As the decision from the State Department came down last Friday to delay the official ruling on the Keystone pipeline, we had a chuckle or two among our staff - in part because the announcement happened just before Earth Day.
Even while the 'Cowboy and Indian Alliance' was marching around the National Mall yesterday on Earth Day to protest the Keystone pipeline, the potentially disastrous project remains in the same place it's been since February. That's when a Nebraska judge verified that the political runaround favored by TransCanada was unconstitutional, leaving the massive oil corporation with no legally approved route through the Cornhusker State for the Keystone XL project.
That inconvenient truth didn't seem to deter Politico's Ben White on Monday, as Emily Atkin noted over at Think Progress. White railed against the delay on CNBC, saying that the State Department just didn't seem to understand its role in the whole process. Many other pundits on both the right and left simply insisted the decision on Keystone was a purely political one.
What's been clear for a very long time to native Nebraskans like us who care about the future, is that folks like Ben White, TransCanada, and the "it's all about politics" crowd are the ones who don't seem to "get it" when it comes to Keystone. So let us help make this brutally clear: Nebraskans don't want the pipeline, for some very good reasons, and those reasons aren't going to change.
We've written and drawn more than a few times over the last few years about the Keystone pipeline, and the biggest reason for Nebraska to refuse this project that we always come back to is water.
The Keystone XL pipeline, if it is ever authorized in Nebraska, would go over part of the Ogallala Aquifer, the worlds largest underground source of clean water. That water has come to be more than just a symbol for Nebraska and the other states on the Great Plains. It's the source of water that allows America to feed itself and much of the rest of the world, even as drought has become somewhat normal again for the region.
If that source of water is ever contaminated, as a undetected leak of tar sands oil and related chemicals could easily do, it wouldn't just be a minor environmental event. It could mean that a large section of the midwest would no longer be able to grow food, or allow people to have access to drinking water. No water, no crops, no herds, no people, no business, no income, no food.
No kidding. All it would take is one wrong spill. Just one, and you could say good bye to our entire home state, permanently.
Sure - there are pundits who say that other elements of environmental responsibility, like the expected new emission rules, far outweigh the impact of Keystone.
We also understand how many Americans handle issues that don't happen right in their own backyard - badly. Four years after the Gulf oil disaster, and twenty-five years after the Valez oil spill in Alaska, most Americans have no idea that both disasters are still ongoing - including, in the case of the Gulf spill, BP's attempts to wriggle out of any serious legal penalties.
That, in a nutshell, is why Nebraskans continue to refuse Keystone, and why Americans who care about the environment still celebrate Earth Day every year: To remind Americans that these fights to keep our water, air, and environment clean are a daily struggle, one that we should all be paying attention to.
If we don't, we literally may lose our entire state. One spill is all it could take.
Knowing that, it shouldn't be difficult for anyone to understand why Nebraskans would prefer TransCanada to "get lost."
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query Keystone. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query Keystone. Sort by date Show all posts
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
Thursday, June 20, 2013
Jockeying For The Keystone Battles
While there are many reasons we enjoy Paul Fell's cartoons - like today's edition with President Obama and the Keystone XL pipeline - the biggest reason is that humor can often take the edge off discussing complex powderkeg issues. Climate change and the Keystone pipeline definitely fall into that category.
We've been hearing rumors for several months now, since the President mentioned climate change in his second inaugural address, that President Obama would indeed be taking on climate change issues in his second term. As Kevin Drum noted, Obama's pick earlier this year of Gina McCarthy to head the EPA - pending Senate confirmation - was a huge clue that those rumors about the President's choice of direction indeed look to be true.
Yesterday, the New York Times published another story that gave even more credence to the idea that President Obama is indeed looking at taking on climate change by taking on big oil, big coal, and big energy in his second term, by preparing to enact new emissions limits on power plants. That story matched the speech Obama gave in Berlin on Wednesday, where he again hit the idea that if Congress would not act to curb climate change, he would.
For those people who support President Obama, and believe he truly does care about the issue of climate change, all of these are good signs that bolster their opinion of him.
There are also, however, plenty of other legitimate sources and rumors that say President Obama may just be ready to jump on board the Keystone bandwagon, and allow the pipeline to go forward - and those signs are worrying, indeed.
According to a report by Juliet Eilperin in the Washington Post last week, at a recent San Francisco area fundraiser, President Obama made some private remarks expressing how politically difficult some of the decisions on climate change may actually be to implement. The President is somewhat hamstrung on all sides right now, with a Congress unwilling or unable to accomplish anything, an economy growing far too slowly, unemployment higher than most would like, and a continually growing need for more energy in America.
You can add to the President's complicated decision on this issue the conduct of companies like Transcanada, who the President would be siding with, if he choses to authorize the pipeline.
It's not just that Transcanada has been acting like a bully lately. They've also been promising the highest safety standards if the new Keystone XL pipeline is built - while at the same time choosing to use a lower grade of oil spill detectors for that pipeline. This is also in the wake of one of North America's largest environmental disasters ever, in Northern Alberta, Canada, by a company that has done a significant amount of business for and with Transcanada.
As Greg Sargent at The Plum Line noted on Wednesday, for now, the approach President Obama appears to be taking is somewhat of a good thing. At least he's talking about climate change, energy policy, and what steps Americans can and should take to make things better. That position alone is more than most politicians of any party are taking, and far more than virtually any CEO of almost any private corporation.
What decision President Obama makes on the pipeline though, is anyone's guess. Some are sure he will allow it. Others are still insisting he won't. We have even heard rumors that should he authorize it, there are those prepared to violently attack the construction of the new pipeline.
For now, we hope this heated battle of words remains just that, words.
We also hope the President makes the right decision on this issue.
We've been hearing rumors for several months now, since the President mentioned climate change in his second inaugural address, that President Obama would indeed be taking on climate change issues in his second term. As Kevin Drum noted, Obama's pick earlier this year of Gina McCarthy to head the EPA - pending Senate confirmation - was a huge clue that those rumors about the President's choice of direction indeed look to be true.
Yesterday, the New York Times published another story that gave even more credence to the idea that President Obama is indeed looking at taking on climate change by taking on big oil, big coal, and big energy in his second term, by preparing to enact new emissions limits on power plants. That story matched the speech Obama gave in Berlin on Wednesday, where he again hit the idea that if Congress would not act to curb climate change, he would.
For those people who support President Obama, and believe he truly does care about the issue of climate change, all of these are good signs that bolster their opinion of him.
There are also, however, plenty of other legitimate sources and rumors that say President Obama may just be ready to jump on board the Keystone bandwagon, and allow the pipeline to go forward - and those signs are worrying, indeed.
According to a report by Juliet Eilperin in the Washington Post last week, at a recent San Francisco area fundraiser, President Obama made some private remarks expressing how politically difficult some of the decisions on climate change may actually be to implement. The President is somewhat hamstrung on all sides right now, with a Congress unwilling or unable to accomplish anything, an economy growing far too slowly, unemployment higher than most would like, and a continually growing need for more energy in America.
You can add to the President's complicated decision on this issue the conduct of companies like Transcanada, who the President would be siding with, if he choses to authorize the pipeline.
