Keystone XL

Zero Emissions Manifesto For Climate Justice Movement

September 9, 2014 Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Jr. and Tom Weis, www.ecowatch.com Organize! Climate Change, Climate Justice, Environment, Keystone XL, Protest, United Nations

Zero has become the most important number for humanity. Why? Any chance of stabilizing the climate hinges on transitioning to zero greenhouse gas emissions as quickly as humanly possible. Simply slowing the rise of emissions will not work. For the first time, the world’s leading climate authority, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), has embraced a goal of near zero greenhouse gas emissions or below. Top military experts and government institutions like the U.S. Department of Defense and National Intelligence Council warn that climate destabilization threatens our national security, yet global emissions just keep going up. Leading biologists like E.O. Wilson warn that the sixth great extinction is now upon us, yet emissions keep going up. By heating the globe at such a relentless rate, we are playing a deadly game of planetary Russian roulette. In the words of Michael Mann, professor of meteorology at Penn State University: “There is no precedent for what we are doing to the atmosphere. It is an uncontrolled experiment.” If you believe your own eyes that climate chaos has already gone too far, the only logical response is to stop making things worse.

Enbridge Figures Out An Easier Way To Move Tar Sands

August 27, 2014 Financial Post, www.earthfirstjournal.org Educate! Canada, Enbridge, Keystone XL, Tar Sands

Enbridge Inc. said it found a way to ship more Alberta oil [Ed note: the industry often use the terms Alberta oil, domestic oil, heavy crude for tar sands derived bitumen] to the U.S. that doesn’t require a review similar to the one faced by Keystone XL: switching crude from one pipeline to another before it crosses the border. The global oil industry is gripped with the cost-cutting fever amid shareholder pressure, but the oil sands are particularly vulnerable given their baked-in higher development costs, high wages, remote location and infrastructure challenges. The State Department, responsible for approving cross-border energy projects like the Alberta Clipper and the proposed Keystone XL line to the U.S. Gulf Coast, said in a statement that Enbridge can go forward with its plan under authority granted by previously issued permits. The plan drew criticism yesterday from environmental groups, including the National Wildlife Federation, opposed to new imports from Canada’s oil sands because mining and processing the fuel releases more climate-warming carbon than other types of crude. “The president’s promise to decide Keystone XL based on its climate impacts is completely meaningless if the State Department is simultaneously permitting other tar sands pipelines behind closed doors,” Sierra Club attorney Doug Hayes said in a statement.

Opponents Of KXL Pipeline Fear Worst For Water

August 5, 2014 Brian Brown, www.nbcnews.com Resist! Civil Disobedience, Indigenous Rights, Keystone XL, Pipeline, Water

IDEAL, South Dakota – Facing the sunrise on a frigid morning, Rosebud Sioux tribal leader Royal Yellow Hawk offered an ancient prayer in song, his voice periodically muffled by the whistling prairie wind. Behind Yellow Hawk was a cinematic scene from another century: 30-foot-tall tipis arranged in a half circle, quickly brightening in the morning light. This tipi encampment was erected this spring to be a visible and ongoing embodiment of opposition to the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline, which, if constructed, would hug the reservation’s territory in transporting diluted bitumen oil 1,179-miles from Canada’s tar sands to Steele City, Nebraska. The Keystone XL is being built by the Canadian energy company, Trans Canada. This fourth and final phase of the project—still awaiting approval by the Obama administration—will cost an estimated $5.4 billion. Other segments of the Keystone–at an estimated cost of $5 billion—have been in operation since 2010, bringing the tar sands oil from Hardisty, Alberta, to refineries in the American Midwest and the Gulf Coast.

