Posted on 2 March 2013 by John Hartz

Draft assessment of Tar Sands pipeline “devastatingly cynical”

The U.S. State Department late Friday released a draft environmental impact assessment of a contentious pipeline project that simultaneously acknowledged the dangers posed by climate change while also noting the project would “not likely result in significant adverse environmental effects”.

Scientists and advocates have reacted with significant alarm, warning that the new report, officially a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS), is merely recycling deeply flawed conclusions offered in previous such assessments. Since the project was first proposed by a Canadian company, TransCanada, in 2008, it has been beset by local and national opposition in both countries, including drawing some 40,000 protesters to Washington last month.

Draft assessment of Tar Sands pipeline “devastatingly cynical” by Carey L. Biron, Inter Press Serive (IPS), Mar 1, 2013 

I’m with the Tree Huggers

Well, I’m with the tree huggers. The pipeline isn’t the worst threat to the climate, but it’s a threat. Keystone isn’t the best fight to have over fossil fuels, but it’s the fight we’re having. Now is the time to choose sides. It’s always easy to quibble with the politics of radical protest: Did ACT UP need to be so obnoxious? Didn’t the tax evasion optics of the Boston Tea Party muddle the anti-imperial message? But if we’re in a war to stop global warming — a war TIME declared on a green-bordered cover five years ago — then we need to fight it on the beaches, the landing zones and the carbon-spewing tar sands of Alberta. If we’re serious about reducing atmospheric carbon below 350 parts per million, we need to start leaving some carbon in the ground. 

I’m with the Tree Huggers by Michael Grunwald, Time, Feb 28, 2013

Keystone XL won't boost oilsands growth, U.S. State Dept. says 

Building the northern leg of TransCanada's controversial Keystone XL pipeline won't have a major impact on Alberta's oilsands development, the U.S. State Department says — a finding that might make it easier for the White House to approve the controversial project. 

A State Department official said the pipeline "remains unlikely to significantly impact the rate of development of the oilsands or the demand for heavy crude oil in the United States." 

Kerri-Ann Jones, an assistant secretary with the department, said the pipeline doesn't pose any greater risks to the environment than any other modes of transportation. 

Keystone XL won't boost oilsands growth, U.S. State Dept. says, CBC, Mar 1, 2013

Keystone XL pipeline would have little impact on climate change, State Department analysis says

The State Department released a draft environmental impact assessment of the controversial Keystone XL pipelineFriday, suggesting the project would have little impact on climate change.

Canada’s oil sands will be developed even if President Obama denies a permit to the pipeline connecting the region to Gulf Coast refineries, the analysis said. Such a move would also not alter U.S. oil consumption, the report added.

Keystone XL pipeline would have little impact on climate change, State Department analysis says/strong> by Juliet Eilperin and Steven Mufson, Washington Post, Mar 1, 2013

The Key to Big Oil's Sky-high Price Play: Keystone Export XL

The Keystone XL Export Pipeline is the next move in a complicated chess game by the oil and gas industry to assure sky-high future prices for its products -- and unaffordable fuel for the rest of us. (In their minds the devastating environmental legacy is collateral damage -- but the economic hit is a key ingredient in their model. They want us to pay too much.)

The Key to Big Oil's Sky-high Price Play: Keystone Export XL by Carl Pope, The Huffington Post, Mar 1, 2013 

Redford will be Washington-bound again

Fresh off a visit to Washington, Alberta Premier Alison Redford is pledging a swift return to the American capital to woo “decision makers” to approve the Keystone XL pipeline.

Ms. Redford spent the weekend at a gathering of American state governors, meeting with 22 of them. Along with Environment Minister Diana McQueen, Ms. Redford said she spent the meetings reiterating the pipeline’s economic benefits while laying out the province’s environmental track record. The Alberta Premier called it a “very good weekend,” saying she found a willing audience among her counterparts.

Redford will be Washington-bound again to hasten Keystone’s approval by Josh Windgrove, The Globe and Mail, Feb 25, 2013

State Dept: Build the Keystone pipeline or not, the oil sands crude will flow

The State Department issued its long-awaited supplementary environmental impact assessment  (SEIS) this afternoon on the Keystone XL pipeline, which would ship up to  830,000 barrels a day of Canadian oil  sands crude to the U.S. The full report is some 2,000 pages long—and was  released at the very end of the week, thanks very much, State Department—but you  can boil it down to one sentence:

State Dept: Build the Keystone Pipeline or Not, the Oil Sands Crude Will Flow by Brian Walsh, Time, Mar 1, 2013

State Dept's Keystone XL analysis upsets environmentalists

The State Department released their Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) for TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline proposal on Friday, concluding in large part that the proposal is environmentally acceptable.

State Department's Keystone XL Analysis Upsets Environmentalists, The Huffington Post, Mar 1, 2013 

State Dept Keystone XL pipeline analysis disspirits climate change opponents

Environmentalists are fuming over the conclusion from the State Department that the Keystone XL pipeline -- a fiercely-debated proposal to transport heavy crude from Alberta's oil sands deposits 1,700 miles to the U.S. Gulf Coast -- would be "environmentally sound."

State Department Keystone XL Pipeline Analysis Disspirits Climate Change Opponents by Lynne Peeples, The Huffington Post, Mar 1, 2013

U.S. Senator: Link Keystone pipeline to efficiency boost

Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) wants President Obama to approve the Keystone XL  pipeline, but hopes the project’s construction can somehow be tethered to more  aggressive energy efficiency policies.

“I still think it would be better  if it could be dealt with in a compromise fashion,” Warner told The Hill in the  Capitol on Tuesday, later noting, “How we get that linkage is what I am working  on.”

Centrist Dem: Link Keystone pipeline to efficiency boost by Ben Geman, The Hill, Feb 26, 2013