It's not just that Transcanada has been acting like a bully lately. They've also been promising the highest safety standards if the new Keystone XL pipeline is built - while at the same time choosing to use a lower grade of oil spill detectors for that pipeline. This is also in the wake of one of North America's largest environmental disasters ever, in Northern Alberta, Canada, by a company that has done a significant amount of business for and with Transcanada.
As Greg Sargent at The Plum Line noted on Wednesday, for now, the approach President Obama appears to be taking is somewhat of a good thing. At least he's talking about climate change, energy policy, and what steps Americans can and should take to make things better. That position alone is more than most politicians of any party are taking, and far more than virtually any CEO of almost any private corporation.
What decision President Obama makes on the pipeline though, is anyone's guess. Some are sure he will allow it. Others are still insisting he won't. We have even heard rumors that should he authorize it, there are those prepared to violently attack the construction of the new pipeline.
For now, we hope this heated battle of words remains just that, words.
We also hope the President makes the right decision on this issue.
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Reasons For Skepticism
While the debate over whether America should bomb Syria is taking up a HUGE amount of media space, millions of Americans have at least one other major subject on the list of topics at the top of their minds: Jobs & the economy.
Since this is the first week of September, news of jobs and economic data will be dribbling out until the full official BLS report is released this Friday. Already, economics reporters like Lucia Mutikani of Reuters believe the number of jobs created in August will increase over July's numbers. While initially that seems like great news, as Neil Irwin of Wongblog points out, America's growing success at creating jobs could cause all kinds of other economic worries and unintended consequences, especially on Capitol Hill.
In other words, just as the choice over what to do - if anything - in Syria won't be a simple direct action followed by success, neither is deciding how to speed up America's economic and jobs recovery. Americans are frankly skeptical that their politicians today can solve complex problems like Syria or the economy - and with good reason.
In the case of at least one supposed "job creation" project, Americans - in this case, Nebraskans - are still waiting for the positive outcome that was supposed to come their way, years after the "simple" direct solution was implemented.
The "solution" we're referring to is the first Keystone pipeline, a fact pointed out by multiple newspapers in Nebraska this week. The pipeline company Transcanada sold the Keystone 1 pipeline as a simple, direct solution to the job woes hitting the nation after the economy blew up in 2008. As Nebraska Department of Revenue figures show, that promise of a simple, direct solution never panned out. Those living along the new proposed Keystone XL pipeline route don't expect this round promises of jobs and an improving economy by politicians siding with Transcanada to be any more honest than their earlier promises were.
With a failure like that, of what was supposed to be a simple, direct solution to an economic problem, it's easy to see why Americans in overwhelming numbers are skeptical about the complicated issue of intervening in Syria.
If the Pew Research Center Poll numbers don't convince you that Americans want nothing to do with military action in Syria, the ABC News-Washington Post poll that says 60% of Americans oppose a U.S.-only strike should. For those politicians that need a picture, Steve Benen even drew a handy graph that makes clear: No matter what someone's political affiliation is, most Americans are not interested in getting our nation involved in yet another overseas conflict.
While many in the political media continue to try to count heads for the upcoming votes in both houses of Congress, as stories from both Greg Sargent and Byron York make clear, many members of Congress on either side of the aisle have their own severe skepticism of any plans for American-led military action in Syria. After all, Americans have already waited a dozen years for our service members in Afghanistan to come home, after what was supposed to be a simple, direct, relatively quick military incursion with a relatively minor number of casualties.
The American military won't be out of Afghanistan until at least 2014. 2,266 deaths and 19,200 wounded Americans have now resulted from a simple, direct military action that will end up costing $4-$6 trillion dollars.
With examples like these, any politician or pundit pushing for rapid action on either Keystone or Syria might want to wake up. The reasons for American skepticism are the empty promises right in front of their faces.
Since this is the first week of September, news of jobs and economic data will be dribbling out until the full official BLS report is released this Friday. Already, economics reporters like Lucia Mutikani of Reuters believe the number of jobs created in August will increase over July's numbers. While initially that seems like great news, as Neil Irwin of Wongblog points out, America's growing success at creating jobs could cause all kinds of other economic worries and unintended consequences, especially on Capitol Hill.
In other words, just as the choice over what to do - if anything - in Syria won't be a simple direct action followed by success, neither is deciding how to speed up America's economic and jobs recovery. Americans are frankly skeptical that their politicians today can solve complex problems like Syria or the economy - and with good reason.
In the case of at least one supposed "job creation" project, Americans - in this case, Nebraskans - are still waiting for the positive outcome that was supposed to come their way, years after the "simple" direct solution was implemented.
The "solution" we're referring to is the first Keystone pipeline, a fact pointed out by multiple newspapers in Nebraska this week. The pipeline company Transcanada sold the Keystone 1 pipeline as a simple, direct solution to the job woes hitting the nation after the economy blew up in 2008. As Nebraska Department of Revenue figures show, that promise of a simple, direct solution never panned out. Those living along the new proposed Keystone XL pipeline route don't expect this round promises of jobs and an improving economy by politicians siding with Transcanada to be any more honest than their earlier promises were.
With a failure like that, of what was supposed to be a simple, direct solution to an economic problem, it's easy to see why Americans in overwhelming numbers are skeptical about the complicated issue of intervening in Syria.
If the Pew Research Center Poll numbers don't convince you that Americans want nothing to do with military action in Syria, the ABC News-Washington Post poll that says 60% of Americans oppose a U.S.-only strike should. For those politicians that need a picture, Steve Benen even drew a handy graph that makes clear: No matter what someone's political affiliation is, most Americans are not interested in getting our nation involved in yet another overseas conflict.
While many in the political media continue to try to count heads for the upcoming votes in both houses of Congress, as stories from both Greg Sargent and Byron York make clear, many members of Congress on either side of the aisle have their own severe skepticism of any plans for American-led military action in Syria. After all, Americans have already waited a dozen years for our service members in Afghanistan to come home, after what was supposed to be a simple, direct, relatively quick military incursion with a relatively minor number of casualties.
The American military won't be out of Afghanistan until at least 2014. 2,266 deaths and 19,200 wounded Americans have now resulted from a simple, direct military action that will end up costing $4-$6 trillion dollars.
With examples like these, any politician or pundit pushing for rapid action on either Keystone or Syria might want to wake up. The reasons for American skepticism are the empty promises right in front of their faces.
Monday, January 23, 2012
Swing And A Miss
After a weekend filled with football, politics, some REAL winter weather in our Northern locations, and little bit of fried fair food for our South Florida staff [They have regional fairs in winter in South Florida; who knew?], we still have yet to process everything that happened over the last two days.
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords has announced she'll resign her Arizona House seat sometime this week to focus on her recovery, and Arizona's extremist Republican Governor Jan Brewer is already preparing to set the special election for Giffords' seat. Former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno died of cancer over the weekend - a fate we wish on nobody, no matter what they did or did not do in life. The NFL playoffs also finished up over the weekend, with the New England Patriots and the New York Giants set to play a rematch in this year's Super Bowl.