Opposition Choking Tar Sands Industry

June 12, 2014 Danielle Droitsch, www.switchboard.nrdc.org Resist! Fracking, Keystone XL, Protest

Yesterday, a major tar sands company Total E&P – who is also a confirmed shipper for the proposed and now delayed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline – announced it would put on hold indefinitely its plans for the massive tar sands Joslyn mine. The company said the economics for the $11 billion plan no longer added up. Over its lifetime, the tar sands mine would have pumped hundreds of millions of metric tons of carbon pollution into the air equivalent to putting 2.4 million cars on the road for 45 years according to Oil Change International. This announcement severely undercuts oil industry arguments that the expansion of tar sands development is unavoidable. In fact, there is clear and compelling evidence that the growth of the tar sands industry is directly linked to the availability of pipelines like Keystone XL. It is why the State Department must reject tar sands pipeline projects like Keystone XL because they it would directly enable the growth of the carbon polluting tar sands industry. The plans for the Joslyn tar sands mine were approved by the Government of Canada in 2011 and would have produced 874 million barrels of bitumen over its life span (production rate of 100,000 barrels/day). The mine would have commenced production in 2020. The announcement to indefinitely suspend the project came only a few months after the process for the proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline was put on hold as the State of Nebraska resolves legal issues over the route of the pipeline through the state. Was this a coincidence? Perhaps not.

Jane Kleeb Vs. The Keystone Pipeline

May 20, 2014 Saul Elbein, www.nytimes.com Resist! Keystone XL, Nebraska, Organizing, Protest

Terry Van Housen had a question. What he wanted to know from the 30 or so other Nebraska farmers and ranchers gathered in February at the York Community Center was this: What do you do with 10,000 dead cows? That was the number of cattle Van Housen figured could be at risk if the Obama administration permitted the proposed 1,700-mile XL leg of the Keystone pipeline to cut across their state. Bulldozers would dig a trench not far from Van Housen’s feedlot, completing the final phase of the Keystone project and streamlining the current flow of oil from the bitumen mines of Northern Alberta toward refineries on the Gulf Coast of Texas. If the pipe were to leak, Van Housen said, his cattle could die. “Can we put [those cows] on trucks and send them to Canada?” suggested Max Nelson, a stooped retired rancher who raised his hand every 10 minutes to pose other hypothetical disasters: a spill polluting the water supply of West Omaha, say, or compromising the hydroelectric dams on the Platte River. TransCanada, the $48 billion Canadian company that owns the Keystone, has repeatedly said the XL will be “the safest pipeline ever built on U.S. soil,” a technological marvel with automatic shut-off valves and satellite monitoring.

A.I.M. Founding Member Calls For Reinvigoration of American Indian Movement

May 9, 2014 Last Real Indians, www.lastrealindians.com Organize! Indigenous Rights, Keystone XL, Native Indians

Dennis Banks, founding member of the American Indian Movement, has issued a call for the reinvigorating of AIM. Banks, who served as the National Field Director of AIM, calls for a National and International gathering of AIM families, chapters, support groups and individuals to be held in October in Green Bay, WI. The gathering seeks to address issues impacting Indian Country such as: the Keystone XL Pipeline Non-compliance of several States on the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) Non-compliance of several States with the Native American Graves Protection and Rehabilitation Act (NAGPRA) Rejuvenate and reinvigorate the American Indian Movement

Ottawa Mulls Keystone XL Challenge Under NAFTA

May 7, 2014 Claudia Cattaneo, www.business.financialpost.com Educate! Canada, Keystone XL, NAFTA

The federal government, acting alone or with Keystone XL proponent TransCanada Corp. and perhaps pipeline shippers, has legal grounds to challenge the U.S. administration’s handling of the pipeline, legal and trade experts said. While U.S. President Barack Obama hoped to kick Keystone XL out of the way by delaying a decision ahead of mid-term elections, Ottawa is considering launching a challenge under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). As Ottawa’s new streamlined regulatory process for pipelines plays out with reviews of the TransMountain and Energy East projects, critics are fuming it has been gutted by Stephen Harper’s Conservative government. Keep reading. The federal government, acting alone or with KXL proponent TransCanada Corp. and perhaps pipeline shippers, has legal grounds to challenge the U.S. administration’s handling of the pipeline, legal and trade experts said. The option is being discussed and could be prepared as a contingency, but a decision hasn’t been made, according to Ottawa sources. Former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and his former chief of staff, Derek Burney, who played central roles in negotiations that led to the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement and subsequently NAFTA, suggested in separate speeches in recent days that Obama’s persistent delays are offside the spirit of the agreement.

