Developer has pulled the plug on the Keystone XL pipeline. https://t.co/e4T1r06XuA
— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec) June 9, 2021
The Invisible Hand of the Market gives Keystone XL two thumbs down, with no little assistance from the Biden administration. Mr Pierce, at Esquire, takes a well-earned victory lap — “The Keystone Pipeline Defeat Is a Rare Example of Democratic Political Dexterity in the Heartland”:
… For a decade, the fight over the pipeline went on. The project was on, then it was off again. Egregious lies were told, especially about the economic benefits of the death funnel. Dire predictions were made about the consequences of a leak in the pipeline so close to the Ogallala Aquifer, the massive freshwater source for almost all the arable farmland of the Great Plains. (TransCanada’s other pipelines have leaked because they were pipelines, and pipelines leak.) There were hearings and votes and the national government changed twice. And late Wednesday afternoon, Randy Thompson and all the other people who took on this hopeless fight…won.
“On the day he was inaugurated, Mr. Biden, who has vowed to make tackling climate change a centerpiece of his administration, rescinded the construction permit for the pipeline, which developers had sought to build for over a decade. That same day, TC Energy, the company behind the project, said it was suspending work on the line. On Wednesday, the company wrote in a statement that it “will continue to coordinate with regulators, stakeholders and Indigenous groups to meet its environmental and regulatory commitments and ensure a safe termination of and exit from the project.”
One hesitates to declare this project dead because it has rolled back the stone a number of times over the past 10 years, but this seems final. TC Energy, TransCanada’s latest nom de pillage, seems to have surrendered…
At a time in which nothing seems to be moving in the correct direction, especially as regards the climate crisis, this is an underdog’s victory over which to rejoice. I am happy for Randy Thompson, who can look out over his fields again and not worry about somebody with a clipboard.
Not as prominent on the front pages, but also significant:
The Biden administration is moving to restore clean-water safeguards ended by President Donald Trump. The Trump-era rule ended federal protections for hundreds of thousands of small streams, wetlands and other waterways. https://t.co/gsvAzM4Qgt
— The Associated Press (@AP) June 10, 2021
Two News Stories – Free To Reporters
Comrade Colette
Considering the grossly disproportionate burden communities of color have had to bear from pollution, location of polluting industry, and regulatory/enforcement indifference, it makes me extra happy to see a Black man as EPA administrator. The doughy titans of industry and ‘bidness’ that have called the shots on industrial regulation for … well, forever … have had enough time in power.
ETA: I hope the pipeline news earns a dance from this guy.
eclare
@Comrade Colette:
Great point
japa21
Jeez, it’s almost as if elections have consequences. Or that there really is a difference between the two parties.
Mike in NC
The Orange Clown was both a rapist and an environmental rapist.
eclare
@eclare: Oops that was supposed to be in response to Comrade Colette
Villago Delenda Est
Fuck the tar sands barons of Texass Great White North again and again with their idiotic fucking pipeline.
Benw
Also a victory for the indigenous peoples who protested against the KXL pipeline even though they had recently been assaulted by police and other US agencies during the anti- DAPL protests!
Catherine D.
If it hasn’t been mentioned yet, FLOTUS Dr Jill Biden wore a jacket with “LOVE” on the back in England. Take that, Melamine!
Nora Lenderbee
Haha!
Spanky
In other nature news, I interrupted dinner a little while ago to wage war with another damned lone star tick tenaciously sticking to my ass. Luckily, it was low enough that I could get to it directly, though it was quite a battle to get him out, and there’s a bit of a crater where I was not gentle.
Add this to yesterday’s lone star and a couple of spider bites that appeared after I mowed.
Fuckers.
zhena gogolia
@Spanky:
What’s a lone star tick
ETA: Okay, I googled it. I never heard that term, despite living a few miles from Lyme itself.
WaterGirl
Holy fuck, who knew it was that many?
T**** crime of the century, # 2,750,725
WaterGirl
@eclare: Fixed that for you.
WaterGirl
@Benw: Another excellent point!
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Catherine D.: That is some classy shade
evodevo
@zhena gogolia:
I’d never seen one around here in northern KY until a couple years ago….all we had were dog ticks
Ohio Mom
I could swear Dr. Jill has worn the Love jacket before. Good on her for thriftily wearing the same clothes more than once.
Jay C
@Ohio Mom:
I think-you’re right, Dr.Jill has worn that jacket previously, though it didn’t get the press it got this time “LOVE” (specifically contrasted with Melania’s idiot fashion choice) made the evening news….
Kifaru1
As someone who works in permitting of wetland and stream impacts, they can’t get rid of that rule change fast enough. In VA, it has led to months of backlog on permits because the streams/wetlands that the Corps don’t take jurisdiction over are still under State jurisdiction. Since state permitting required jurisdictional determinations from the Corps, everyone is still trying to come up with a standard way to show the wetlands on mapping and also to submit permit applications that now have to separate the impacts. On top of this, the Corps re-issued 16 nationwide permits a year early (out of 54) and totally changed how utilities have to be permitted, which is ALSO screwing up timelines at State and Corps: both are understaffed to begin with, now it is a nightmare.
laura
Just jumping in to let you know that any rending of cloth about the loss of jobs for pipeline workers is a joke. There is more than enough work for these self same hard hats in the Infrastructure bill without the need to move far far from home to do so. So get ready for the fauxtrage and ask why they’re so worried about a Canadian project that the Canadian company pulled out of – a project that shifted all the risk to the US in exchange for temporary jobs. And then ask them why their legislator isnt interested in the infrastructure bill.
sdhays
@Jay C: This is a dead thread, but I feel compelled to correct the record that her fashion choice wasn’t “idiotic”; it was a deliberate statement on putting children in cages.
It was monstrous thing to do. She was telling us she’s a monster (if we didn’t already know).
RaflW
It’s been blisteringly hot (by MN standards) in Minneapolis — eight days a row of upper 90s including a 99. The next two weeks are predicted to have mostly 90s with a smattering of upper 80s. The normal high is about 85 in mid July, aka peak summer, here. The 30 year average high (so already bumped up some from decades past) for today’s date is 77. Seventy seven. Not ninety eight.
We’re probably already borked. But we can for sure slow the roll upwards, and if we’re damn lucky, avoid runaway heating. I get why fossil fuel companies defend their markets. I don’t get why utility-scale, nationwide green electricity isn’t happening nearly fast enough, though. There seems to be money to be made there!
Ken
@sdhays: I did think it odd when someone quoted a report that said “Unlike her predecessor, Dr. Biden explained her choice.” Offhand I would say the message “Love” doesn’t require as much of an explanation as one that’s just a couple steps from “FOAD”.
Revrick
The Keystone XL pipeline was always a boondoggle from both an environmental and economic standpoint.
First, tar sands are excavated, not drilled. An enormous amount of energy has to be expended just to separate the bitumen from the sands, and then regular crude has to be added to get it to flow. Shale oil from North Dakota is also added to the mixture to increase the ability to pump it. So, before the gunk even gets to a refinery, it needs all sorts of inputs.
Second, no matter how much the bitumen is diluted, it is still gritty. Think liquid sandpaper grinding away 24/7/365 at the pipeline. Leaks will inevitably occur and increase as the pipeline ages.
Third, the ultimate destination would be refineries in Port Arthur, Texas, which can handle it. And those refineries are either foreign owned or have an export strategy.
Bottom line. Tar sands are more expensive to begin with, not ours in the first place, and destined for China and Europe.