The biggest news over the weekend - or at least the story that received the most major media coverage - was the South Carolina GOP Primary contest. In a win that didn't really surprise us, noted hypocrite, adulterer, and former U.S. House Speaker from Georgia, Newt Gingrich, nominally defeated former Masssachusetts governor, Willard "Mitt" Romney, along with Rep. Ron Paul and former Pennsylvania Rep. Rick Santorum.
The truth is, the real winner this weekend may once again have been President Obama.
In extensive exit polling, it became starkly obvious that the kinds of voters who backed Newt Gingrich on Saturday were exactly the kind of voters the right-wing ideologues and media talking heads have been increasingly stoking for most of the last twenty years. We could have guessed their makeup, though the data confirms it: Older, angry, less educated extremists, who are also so-called evangelicals, who are scared about the economy - and most importantly, who want to beat President Obama in this election at ALL costs. That includes making the economy temporarily worse, and even increasing the debt.
It should be no surprise after looking at those exit polls, that those who claim to be conservative yet are hypocritical about their own beliefs, would push so heavily for the nomination of a man who is also a hypocrite and an extremist. That Republicans in MANY other areas of the country - including the Midwest - do not generally share South Carolinians' blind hatred of President Obama quite obviously meant nothing to the Republican primary voters there.
What the blindly ignorant in South Carolina don't seem to understand is that - no matter how angry they are - the fact is, Newt Gingrich will not likely be the GOP nominee. As journalist Josh Marshall pointed out over the weekend, Gingrich's unfavorables - the number of people who dislike him, for any reason - are around 60%. Nominating Gingrich would not only drive away moderates and independents - where much of the election could be won. As multiple Republican party members and supporters also pointed out over the weekend, Gingrich is so divisive that if he were the nominee, the GOP stands a significant chance of losing support down the entire rest of the ballot. That could cost Republicans the House, and chances at the Senate and the Presidency, as moderate, sane Republicans would also likely abandon the party.
That kind of logic doesn't seem to matter to the Tea Party extremists currently in control of the Republican Party, however. After wildly swinging at the President over tax cuts and the Keystone pipeline in December - and beating themselves silly in the process - the GOP extremists in Congress look to be trying another attempt at the same action. Even though they've just returned to DC, they're already threatening to hold the country hostage unless the President ties immediate approval of the Keystone pipeline to an extension of middle class tax cuts.
The President is on firm ground; the deadline on Keystone that the GOP wanted in December was a phony made-up time limit. The State department and the state of Nebraska have both said it would take about a year to gain environmental and planning approval for a new path for the pipeline. No amount of foot stomping, huffing in Congress, or bloviating in the media will change those facts, any more than the anger of the extremist Republicans will make Newt the GOP's eventual nominee.
There's a reason politics at this level is sometimes called "pro ball." The amateurs in the Republican Party need to learn when to put down their makeshift bats, before they hurt themselves any worse then they already have.
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords has announced she'll resign her Arizona House seat sometime this week to focus on her recovery, and Arizona's extremist Republican Governor Jan Brewer is already preparing to set the special election for Giffords' seat. Former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno died of cancer over the weekend - a fate we wish on nobody, no matter what they did or did not do in life. The NFL playoffs also finished up over the weekend, with the New England Patriots and the New York Giants set to play a rematch in this year's Super Bowl.
The biggest news over the weekend - or at least the story that received the most major media coverage - was the South Carolina GOP Primary contest. In a win that didn't really surprise us, noted hypocrite, adulterer, and former U.S. House Speaker from Georgia, Newt Gingrich, nominally defeated former Masssachusetts governor, Willard "Mitt" Romney, along with Rep. Ron Paul and former Pennsylvania Rep. Rick Santorum.
The truth is, the real winner this weekend may once again have been President Obama.
In extensive exit polling, it became starkly obvious that the kinds of voters who backed Newt Gingrich on Saturday were exactly the kind of voters the right-wing ideologues and media talking heads have been increasingly stoking for most of the last twenty years. We could have guessed their makeup, though the data confirms it: Older, angry, less educated extremists, who are also so-called evangelicals, who are scared about the economy - and most importantly, who want to beat President Obama in this election at ALL costs. That includes making the economy temporarily worse, and even increasing the debt.
It should be no surprise after looking at those exit polls, that those who claim to be conservative yet are hypocritical about their own beliefs, would push so heavily for the nomination of a man who is also a hypocrite and an extremist. That Republicans in MANY other areas of the country - including the Midwest - do not generally share South Carolinians' blind hatred of President Obama quite obviously meant nothing to the Republican primary voters there.
What the blindly ignorant in South Carolina don't seem to understand is that - no matter how angry they are - the fact is, Newt Gingrich will not likely be the GOP nominee. As journalist Josh Marshall pointed out over the weekend, Gingrich's unfavorables - the number of people who dislike him, for any reason - are around 60%. Nominating Gingrich would not only drive away moderates and independents - where much of the election could be won. As multiple Republican party members and supporters also pointed out over the weekend, Gingrich is so divisive that if he were the nominee, the GOP stands a significant chance of losing support down the entire rest of the ballot. That could cost Republicans the House, and chances at the Senate and the Presidency, as moderate, sane Republicans would also likely abandon the party.
That kind of logic doesn't seem to matter to the Tea Party extremists currently in control of the Republican Party, however. After wildly swinging at the President over tax cuts and the Keystone pipeline in December - and beating themselves silly in the process - the GOP extremists in Congress look to be trying another attempt at the same action. Even though they've just returned to DC, they're already threatening to hold the country hostage unless the President ties immediate approval of the Keystone pipeline to an extension of middle class tax cuts.
The President is on firm ground; the deadline on Keystone that the GOP wanted in December was a phony made-up time limit. The State department and the state of Nebraska have both said it would take about a year to gain environmental and planning approval for a new path for the pipeline. No amount of foot stomping, huffing in Congress, or bloviating in the media will change those facts, any more than the anger of the extremist Republicans will make Newt the GOP's eventual nominee.
There's a reason politics at this level is sometimes called "pro ball." The amateurs in the Republican Party need to learn when to put down their makeshift bats, before they hurt themselves any worse then they already have.
Monday, April 1, 2013
Slipping On Reality
What do Minnesota, Wisconsin, Utah, and Arkansas all have in common? If you said "None of those teams are in the 2013 NCAA Men's Final Four," you wouldn't be wrong this year, though you also wouldn't be correct - at least within the boundaries of our topic for today.
If your answer was, "All four states have experienced massive oil spills within the last year - and three within the last two weeks," you'd be correct, unfortunately.
The latest disaster this weekend saw thousands of barrels of oil spewing from a ruptured Exxon Mobil pipeline into a residential neighborhood in central Arkansas. Twenty-two homes had to be evacuated, in a spill that literally saw oil running down residential streets and between houses.
Of course, since it was a holiday weekend, smack in the middle of Congress' latest two-week vacation, it was nearly impossible to find a politician of any kind with something serious to say about the latest oil disaster. That doesn't surprise us, since politicians of all kinds have been slipping and dancing around the issues of oil and environmental safety for far too many years now.
