Will the U.S. Senate Stand Up for Our Future? 22MAR13

ROBERT REDFORD offers a spot on description of the keystone xl pipeline and asks all of us to contact our Senators (he provides the link) and tell them to reject it and commit the nation to rising to meet the challenge of climate change. Think about the transformation of America's people, R&D, it's workforce and our abundant natural resources mobilized to fight fascism on two fronts during WWII. Now just imagine the same commitment to developing green technology, clean, renewable energy, and industry geared to produce solar panels, wind turbines, street and subway cars for mass transit, high MPG hybrid vehicles that run on hemp oil (we could be doing that now), a work force producing these products as well as high speed rail systems and upgrading our crumbling infrastructure, upgrading homes to increase conservation and energy efficiency, building and upgrading commercial properties to be green. The American people are willing and able and want to do these things, the profit margins of the fossil fuel industry and mainstream corporate America are standing in the way. Their latest best offer to the nation is sticky, toxic, corrosive, dirty, smelly, polluting (a good description of a lot of CEOs, eh?) tar sands oil. What a bargain for them. From HuffPost....

Rumor has it the U.S. Senate will consider a budget bill provision to approve the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. Here's what they need to share with their constituents:

1) It's GREAT for Big Oil. BAD for America. And REALLY BAD for climate change, producing three times more global warming pollution than conventional crude production, and using vast amounts of energy and water, causing significant pollution to both air and water.

2) Canadian citizens are against tar sands pipelines too, fighting the Gateway Pipeline to their west coast -- and through British Columbia's Great Bear Rainforest -- and the Trailbreaker pipeline to carry tar sands to east to Maine.

3) It's dangerous and dirty-- it's dirty tar that's diluted with chemicals and then pushed through the pipeline at high pressure, which creates very high temperatures. It's more corrosive to the pipeline than oil, so it eats away at the pipelines, which then rupture and blow.

4) The first Keystone pipeline, already operating in America, has spilled 14 times and had to be shut down twice due to safety concerns, and another one of its pipelines exploded.

5) Tar sands spill are difficult to impossible to clean up. After more than two year and nearly a billion dollars in clean up costs, the EPA found that nearly 40 miles of the Kalamazoo River is still contaminated by submerged tars sands.

6) Pretty much all the oil goes to foreign countries after America takes all the risks. This will not solve our energy challenges, it will not improve our national security and it is not an American jobs program. (35 permanent jobs and 3500 construction jobs over 2 years.)

Those of us against this thing believe this is a bad deal for America AND it'll make climate change considerably worse, faster. It will be the third new tar sands dedicated pipeline, which will lock us into a dependence on this destructive, dirty source for years to come.

We are not irrational extremists. WE are people who believe that a clean and sustainable future is possible. We believe in American ingenuity when it comes to clean energy technologies. America has shown time and time again -- remember the American Space Program -- that with proper investment, we can meet any challenge in front of us. Tell President Obama to reject the Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline. www.stoptar.org

And contact your U.S. Senator today. Tell them this pipeline is bad for America.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-redford/senate-keystone-pipeline_b_2931109.html?utm_hp_ref=daily-brief?utm_source=DailyBrief&utm_campaign=032213&utm_medium=email&utm_content=BlogEntry&utm_term=Daily%20Brief