” In a 83-page letter to House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), the Office of Management and Budget details the specific reductions each government program will face. Here are the dumbest and most painful cuts:
$10 million cut from the World Trade Center Health Program Fund
$168 million cut from Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
$75 million cut from the Aging and Disability Services Programs
$96 million cut from Homeless Assistance Grants
$17 million cut from Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS
$19 million cut from Housing for the Elderly
$175 million cut from Low Income Home Energy Assistance
$6 million cut from Emergency Food and Shelter
$70 million cut from the Agricultural Disaster Relief Fund at USDA
$61 million cut from the Hazardous Substance Superfund at EPA
$125 million cut from the Wildland Fire Management
$53 million cut from Salaries and Expenses at the Food Safety and Inspection Service
$57 million cut from the Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control
$51 million cut from the Prevention and Public Health Fund
$27 million cut from the State Grants and Demonstrations
$44 million cut from the Affordable Insurance Exchange Grants program
$184 million cut from Rehabilitation Services and Disability Research
$71 million cut from administration at the Office ofFederal Student Aid
$116 million cut from Higher Education
$86 million cut from StudentFinancial Assistance
$17 million cut from Automation Modernization, Customs and Border Protection
$20 million cut from Border Security Fencing, Infrastructure, and Technology
$604 million cut from National Nuclear Security Administration
$232 million cut from the Federal Aviation Administration
$394 million cut from Defense Environmental Cleanup
Republicans, who refused to raise any additional revenue to avoid the budget cuts, have described the reductions as “modest” a “homerun” and something that “needs to happen” in order to “get this economy rolling again.”
The latest projections from the Congressional Budget Office show that the nation’s deficits have shrunk by trillions of dollars, and the debt is close to being stabilized as a percentage of the economy. Meanwhile, budget cuts have already reduced spending by $1.5 trillion and even with the revenue included in the fiscal cliff deal, the ratio of cuts to revenue stands at an unbalanced 3 to 1.
click link above
snip
on Mar 2, 2013 at 11:03 am
With Congress unable to reach a deal to avert the indiscriminate spending cuts put in place in the Budget Control Act of 2011, President Obama on Friday signed an order authorizing the government to begin canceling $85 billion from federal accounts for this fiscal year.
As Obama said during a press conference yesterday, “This is not going to be a apocalypse, I think as some people have said. It’s just dumb. And it’s going to hurt. It’s going to hurt individual people and it’s going to hurt the economy overall.” In a 83-page letter to House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), the Office of Management and Budget details the specific reductions each government program will face. Here are the dumbest and most painful cuts:
Health care
$10 million cut from the World Trade Center Health Program Fund
$168 million cut from Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
$75 million cut from the Aging and Disability Services Programs
Housing
$96 million cut from Homeless Assistance Grants
$17 million cut from Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS
$19 million cut from Housing for the Elderly
$175 million cut from Low Income Home Energy Assistance
Disaster and Emergency
$6 million cut from Emergency Food and Shelter
$70 million cut from the Agricultural Disaster Relief Fund at USDA
$61 million cut from the Hazardous Substance Superfund at EPA
$125 million cut from the Wildland Fire Management
$53 million cut from Salaries and Expenses at the Food Safety and Inspection Service
Obamacare
$57 million cut from the Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control
$51 million cut from the Prevention and Public Health Fund
$27 million cut from the State Grants and Demonstrations
$44 million cut from the Affordable Insurance Exchange Grants program
Education
$184 million cut from Rehabilitation Services and Disability Research
$71 million cut from administration at the Office of
$116 million cut from Higher Education
$86 million cut from Student
Immigration
$17 million cut from Automation Modernization, Customs and Border Protection
$20 million cut from Border Security Fencing, Infrastructure, and Technology
Security
$604 million cut from National Nuclear Security Administration
$232 million cut from the Federal Aviation Administration
$394 million cut from Defense Environmental Cleanup
Republicans, who refused to raise any additional revenue to avoid the budget cuts, have described the reductions as “modest” a “homerun” and something that “needs to happen” in order to “get this economy rolling again.”
The latest projections from the Congressional Budget Office show that the nation’s deficits have shrunk by trillions of dollars, and the debt is close to being stabilized as a percentage of the economy. Meanwhile, budget cuts have already reduced spending by $1.5 trillion and even with the revenue included in the fiscal cliff deal, the ratio of cuts to revenue stands at an unbalanced 3 to 1.
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Monday, March 4, 2013
Obama to name Walmart’s Sylvia Mathews Burwell as new director of Office of Management and Budget
Obama to name Walmart’s Sylvia Mathews Burwell as new director of Office of Management and Budget
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he official credited Burwell with being a principal architect of a series of budget plans in the 1990s that led to a budget surplus.
Walmart president Mike Duke called Burwell a strong leader with a “clear vision for making big things happen.”