For all the work the Obama Administration has done on environmental issues - like requiring much better fuel standards for cars and trucks, or clamping down on emissions - the fact of the matter is, none of that will matter if President Obama and other politicians don't stop the Keystone pipeline route through Nebraska.
No matter what the decision is on the Keystone pipeline, the most important liquid flowing through Nebraska over the next hundred years wont be oil - something a task force in the Nebraska Legislature made very clear last week.
As reporter JoAnne Young noted, Nebraska state Sen. Tom Carlson, in a meeting of the Legislature's Natural Resources Committee last week, talked about what could happen if America ever runs out of affordable gas, coal, or oil. "We will survive," he said.
However, if Nebraskans ever lose access to our amazing surplus of clean, drinkable, useable water? "We will die," said Carlson.
For all the bluster already flooding the media from the oil companies about how many trucks they sent to Arkansas to suck up the tar sands oil from the neighborhood, or how well the cleanup is going from the oil spill in Minnesota, the facts remain the same. No matter how much cleanup is done in either location, the raw tar sands oil has now damaged both areas where the spills have occurred, in ways that neither area will fully recover from for many years to come.
No matter how many short-term temporary jobs the Keystone pipeline will generate, all it takes is one spill, once, in any area over the Ogallala Aquifer, and ALL the jobs in a county or a region could be lost, because the water may no longer be suitable for irrigating crops or slaking the thirst of Nebraska residents.
Just one spill could do exactly what state Sen. Carlson fears, and kill off a large area of Nebraska, Kansas, or anywhere else along the path of the pipeline, as water is turned from a lifeline into worthless poison.
If you don't think the price is too high for that kind of oil - oil Americans will never see, as it will be shipped to foreign ports and sold abroad - ask yourself these questions:
If you lived in the neighborhood of an oil spill, how safe would you feel drinking the water from your well? How safe would you feel letting your kids play outside? What price would you pay to never have to see crude oil flooding the streets of your neighborhood?
These are kinds of questions our politicians from both parties are slipping on right now.
From our perspective, the right answers don't really seem that slick. Then again, we're not financed by oil company lobbyists.
Friday, February 21, 2014
Celebrating Vision & Patience
From nearly the beginning of this publication, over six years ago, we've occasionally given both credit and blame where due. We've also paused to count moments of successes and failures.
This week, the number of successes we've been counting has been much greater than normal.
There were plenty of successes at the Winter Olympics this week, even as the games head to a close this weekend. There were national political successes too, like President Obama pulling Chained CPI out of his 2015 budget plans, or California beating their Obamacare sign-up goal nearly six weeks early.
There were personal successes for our staff too, as our editor Amy celebrated the birthday of her eldest daughter, even as we celebrated having her input back among our staff. Our webmaster Shawn & his wife celebrated getting a brand new Ford Fusion Energi by getting nearly 80 miles per gallon this week. Of course, we all celebrated the decision by Nebraska Judge Stephanie Stacy, that a 2012 Nebraska law is unconstitutional, meaning the Keystone XL pipeline is at a standstill in Nebraska, at least for the time being.
None of these successes happened overnight, and they all took an enormous amount of patience, dedication, hard work, and vision. For example, Meryl Davis and Charlie White, America's first gold medal-winning ice dancing team ever had been working for seventeen years on the success they finally achieved this week.
The Keystone pipeline fight has gone on for a good number of years too, and it doesn't look to be over anytime soon. Because of the delays caused by a lack of vision by some Keystone XL pipeline supporters like Gov. Heineman and Republicans in the Nebraska Legislature, a majority of U.S. voters are now asking important questions about the pipeline. Some of those questions include wanting to know where the oil will go, and what their lawmakers actually know about the pipeline.
The same lack of vision that seems to have Americans outside of Nebraska finally paying attention to the pipeline battle has also brought more attention to fuel efficiency standards in the U.S.
After a banner 2013 for hybrid and pure electric cars, sales of those kinds of vehicles for manufacturers like Ford, Tesla, and Toyota have stayed strong so far this year. President Obama also used his executive authority this week to raise the federal fuel standards for heavy-duty trucks over the next few years.
This positive focus on renewable energy was also easily seen in the most recent report by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, pointed out to us by journalist Michael Grunwald on Twitter. "Of the 325 MW of new US power generation in January, only 324 MW were renewable," Grunwald noted.
That's not perfect - but it's a good way to start the year, especially when there are plenty of horrendous news stories happening all over the world.
From the violent revolutions happening in both the Ukraine and Venezuela, to the ongoing environmental disasters in North Carolina and West Virginia, to yet another nasty winter storm in parts of the Midwest and Ohio Valley - not every story in life is a gold medal-winning success.
If you take the time, put forward the effort, have the patience and the vision though…
Like we said: There are plenty of reasons to celebrate this weekend. We hope you find some of your own.
This week, the number of successes we've been counting has been much greater than normal.
There were plenty of successes at the Winter Olympics this week, even as the games head to a close this weekend. There were national political successes too, like President Obama pulling Chained CPI out of his 2015 budget plans, or California beating their Obamacare sign-up goal nearly six weeks early.
There were personal successes for our staff too, as our editor Amy celebrated the birthday of her eldest daughter, even as we celebrated having her input back among our staff. Our webmaster Shawn & his wife celebrated getting a brand new Ford Fusion Energi by getting nearly 80 miles per gallon this week. Of course, we all celebrated the decision by Nebraska Judge Stephanie Stacy, that a 2012 Nebraska law is unconstitutional, meaning the Keystone XL pipeline is at a standstill in Nebraska, at least for the time being.
None of these successes happened overnight, and they all took an enormous amount of patience, dedication, hard work, and vision. For example, Meryl Davis and Charlie White, America's first gold medal-winning ice dancing team ever had been working for seventeen years on the success they finally achieved this week.
The Keystone pipeline fight has gone on for a good number of years too, and it doesn't look to be over anytime soon. Because of the delays caused by a lack of vision by some Keystone XL pipeline supporters like Gov. Heineman and Republicans in the Nebraska Legislature, a majority of U.S. voters are now asking important questions about the pipeline. Some of those questions include wanting to know where the oil will go, and what their lawmakers actually know about the pipeline.
The same lack of vision that seems to have Americans outside of Nebraska finally paying attention to the pipeline battle has also brought more attention to fuel efficiency standards in the U.S.
After a banner 2013 for hybrid and pure electric cars, sales of those kinds of vehicles for manufacturers like Ford, Tesla, and Toyota have stayed strong so far this year. President Obama also used his executive authority this week to raise the federal fuel standards for heavy-duty trucks over the next few years.
This positive focus on renewable energy was also easily seen in the most recent report by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, pointed out to us by journalist Michael Grunwald on Twitter. "Of the 325 MW of new US power generation in January, only 324 MW were renewable," Grunwald noted.
That's not perfect - but it's a good way to start the year, especially when there are plenty of horrendous news stories happening all over the world.
