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by Kenny Bruno June 23, 2010
Kenny Bruno is campaign director at Corporate Ethics International and the U.S. Coordinator for the No Tar Sands Oil Campaign.
On May 27, referring to the BP Deepwater disaster, President Obama said “where I was wrong was in my belief that the oil companies had their act together when it came to worst-case scenarios.”
It’s good to have a president who can admit error, but wow, that’s a doozy of a mistaken belief.
Unfortunately, there is another worst-case scenario looming, and again Big Oil does not have its act together. It’s the climate crisis. Oil is a major cause of global warming, yet if the industry has its way, the oil market will grow and climate change will accelerate.
Not only does Big Oil plan to expand, but the oil they produce will get dirtier. This is true of BP, but also of all the big oil companies.
As science writer for The New Yorker, Elizabeth Kolbert, puts it, the deep cause of the BP disaster is that “having consumed most of the world’s readily accessible oil, we are compelled to look for fuel in ever more remote places, and to extract it in ever riskier and more damaging ways.”
Exhibit A in this trend is the Canadian tar sands, the source of the world’s dirtiest and most expensive oil. The Obama Administration is currently deciding whether to approve a new TransCanada pipeline, called the Keystone XL, which would bring nearly one million barrels a day of this dirty oil to the Gulf of Mexico. The pipeline would stretch across almost 2,000 miles of the U.S., endangering the wildlife, water supplies and the livelihood of ranchers and farmers in Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.
Related Action
Take Action
463 People
Tell Secretary Clinton to Stop the TransCanada Keystone XL Pipeline
Create your own petition »
In a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is in charge of approving the pipeline’s crossing from Canada into the U.S., some 50 members of Congress are questioning whether this pipeline is in the national interest. These lawmakers point out that expanding tar sands oil imports is contrary to national policy goals because tar sands exacerbates global warming. The tar sands industry is also a violator of indigenous rights, a gross polluter of water, and destroyer of vast swaths of pristine boreal forest.
BP’s Gulf spill makes clear that when oil companies cut corners and operate without oversight and accountability, disaster will occur. We cannot trust that TransCanada – or any of the oil companies, for that matter – has its act together when it comes to the Keystone XL pipeline. In fact, TransCanada has also applied for a waiver from the federal government to use thinner steel that experts warn is vulnerable to leaks, and will not be adequately monitored given a lack of federal agency inspectors.
The BP disaster is a wake up call. BP’s Gulf spill damage may last decades. The good news is that America is waking up and realizing this cannot go on. We must seize this opportunity to do something both difficult and necessary – something that will benefit all Americans. We must finally break our oil addiction.
President Obama has called for an end to business as usual in the government oversight prescribed to big oil. But if the TransCanada XL pipeline is approved, it will be big oil cutting corners and getting its way all over again at the cost of America’s interests.
Every day, we hear some version of the industry’s mantra that “fossil fuels will be a part of the energy mix for decades.” But how big a part of the mix and for how many decades? We have started to take a step forward, notably through better fuel efficiency standards. However, Canadian tar sands oil and the Keystone XL pipeline would be the proverbial two steps backward.
To top it all off, the frustrating thing is we don’t need it! U.S. oil consumption has already leveled off. With investment, innovation and political will, we can cut oil consumption in half by 2025 and end large scale use of oil by 2040. We can end oil dependence in a generation, but only if we resist Big Oil’s call to invest billions more in dirty fuel infrastructure.
Let’s start working for a clean transportation future. Let’s not start in a decade, when oil is dirtier and running out faster. Let’s start today. Sign our petition to get the ball rolling.
* No offshore Drilling
* Stop the Keystone Pipeline
* End oil addiction in one generation
* Accelerate investment in efficiency, alternative fuels, smart growth and public transportation
* No Subsidies for Big Oil
Photo Credit: David Dodge, The Pembina Institute
U.S. Congress Waking Up To Another Oil Disaster | Environment | Change.org
Kenny Bruno is campaign director at Corporate Ethics International and the U.S. Coordinator for the No Tar Sands Oil Campaign.