“She understands business and the role that business, government and civil society must play to build a strong economy that provides opportunity and strengthens communities across the country,” Duke said in a statement.
Burwell’s nomination signals that the White House is trying to get back to normal business after the president and Congress failed to avert $85 billion in automatic spending cuts that took effect Friday. While the president has warned of dire consequences for the economy as a result of the cuts, the White House does not want to the standoff with Congress to keep the president from focusing on other second-term priorities, including filling out his Cabinet and pursuing stricter gun laws and an overhaul of the nation’s immigration system.
Obama made quick work of filling key national security openings in his administration, but has been slower to fill other Cabinet openings, including the OMB post. Vacancies also remain at the Environmental Protection Agency, the Commerce and Energy Departments, and the U.S. trade representative.
Burwell would replac
Sunday, March 3, 2013
The Keystone XL Pipeline Is an Eco-Threat -- Why Doesn't the State Department Think So? | Alternet
The Keystone XL Pipeline Is an Eco-Threat -- Why Doesn't the State Department Think So? | Alternet:
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So the State Department's analysis is not only inaccurate but also incredibly cynical. By this same logic, why would anyone in North America stop new coal plants from being built, if the coal would just be burned in China and India anyway? Why would we try to replace fracked gas or mountaintop-removal coal with solar and wind, if we're powerless as a country to lead the world to a clean energy economy? This is shockingly defeatist thinking from a bureaucracy that is now led by someone who has been a proven and courageous champion of the climate throughout his career.
I spent this morning on a press conference with Mayor Michael Bloomberg discussing how we've succeeded in securing the retirement of 142 coal plants over the past couple of years. Although we've begun to see a clean energy turnaround outside the Beltway, we're still looking for a real sign of strong leadership inside Washington, D.C. Instead, we keep hearing about the inevitability of fossil fuels: All the oil will be burned, no matter how extreme; coal and natural gas should be mined, drilled and fracked, then exported if necessary. Too often, we even hear these tired arguments from climate champions who should know better.
Billionaires for Austerity: With Cuts Looming, Wall Street Roots of "Fix the Debt" Campaign Exposed
Billionaires for Austerity: With Cuts Looming, Wall Street Roots of "Fix the Debt" Campaign Exposed
click link
note: variety of stories/updates on varied topics of interest for soar 11-3
click link
note: variety of stories/updates on varied topics of interest for soar 11-3
Saturday, March 2, 2013
Sequestration will damage US social safety net
note: this is revenge against most Americans for gop losing election and their buddies (rich) paying a few more percent on taxes.
State Dept. says no environmental bar to Keystone XL
State Dept. says no environmental bar to Keystone XL
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To the chagrin of environmentalists opposed to the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, a State Department report released Friday afternoon stated there is no conclusive environmental reason it should not be built.
The report makes no recommendations for the president’s anticipated decision on whether or not to approve the project, which will carry crude oil from Alberta’s tar sands to the Gulf Coast, while — according to opponents — producing high levels of carbon emissions, disturbing communities and adding to the coffers of oil magnates such as the Koch brothers. Friday’s lengthy report suggests environmental objections have been overestimated by the project’s critics. Via the New York Times:
continue to develop the oil sands and that the demand for heavy crude in the United States will not diminish either way. It’s a dark message to environmentalists, suggesting that the tar sands battle is lost.
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To the chagrin of environmentalists opposed to the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, a State Department report released Friday afternoon stated there is no conclusive environmental reason it should not be built.
The report makes no recommendations for the president’s anticipated decision on whether or not to approve the project, which will carry crude oil from Alberta’s tar sands to the Gulf Coast, while — according to opponents — producing high levels of carbon emissions, disturbing communities and adding to the coffers of oil magnates such as the Koch brothers. Friday’s lengthy report suggests environmental objections have been overestimated by the project’s critics. Via the New York Times:
The draft report, which updates a 2011 study that essentially gave the project a green light, carefully weighs the impacts of the pipeline, which would carry about 800,000 barrels a day of heavy crude oil from tar sands formations in Alberta across the Great Plains to Gulf Coast refineries.Perhaps most interestingly, the report suggests that with or without the Keystone XL, the oil industry will likely
President Obama rejected the original route proposed by the pipeline operator, TransCanada, because of potential adverse impacts on sensitive grasslands and aquifers in Nebraska. The new environmental statement looks at a revised route submitted by TransCanada last spring.
The new impact statement says that extracting, shipping, refining and burning oil from the tar sands produces more climate-altering greenhouse gases than most conventional oil, but less than many of the project’s critics claim. The State Department study says that tar sands oil produces 5 percent to 19 percent more greenhouse gas emissions than other crude, depending on what oil was compared and who performed the calculations.
Friday, March 1, 2013
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