From the violent revolutions happening in both the Ukraine and Venezuela, to the ongoing environmental disasters in North Carolina and West Virginia, to yet another nasty winter storm in parts of the Midwest and Ohio Valley - not every story in life is a gold medal-winning success.
If you take the time, put forward the effort, have the patience and the vision though…
Like we said: There are plenty of reasons to celebrate this weekend. We hope you find some of your own.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Decisions, Decisions...
As we mentioned yesterday, elections of many kinds were held all over the country Tuesday.
Some elections, like the defeat of the anti-union measure in Ohio, the defeat of the voter suppression law in Maine, or the defeat of the 'personhood' amendment in Mississippi were fantastic examples of the power of the people, saying "Enough!" to the power of big money and special interests.
Other elections in the country – like many races in Virginia – were further pitiful examples of how money plays far too big a part in our political system.
While we always try to link to the best stories about any topic, when we combed through all the election stories out there, far too often, a large number of our media colleagues appeared to be pumping the election results they were assigned to focus on through a stereotypical filter of good versus bad.
With the Keystone pipeline controversy, a topic we've been focusing on a great deal lately, the appearance that dispute is headed to a stalemate is another example of lazy storytelling, one that major media organizations, including the L.A. Times, seem to have latched onto.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
It's been obvious that many of President Obama's political advisors have been getting more and more nervous as the deadline for the President to make a decision on the pipeline has moved ever closer. As we've pointed out previously, many politicians in both major political parties, including Gov. Heineman, would be fine with the Keystone pipeline being completed through Nebraska, if the route was moved away from the Ogallala Aquifer.
While there is still some minor disagreement, it's been determined and generally accepted that Nebraska's own legislature and governor have the legal authority to move the pipeline. Actions being considered in the special session of the legislature also look to follow that determination with action. Some of the other measures before the Nebraska Unicameral in the current special session also follow the same action that President Obama and the State Department are now pushing for on the pipeline, looking towards added safety measures.
The decision that faces the President on the Keystone pipeline isn't strictly a binary one, of either allowing the project to begin immediately, or of denying it definitively. The President, through the State Department, may also call for more proof that safety standards will be adhered to as part of the permitting process. He may also call for more conditions to be met by TransCanada.
Finally, the State Department is looking at the option of whether they can re-route the pipeline, regardless of what Nebraska's state government says or does.
If it seems like this decision is complicated, that's because it is.
We won't deny that there are factions of both labor and environmental groups that desperately wish this was a simple black and white issue for the President to decide.
As we've said many times over the years about many decisions President Obama and his predecessors have made, this is not a simple decision.
If it were, it never would have reached the President's desk.
Some elections, like the defeat of the anti-union measure in Ohio, the defeat of the voter suppression law in Maine, or the defeat of the 'personhood' amendment in Mississippi were fantastic examples of the power of the people, saying "Enough!" to the power of big money and special interests.
Other elections in the country – like many races in Virginia – were further pitiful examples of how money plays far too big a part in our political system.
While we always try to link to the best stories about any topic, when we combed through all the election stories out there, far too often, a large number of our media colleagues appeared to be pumping the election results they were assigned to focus on through a stereotypical filter of good versus bad.
With the Keystone pipeline controversy, a topic we've been focusing on a great deal lately, the appearance that dispute is headed to a stalemate is another example of lazy storytelling, one that major media organizations, including the L.A. Times, seem to have latched onto.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
It's been obvious that many of President Obama's political advisors have been getting more and more nervous as the deadline for the President to make a decision on the pipeline has moved ever closer. As we've pointed out previously, many politicians in both major political parties, including Gov. Heineman, would be fine with the Keystone pipeline being completed through Nebraska, if the route was moved away from the Ogallala Aquifer.
While there is still some minor disagreement, it's been determined and generally accepted that Nebraska's own legislature and governor have the legal authority to move the pipeline. Actions being considered in the special session of the legislature also look to follow that determination with action. Some of the other measures before the Nebraska Unicameral in the current special session also follow the same action that President Obama and the State Department are now pushing for on the pipeline, looking towards added safety measures.
The decision that faces the President on the Keystone pipeline isn't strictly a binary one, of either allowing the project to begin immediately, or of denying it definitively. The President, through the State Department, may also call for more proof that safety standards will be adhered to as part of the permitting process. He may also call for more conditions to be met by TransCanada.
Finally, the State Department is looking at the option of whether they can re-route the pipeline, regardless of what Nebraska's state government says or does.
If it seems like this decision is complicated, that's because it is.
We won't deny that there are factions of both labor and environmental groups that desperately wish this was a simple black and white issue for the President to decide.
As we've said many times over the years about many decisions President Obama and his predecessors have made, this is not a simple decision.
If it were, it never would have reached the President's desk.
Monday, October 24, 2011
Slipping On The Truth
There are plenty of times in the media business, when reading, sharing, and compiling stories and information, we may think we see patterns that - upon further inspection - aren't really there. As legitimate members of the media, if we simply run with those initial thoughts, we could lose our credibility and end up being called crazy - or, worse yet, be compared to some of our least legitimate media brethren, like Fox.
Upon further inspection, we can sometimes see those patterns really do exist - and that we may have simply slipped and found connections few others have yet to see.
Today, we're observing one of those patterns in the way three different stories are developing - new information on the Keystone pipeline, elections in Tunisia, and a local school board race in Denver, Colorado.
In Keystone pipeline news, it should surprise no one that the oil corporations are once again attempting to buy off our politicians to get what they want. As we noted last Friday, Mike Flood, the Speaker of Nebraska's legislature, is backing away from calling a special session to discuss forcing TransCanada to move the pipeline route or enacting more strict safety standards. Flood is still backing away, even though Nebraskans have made it clear they would like their legislature to have a greater role in the pipeline process.
What you may not have heard about with the Keystone pipeline is the latest news that Alberta, Canada paid four U.S. Republican Congresspersons to take a "free" tour of the oil sands pipeline. You also likely missed the news that the EU is likely to label tar sands oil one of the dirtiest sources of oil on Earth - which would mean the penalties and fines levied against tar sands oil would sap much of its already questionable economic benefit.
To us, these kinds of actions reek of the kind of crony capitalism many on the right claim to be so worked up against right now. It's another disgusting example of the corruption of our political and economic systems by the financially wealthy yet ethically bankrupt.
Sadly, this isn't just an oil company problem, or an American phenomenon being railed against by the Occupy movement.
In Tunisia this past weekend, where the Arab Spring began almost a year ago, the Tunisian people had their first legitimate election in many years. This one was held to elect an interim government to run the country while Tunisians complete their new constitution. The biggest problem regular Tunisians on the street had with this election wasn't turnout, or the vast number of political parties (about 100) they had to choose from.
As a story in the New York Times pointed out, Tunisian's biggest election complaint was the feeling their efforts at building a new government were already being undermined by wealthy Tunisians and corporate interests, who were trying to buy up the political process like they do in the U.S. - and buy their way into power in Tunisia's nascent government.
Those people who are in high positions of money and power seem to not even want to allow regular people to control some of the smallest, most local political decisions - like who gets on the local school board in Denver, Colorado.