On May 27, referring to the BP Deepwater disaster, President Obama said “where I was wrong was in my belief that the oil companies had their act together when it came to worst-case scenarios.”
It’s good to have a president who can admit error, but wow, that’s a doozy of a mistaken belief.
Unfortunately, there is another worst-case scenario looming, and again Big Oil does not have its act together. It’s the climate crisis. Oil is a major cause of global warming, yet if the industry has its way, the oil market will grow and climate change will accelerate.
Not only does Big Oil plan to expand, but the oil they produce will get dirtier. This is true of BP, but also of all the big oil companies.
As science writer for The New Yorker, Elizabeth Kolbert, puts it, the deep cause of the BP disaster is that “having consumed most of the world’s readily accessible oil, we are compelled to look for fuel in ever more remote places, and to extract it in ever riskier and more damaging ways.”
Exhibit A in this trend is the Canadian tar sands, the source of the world’s dirtiest and most expensive oil. The Obama Administration is currently deciding whether to approve a new TransCanada pipeline, called the Keystone XL, which would bring nearly one million barrels a day of this dirty oil to the Gulf of Mexico. The pipeline would stretch across almost 2,000 miles of the U.S., endangering the wildlife, water supplies and the livelihood of ranchers and farmers in Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.
Related Action
Take Action
463 People
Tell Secretary Clinton to Stop the TransCanada Keystone XL Pipeline
Create your own petition »
In a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is in charge of approving the pipeline’s crossing from Canada into the U.S., some 50 members of Congress are questioning whether this pipeline is in the national interest. These lawmakers point out that expanding tar sands oil imports is contrary to national policy goals because tar sands exacerbates global warming. The tar sands industry is also a violator of indigenous rights, a gross polluter of water, and destroyer of vast swaths of pristine boreal forest.
BP’s Gulf spill makes clear that when oil companies cut corners and operate without oversight and accountability, disaster will occur. We cannot trust that TransCanada – or any of the oil companies, for that matter – has its act together when it comes to the Keystone XL pipeline. In fact, TransCanada has also applied for a waiver from the federal government to use thinner steel that experts warn is vulnerable to leaks, and will not be adequately monitored given a lack of federal agency inspectors.
The BP disaster is a wake up call. BP’s Gulf spill damage may last decades. The good news is that America is waking up and realizing this cannot go on. We must seize this opportunity to do something both difficult and necessary – something that will benefit all Americans. We must finally break our oil addiction.
President Obama has called for an end to business as usual in the government oversight prescribed to big oil. But if the TransCanada XL pipeline is approved, it will be big oil cutting corners and getting its way all over again at the cost of America’s interests.
Every day, we hear some version of the industry’s mantra that “fossil fuels will be a part of the energy mix for decades.” But how big a part of the mix and for how many decades? We have started to take a step forward, notably through better fuel efficiency standards. However, Canadian tar sands oil and the Keystone XL pipeline would be the proverbial two steps backward.
To top it all off, the frustrating thing is we don’t need it! U.S. oil consumption has already leveled off. With investment, innovation and political will, we can cut oil consumption in half by 2025 and end large scale use of oil by 2040. We can end oil dependence in a generation, but only if we resist Big Oil’s call to invest billions more in dirty fuel infrastructure.
Let’s start working for a clean transportation future. Let’s not start in a decade, when oil is dirtier and running out faster. Let’s start today. Sign our petition to get the ball rolling.
* No offshore Drilling
* Stop the Keystone Pipeline
* End oil addiction in one generation
* Accelerate investment in efficiency, alternative fuels, smart growth and public transportation
* No Subsidies for Big Oil
Photo Credit: David Dodge, The Pembina Institute
U.S. Congress Waking Up To Another Oil Disaster | Environment | Change.org
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