No Oil in Our Soil: the Case against Keystone

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
new york city, New York, United States of America (Free-Press-Release.com) August 27, 2011 --

The Keystone XL Tar Sands Oil Pipeline proposal is one of the biggest tests of Barack Obama’s presidency. The major oil corporations, from Exxon Mobile to Koch Industries, are lobbying hard to compel the administration to issue a license for a new, massive pipeline that will transport tar sands oil from Canada to refineries in Texas. The choice is entirely the President’s, as he needs no Congressional approval to issue or refuse a license, according to environmentalist Bill Mckibben. If he is at all serious about combating climate change and protecting the environment, he will oppose this pipeline. If he fails to act, this will be yet another nail in the coffin for “hope.”

It is true that, as the American Petroleum Institute and other right-wing propaganda outlets argue, we are better off obtaining oil from Canada than from virtually all the other prime sources of petroleum imports, such as the Persian Gulf and Caspian Sea basin, which are extremely volatile regions. But this argument misses the point and provides small consolation compared to the tremendous dangers that accompany the pipeline.

The United States has for over half a century sought not mere access to Middle Eastern oil, but control. If you can control major oil sources, you control the world. It gives you the power to cut off energy (or threaten to cut off energy) to any country you want to punish. And oil is the bedrock of the modern economy, not just for fueling vehicles and armies, but for countless products, from plastics and Styrofoam to asphalt and chemicals in cosmetics. As such, although it might be nice to have access to a relatively safe oil source like Canada, it will not change the fact that state planners will continue to seek to dominate the Middle East to maintain control of the oil upon which the American empire relies.

And in any event, the Keystone pipeline is extremely dangerous. First, it will traverse 1700 miles and go “through some of the most sensitive and beautiful and important agricultural land in this country. It crosses the Ogalalla Aquifer, a source of water for 20 million people, one of the great pools of fresh water on the planet,” according to McKibben, who has heroically organized a civil disobedience campaign in front of the White House. McKibben, along with 160 others, has been arrested. The resistance will continue for two more weeks. He adds that the “small precursor pipeline of this thing has had 12 leaks in a year,” and “our job here is to prevent a terrestrial BP spill"...

Keep reading: http://thebloodycrossroads.com/no-oil-in-our-soil/221173/

Bill McKibben     Canada     corporate interests     fossil fuels     Keystone oil pipeline     Obama     oil     petroleum