Emily Sirota, a social worker, political activist, and wife of a local radio talent (who is one of our professional acquaintances), decided this year that she wanted to run for school board. Ms. Sirota's plans make clear she wants to help enact policies that would improve public schools while keeping costs low, instead of allowing private for-profit schools (who often care more about their bottom line than educating children) to use vouchers to skim public tax dollars into their private accounts.
For Ms. Sirota's desire to help the public schools better manage their public money, she and her family have had to face a disproportionately large amount of campaign money and negative media being thrown at her by her opponent. Ms. Sirota's opponent has been funded by traditional large right-wing corporatist interests, all people or groups with well-known ties to supporting the "haves" and "have mores" at the expense of everyone else.
To us, this pattern of attempting to pay off, buy out, or beat down anyone who stands against the interests of the currently wealthy individuals and corporations is exactly what the Occupy movement is protesting.
That the arrogant wealthy - and the politicians they've bought - now seem like they're scrambling to stand up after stepping in oil (or something worse) merely proves to us we're not the only ones to slip on the truth once in a while.
Upon further inspection, we can sometimes see those patterns really do exist - and that we may have simply slipped and found connections few others have yet to see.
Today, we're observing one of those patterns in the way three different stories are developing - new information on the Keystone pipeline, elections in Tunisia, and a local school board race in Denver, Colorado.
In Keystone pipeline news, it should surprise no one that the oil corporations are once again attempting to buy off our politicians to get what they want. As we noted last Friday, Mike Flood, the Speaker of Nebraska's legislature, is backing away from calling a special session to discuss forcing TransCanada to move the pipeline route or enacting more strict safety standards. Flood is still backing away, even though Nebraskans have made it clear they would like their legislature to have a greater role in the pipeline process.
What you may not have heard about with the Keystone pipeline is the latest news that Alberta, Canada paid four U.S. Republican Congresspersons to take a "free" tour of the oil sands pipeline. You also likely missed the news that the EU is likely to label tar sands oil one of the dirtiest sources of oil on Earth - which would mean the penalties and fines levied against tar sands oil would sap much of its already questionable economic benefit.
To us, these kinds of actions reek of the kind of crony capitalism many on the right claim to be so worked up against right now. It's another disgusting example of the corruption of our political and economic systems by the financially wealthy yet ethically bankrupt.
Sadly, this isn't just an oil company problem, or an American phenomenon being railed against by the Occupy movement.
In Tunisia this past weekend, where the Arab Spring began almost a year ago, the Tunisian people had their first legitimate election in many years. This one was held to elect an interim government to run the country while Tunisians complete their new constitution. The biggest problem regular Tunisians on the street had with this election wasn't turnout, or the vast number of political parties (about 100) they had to choose from.
As a story in the New York Times pointed out, Tunisian's biggest election complaint was the feeling their efforts at building a new government were already being undermined by wealthy Tunisians and corporate interests, who were trying to buy up the political process like they do in the U.S. - and buy their way into power in Tunisia's nascent government.
Those people who are in high positions of money and power seem to not even want to allow regular people to control some of the smallest, most local political decisions - like who gets on the local school board in Denver, Colorado.
Emily Sirota, a social worker, political activist, and wife of a local radio talent (who is one of our professional acquaintances), decided this year that she wanted to run for school board. Ms. Sirota's plans make clear she wants to help enact policies that would improve public schools while keeping costs low, instead of allowing private for-profit schools (who often care more about their bottom line than educating children) to use vouchers to skim public tax dollars into their private accounts.
For Ms. Sirota's desire to help the public schools better manage their public money, she and her family have had to face a disproportionately large amount of campaign money and negative media being thrown at her by her opponent. Ms. Sirota's opponent has been funded by traditional large right-wing corporatist interests, all people or groups with well-known ties to supporting the "haves" and "have mores" at the expense of everyone else.
To us, this pattern of attempting to pay off, buy out, or beat down anyone who stands against the interests of the currently wealthy individuals and corporations is exactly what the Occupy movement is protesting.
That the arrogant wealthy - and the politicians they've bought - now seem like they're scrambling to stand up after stepping in oil (or something worse) merely proves to us we're not the only ones to slip on the truth once in a while.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Fairy Tales And Other Lies Politicians Tell Us
In case you've missed it lately, we've been ramping up our coverage of the looming Keystone pipeline battle with the only weapons we have here at the Daily Felltoon: cartoons and words.
It's been quite obvious that TransCanada has opened up its pocketbook in an last ditch attempt to buy or bully most of the lawmakers involved in authorizing the current proposed route for the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.
Not only did the forces of big oil recently manage to buy a favorable review from the U.S. State Department, but they've proudly been working with Canada's Prime Minister, Stephen Harper - an anti-evironmentalist sometimes called 'Bush Lite' - in an obvious attempt to push a false sense of inevitability with the pipeline.
As we've noted multiple times, a majority of Nebraskans do NOT want the pipeline's route to cross the Ogallala aquifer. Even Nebraska's Governor, who we gave some credit to yesterday, has previously said that he does not want the pipeline to cross the aquifer (though he's willing to allow the pipeline to be built, if TransCanada routed it elsewhere in the state).
We wish that all of the politicians involved - local, state, Federal, and even those in Canada - would have shown REAL political courage months or years ago and stood up to the obvious bullying and barely legal bribery of TransCanada, the pipeline builder.
Too often, our politicians - of ALL parties - have waited until it's clear that decisions have already been made behind the scenes to take any sort of definitive action. Then when they make grand gestures, shaking their political lances, and waving flags of special sessions, we have a strong suspicion they may be mostly meaningless.
Our worldwide competition in China, in the energy business, has NOT been sitting by and biding their time. China has begun to forcefully drive their own demand for solar power up with feed-in tariffs that heavily benefit solar and wind power. They're also flooding the world market with heavily state-subsidized solar and wind products, while America and the rest of the world does nothing.
While those who support the Keystone pipeline claim that the pipeline's construction will generate jobs in the short term, our energy trade policies right now are further killing one of the only bright spots in the American manufacturing sector... NEW, long-term, well-paying manufacturing jobs.
Serving up a short term benefit, with negative lasting effects for Nebraskans isn't just an unhealthy snack for the insatiable monster of big oil.
It's an outline for a story that ends in anything but happily ever after.
It's been quite obvious that TransCanada has opened up its pocketbook in an last ditch attempt to buy or bully most of the lawmakers involved in authorizing the current proposed route for the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.
Not only did the forces of big oil recently manage to buy a favorable review from the U.S. State Department, but they've proudly been working with Canada's Prime Minister, Stephen Harper - an anti-evironmentalist sometimes called 'Bush Lite' - in an obvious attempt to push a false sense of inevitability with the pipeline.
As we've noted multiple times, a majority of Nebraskans do NOT want the pipeline's route to cross the Ogallala aquifer. Even Nebraska's Governor, who we gave some credit to yesterday, has previously said that he does not want the pipeline to cross the aquifer (though he's willing to allow the pipeline to be built, if TransCanada routed it elsewhere in the state).