KXL Activists Blast Pro-Keystone Dems In Senate

May 6, 2014 Lauren McCauley, www.commondreams.org Resist! Congress, Keystone XL

Anti-pipeline activists have launched an offensive against the handful of Democratic Senators who may determine the future of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline in a vote slated for this week. With rallies outside the offices of "swing" Senators Tom Carper (Del.), Bill Nelson (Fla.) and Bob Casey (Penn.) on Monday and Sen. Mark Udall (Colo.) on Tuesday, protesters are demanding that the legislators hold strong against the intense lobby efforts of the fossil fuel industry and vote against the measure. Launching what they call a "full court press," anti-Keystone activists are "going to be on the phones and in the streets over the coming days to show Senators who are on-the-fence that they have the support they need to stand up to Big Oil and say no to this pipeline,” said Jason Kowalsk, policy director for the environmental group 350.org. In a bid to steamroll the approval process for the pipeline, legislators have attached an amendment to the Shaheen-Portman energy bill to override the State Department's ongoing review of the project.

Video: Protect SacredWater from Tar Sands

May 3, 2014 Stop Tar Sands, www.tarsandsblockade.org Resist! Food and Agriculture, Indigenous Rights, Keystone XL

This weekend the Moccasins on the Ground Direct Action Training tour on the Lakota homelands traveled to the remote Red Shirt community. Dozens of diverse people from across Turtle Island turned out to deepen their spiritual connection to SacredWater and learn skills in nonviolent direct action, tactical media, and medical training. Owe Aku (Bring Back the Way) gathered Red Nations and non-Natives alike as protectors of SacredWater and caregivers of MotherEarth. Original Peoples on the frontlines continue to lead the struggle and unite nations in defense of our most sacred life sustaining element. Check out this video produced by participants in the tactical media training to demonstrate the diversity of voices calling for the protection of SacredWater from toxic tar sands. The training included a direct action by the Kul Wicasa Oyate (Lower Brule Lakota Tribe). Last Thursday, tribal members and their allies filled the halls of their Tribal Council to protect their sacred water from the threat of Keystone XL.

Neil Young On Climate Change, Cowboy Indian Alliance

April 29, 2014 Emerson Urry, www.environews.tv Resist! Arts, Environment, Keystone XL, Protest

It’s a world issue. We’re engaged everywhere that there’s oil, everywhere that there is CO2 abuse. If we don’t change this, we’re not going to have a good place for our children or for our grandchildren or for their grandchildren to live. All of the scientific studies including studies from the United Nations special council that they put together have said this. They all agree with this. The science is with this universally. There is very little disagreement on this issue. We can’t go ahead and keep doing these destructive things to Mother Earth and allow the climate change to happen, which will destroy our way of life. Actually, carbon abuse is un-American. It destroys American business. It lowers the bottom line. Coca Cola just complained that they lost 20 percent of their bottom line because of climate change, and that’s an issue. That was on the front page of “the New York Times.” Coca Cola and 18 other major companies who are blaming climate change for their loss of revenue.

Why Getting Arrested To Resist The Keystone XL Is Legally Justified

April 28, 2014 Jeremy Brecher, www.wagingnonviolence.org Resist! Keystone XL, Protesters Arrested

Nearly 100,000 people have pledged to risk arrest if the Obama administration appears poised to give approval to the Keystone XL pipeline. While it would be difficult to prove, it seems likely that the specter of tens of thousands of Americans committing civil disobedience around the country may have influenced the Obama administration to further delay its decision on the pipeline last week. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell attributed news of the delay to the “weight” of “radical activists.” Still, with the pipeline not yet rejected, the KXL Pledge of Resistance will have to be kept trimmed and burning. I am one of those who has signed the pledge. I believe our action, while making a personal moral statement, will also help initiate an effort to hold our governments accountable for complicity in the most heinous crime in history — the destruction of the natural conditions on which we and our posterity depend for our lives. Whether or not the courts that try protesters initially accept such an argument, I believe that we will ultimately win vindication in the court of public opinion. If I am arrested and have an opportunity to address a court, here is how I would explain the purpose and significance of our action.

Artist Paints Tipi For National Museum Of American Indian

April 26, 2014 DC Media Group www.dcmediagroup.us Create! Arts, Keystone XL

Artist Steve Tamayo, a Native American of the Sicangu tribe, painted life into a tipi on the National Mall over three days. The tipi will be given to the National Museum of the American Indian in a ceremony on Saturday, April 26th. Tamayo described the tipi as an embodiment of Native American culture. The tipi art depicts the Earth and heavens with images symbolizing the cycle of life. Simple icons of water, land, animals, and sky narrate the lives of Native Americans on the prairie. Through bright colors and traditional shapes, the complex is made simple and the mundane, significant. As many as fifty volunteers, including children as young as five, helped Tamayo paint the images he designed and laid out. At the top of the tipi is a depiction of the heavens, the sun and stars. The Big Dipper is the provider of water to the Earth. At the base are the oceans, lakes and rivers, where blue water begins the cycle of life.

On Anniversary of Wounded Knee: The Battle Now Is To Protect Water

April 26, 2014 uneditedcamera, www.westcoastnativenews.com Educate! Indigenous Rights, Keystone XL, Native Indians

On Feburary 27th, 2014 I was on Pine Ridge reservation for, Liberation Day, the anniversary of the 1973 occupation of Wounded Knee. This was the 41st anniversary of the occupation and I stood outside of the Wounded Knee district school, holding a flyer for today’s“Four Directions Walk.” I stood with the northern part of the four directions. Three other walks from the east, west, and south were going to meet at Wounded Knee, the site of both the massacre of 1890 and the Occupation of 1973. I checked my GPS, “ten miles to Wounded Knee.” I stared at my feet. A member of the To’kala warrior society saw me staring at my brown hiking boots and suggested I bring a vehicle for our media team to rotate out of during the walk. The warrior walked off and joined other members of the warrior society. The men and women in camouflage talked amongst themselves, then spread out around the edges of the gathering people. I worried I’d be out of place with a vehicle, but saw a long convoy of cars,vans and trucks lining up behind everyone preparing for the walk.

Solar Warriors vs. The Black Snake Of Tar Sands

April 23, 2014 Winona Laduke, www.commondreams.org Organize! Keystone XL, Oil and Gas, Solar

There are two very different ways of recognizing Earth Day In the Northern Plains and Washington, perhaps illustrating, what Native people call the choice between two paths, one well scorched and worn, the other green. This past week, Henry Red Cloud, a descendent of Chief Red Cloud and President of Lakota Solar Enterprises, was recognized as a Champion of Change by President Obama for his leadership in renewable energy. Red Cloud’s work has included installation of over 1000 solar thermal heating units on houses in tribal communities across the Northern Plains. Those units can reduce heating bills by almost one quarter, and cost, less than $2000 to install. The solar thermal panels harken a future with less reliance on propane and fossil fuels, something which proved deadly this winter, as the price skyrocketed, and many homes spent at least that amount to heat. Henry Red Cloud is one of many Lakota people who has been in DC this past month, and a large number of other Oglala tribal members will descend on Washington for theCowboys Indians Alliance encampment against the Keystone XL pipeline.

Ceremony of Gifts, Prayers Unites Indians and Ranchers of “Reject and Protect”

April 23, 2014 DC Media Group, www.dcmediagroup.us Resist! Indigenous Rights, Keystone XL, Protest

The Cowboy Indian Alliance marked the first day of the “Reject and Protect” encampment on the National Mall today with prayer ceremonies and offerings to each other, the Earth and its people. With prayer, songs and burning sage, Native Americans dressed in full tribal regalia along with ranchers and farmers who had traveled to Washington from the U.S. “Heartland” officially kicked off the six-day protest against the Keystone XL pipeline. Their message to President Obama and their state legislatures: reject the Keystone XL pipeline project. “The Keystone pipeline is the main focus,” said Jeff Horinek of the Ponca Nation. “We depend on water, and a lot of the country’s produce comes from the heartland of the country.” Horinek said the Keystone XL pipeline would run directly across from his home. He plans to leave if it is approved.

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