We wish that all of the politicians involved - local, state, Federal, and even those in Canada - would have shown REAL political courage months or years ago and stood up to the obvious bullying and barely legal bribery of TransCanada, the pipeline builder.
Too often, our politicians - of ALL parties - have waited until it's clear that decisions have already been made behind the scenes to take any sort of definitive action. Then when they make grand gestures, shaking their political lances, and waving flags of special sessions, we have a strong suspicion they may be mostly meaningless.
Our worldwide competition in China, in the energy business, has NOT been sitting by and biding their time. China has begun to forcefully drive their own demand for solar power up with feed-in tariffs that heavily benefit solar and wind power. They're also flooding the world market with heavily state-subsidized solar and wind products, while America and the rest of the world does nothing.
While those who support the Keystone pipeline claim that the pipeline's construction will generate jobs in the short term, our energy trade policies right now are further killing one of the only bright spots in the American manufacturing sector... NEW, long-term, well-paying manufacturing jobs.
Serving up a short term benefit, with negative lasting effects for Nebraskans isn't just an unhealthy snack for the insatiable monster of big oil.
It's an outline for a story that ends in anything but happily ever after.
Thursday, July 18, 2013
The High Cost Of Low Information
As the media circus surrounding the Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman story begins to ebb, and the fallout from the near-nuclear actions in the Senate settles, many in the media are being forced at the height of summer to run around and do something they appear to desperately hate: enage in real journalism and reporting.
Admittedly, on the reporting front, some of our colleagues in DC had an easy day Wednesday, as the perpetually unproductive House GOP slammed their collective head against the rock of Obamacare again, attempting to repeal all or part of it for the 67th time. There was also a bit of excitement in the media about the latest edition of Rolling Stone, as well as a couple of major stories about the ongoing Mid-East turmoil.
What we didn't notice our media colleagues paying much attention to, as they zipped across town from interview to appointment, is that gas prices went up an average of 15 cents nationwide this past week. Of course, the unrest in Egypt and Syria has a lot to do with the current jump in the pump price - but considering the study we saw yesterday, we can't complain too much.
That study, from the group "Consumer Watchdog," says that if the Keystone XL pipeline is allowed to be built, Americans will have even more to worry about than their already-fragile water supply. The Midwestern section of the United States will also get the not-so-hidden benefit of a 40 cent bump to the base cost of a gallon of gas, as the oil companies try to suck the American people dry.
That bump to prices will come in part because TransCanada will naturually choose not to help the Midwesterners over whose water supply the new pipeline would be built. Rather, TransCanada would actually be using the pipeline to effectively bypass the U.S., shipping the oil from the Gulf of Mexico while significantly decreasing the amount of oil available for Americans in the Midwest.
The story goes even deeper than Keystone though. There's another oil company attempting to fast-track yet another pipeline through the approval process of the Army Corps of Engineers. That other Midwest pipeline could carry even more tar sands to the Gulf of Mexico - which would likely increase the cost of gas in the Midwest even more.
The name of the company behind the other pipeline, Enbridge, Inc. of Calgary, Canada, may ring a bell for you. They're the geniuses responsible for the disastrous oil spill in Michigan three years ago that still isn't 100% cleaned up. What's worse, Enbridge is looking to get their new pipeline approved under a special permit process which would allow them to ignore the rigorous Clean Water Act standards - even though this new pipeline would cross the largest inland river in America, the Mississippi River.
We can't say we're surprised at the gall of the oil companies, who long ago lost any ability to be cowed by shame or reason. They've made it clear many years ago: Their entire reason for being is to suck as much money as possible out of the pockets of every American, and damn consequences to the environment or the American people.
What keeps amazing us is that so many American people keep acting like the oil companies have not only sucked out their money - but sucked out their brains to boot.
Admittedly, on the reporting front, some of our colleagues in DC had an easy day Wednesday, as the perpetually unproductive House GOP slammed their collective head against the rock of Obamacare again, attempting to repeal all or part of it for the 67th time. There was also a bit of excitement in the media about the latest edition of Rolling Stone, as well as a couple of major stories about the ongoing Mid-East turmoil.
What we didn't notice our media colleagues paying much attention to, as they zipped across town from interview to appointment, is that gas prices went up an average of 15 cents nationwide this past week. Of course, the unrest in Egypt and Syria has a lot to do with the current jump in the pump price - but considering the study we saw yesterday, we can't complain too much.
That study, from the group "Consumer Watchdog," says that if the Keystone XL pipeline is allowed to be built, Americans will have even more to worry about than their already-fragile water supply. The Midwestern section of the United States will also get the not-so-hidden benefit of a 40 cent bump to the base cost of a gallon of gas, as the oil companies try to suck the American people dry.
That bump to prices will come in part because TransCanada will naturually choose not to help the Midwesterners over whose water supply the new pipeline would be built. Rather, TransCanada would actually be using the pipeline to effectively bypass the U.S., shipping the oil from the Gulf of Mexico while significantly decreasing the amount of oil available for Americans in the Midwest.
The story goes even deeper than Keystone though. There's another oil company attempting to fast-track yet another pipeline through the approval process of the Army Corps of Engineers. That other Midwest pipeline could carry even more tar sands to the Gulf of Mexico - which would likely increase the cost of gas in the Midwest even more.
The name of the company behind the other pipeline, Enbridge, Inc. of Calgary, Canada, may ring a bell for you. They're the geniuses responsible for the disastrous oil spill in Michigan three years ago that still isn't 100% cleaned up. What's worse, Enbridge is looking to get their new pipeline approved under a special permit process which would allow them to ignore the rigorous Clean Water Act standards - even though this new pipeline would cross the largest inland river in America, the Mississippi River.
We can't say we're surprised at the gall of the oil companies, who long ago lost any ability to be cowed by shame or reason. They've made it clear many years ago: Their entire reason for being is to suck as much money as possible out of the pockets of every American, and damn consequences to the environment or the American people.
What keeps amazing us is that so many American people keep acting like the oil companies have not only sucked out their money - but sucked out their brains to boot.
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
No Further Explanation Needed
Since once again our crack (or maybe "on crack") major national media spent an inordinate amount of time over the last few days covering the Casey Anthony trial - an event that wasn't really first-tier national news - you may not have heard about the massive oil spill, courtesy of Exxon Mobil, in the wilds of Montana, on the Yellowstone River.
We would be extremely surprised if the corporate executives at Exxon didn't prefer to have their story buried.
Sadly, none of the news we've found about the current ecological disaster has surprised us. First, Exxon said it was just a small spill, nothing to worry about. Then, when pressed, they admitted that the spill could easily go far beyond their initial 10 mile containment zone. This isn't just any zone, mind you. That zone is the Yellowstone River, which flows out of the famed Yellowstone National Park, that contains some of America's most important natural scenery and wildlife.
As we have grown to expect from oil companies like Exxon Mobil, no contingency plan seems to have been crafted, in case a spill like this should happen - which it obviously did. While the cleanup continues, the company still does not have a repair strategy for the "leak."
Montana's Governor Schweitzer did tour the spill site, and said the cleanup effort was "pretty good" so far - but if the oil companies had been doing their jobs properly, it never would have happened at all.
Anyone who understands geography and is aware of the weather in the U.S. this year should understand with astounding clarity, that what happened in Montana won't stay in Montana. Some oil will slip through - and any chemicals like the carcinogen Correxit, used during the Gulf oil disaster of last year, that are dumped into the water to break up the oil, will flow downstream.
Downstream, through a series of rivers and tributaries that are sufffering through some of the worst flooding in history.
Through the flooded city of Minot, North Dakota, down the Missouri River, through the flooded river towns of South Dakota, Iowa, and Nebraska. Down into the state of Missouri - and then into the Mississippi River, where the remnants of the oil spill can poison even more fish, farmland, and wildlife, all the way to the Gulf of Mexico.
For those Nebraskans who keep looking at the proposed Keystone XL2 pipeline, and can only see short-term dollar signs, we invite them to speak with the folks in Valdez, Alaska, people throughout small towns on the Gulf of Mexico near New Orleans - or even scientists in Nebraska. The stories of increases in rare cancers and odd health problems is rampant, the economic problems continue, and there seems to be a never ending flow of damaged humans, animals, and landscape in those areas.
If we seem to be against the proposed pipeline project, and a little overprotective of the Ogallala Aquifer, we are - and we can't see how everyone else isn't as well.
Without the clean, life-giving water the aquifer provides to Nebraska and most of the Great Plains, our home region of the U.S. would be a desert - one where people could not survive, long-term. This isn't hyperbole; that region has experienced severe drought before, a chunk of time so damaging it earned its own derogatory nickname: the Dustbowl Era.
An oil spill in the aquifer could mean the poisoning of the water that gives life, not only to the people and animals of the Great Plains, but also to the crops that feed our whole country and much of the world.
It is time we abandoned the Keystone XL project as a state, and began actively investing in alternative energies like wind and solar - both of which, as Nebraskans, we know we have an abundance of.
This isn't some far-left wing, pot-smoking, hippie idea.
This is our life, and our home. It's time to put our families and our country ahead of corporate profit and short-term economic gain.
We would be extremely surprised if the corporate executives at Exxon didn't prefer to have their story buried.
Sadly, none of the news we've found about the current ecological disaster has surprised us. First, Exxon said it was just a small spill, nothing to worry about. Then, when pressed, they admitted that the spill could easily go far beyond their initial 10 mile containment zone. This isn't just any zone, mind you. That zone is the Yellowstone River, which flows out of the famed Yellowstone National Park, that contains some of America's most important natural scenery and wildlife.
As we have grown to expect from oil companies like Exxon Mobil, no contingency plan seems to have been crafted, in case a spill like this should happen - which it obviously did. While the cleanup continues, the company still does not have a repair strategy for the "leak."
Montana's Governor Schweitzer did tour the spill site, and said the cleanup effort was "pretty good" so far - but if the oil companies had been doing their jobs properly, it never would have happened at all.
Anyone who understands geography and is aware of the weather in the U.S. this year should understand with astounding clarity, that what happened in Montana won't stay in Montana. Some oil will slip through - and any chemicals like the carcinogen Correxit, used during the Gulf oil disaster of last year, that are dumped into the water to break up the oil, will flow downstream.
Downstream, through a series of rivers and tributaries that are sufffering through some of the worst flooding in history.
Through the flooded city of Minot, North Dakota, down the Missouri River, through the flooded river towns of South Dakota, Iowa, and Nebraska. Down into the state of Missouri - and then into the Mississippi River, where the remnants of the oil spill can poison even more fish, farmland, and wildlife, all the way to the Gulf of Mexico.
For those Nebraskans who keep looking at the proposed Keystone XL2 pipeline, and can only see short-term dollar signs, we invite them to speak with the folks in Valdez, Alaska, people throughout small towns on the Gulf of Mexico near New Orleans - or even scientists in Nebraska. The stories of increases in rare cancers and odd health problems is rampant, the economic problems continue, and there seems to be a never ending flow of damaged humans, animals, and landscape in those areas.
If we seem to be against the proposed pipeline project, and a little overprotective of the Ogallala Aquifer, we are - and we can't see how everyone else isn't as well.
Without the clean, life-giving water the aquifer provides to Nebraska and most of the Great Plains, our home region of the U.S. would be a desert - one where people could not survive, long-term. This isn't hyperbole; that region has experienced severe drought before, a chunk of time so damaging it earned its own derogatory nickname: the Dustbowl Era.
An oil spill in the aquifer could mean the poisoning of the water that gives life, not only to the people and animals of the Great Plains, but also to the crops that feed our whole country and much of the world.
It is time we abandoned the Keystone XL project as a state, and began actively investing in alternative energies like wind and solar - both of which, as Nebraskans, we know we have an abundance of.
This isn't some far-left wing, pot-smoking, hippie idea.
This is our life, and our home. It's time to put our families and our country ahead of corporate profit and short-term economic gain.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Growing Pains
In light of the success of progressive ideas and candidates in Tuesday's elections - and the utter embarrassment that seems to be the current 2012 Republican presidential field - we decided we'd look at a subject we'd noted a couple of weeks ago, but hadn't fully addressed - the announcement of the world's seven-billionth person.
According to the United Nations Population Fund report released recently, the world's seven billionth human inhabitant is likely somewhere on the planet right now. While we didn't get to this point overnight, the last three billion people were all born within the lifespan of the youngest two members of our staff - about thirty-five years or so.
There's no legitimate way to determine who the planet's seven billionth individual is, or where he or she was born. The mere existence of that many people on our little island in space brings to light a few very important questions, that - frankly - humans should have had answered long ago.
Everyone needs adequate food, water, and shelter - and far too many of them don't have anything close to that. Those people, in one way or another, will also need energy; to power their cars or motorbikes, their lights, and all the other modern conveniences that much of the world either wants or already has.
After the announcement Wednesday by the International Energy Agency, now more than ever we're concerned about how we're going to obtain and distribute the resources we all want and need.
The agency's report made it clear: "On planned [energy] policies, rising fossil energy use will lead to irreversible and potentially catastrophic climate change... we are on an even more dangerous track to an increase of 6°C [11°F]…. Delaying action is a false economy: for every $1 of investment in cleaner technology that is avoided in the power sector before 2020, an additional $4.30 would need to be spent after 2020 to compensate for the increased emissions.”
In short, we humans need to get our collective butts in gear - or we'll bake our planet into a place where humans can no longer survive. We could get to the point of no return within the next five years.
Already, because the energy sources humans have been using over the last two centuries have been so wasteful and filthy, we've increased the type and severity of weather worldwide. The winter monster storm that is literally half the size of the lower 48 states, that's now slamming Alaska isn't just a rare event. It's an event climate scientists have rarely seen the likes of before.
Sadly, one of the biggest issues being ignored with some of the discussions about the Keystone pipeline has to do not with leaking oil, or how many jobs a pipeline project like Keystone would actually generate. It's the fact that the type of oil energy that would be pumping through the pipeline would be some of the highest polluting materials in the world - at a time when the world can least afford it.
Meanwhile, the executives of companies in the solar power business are having some of the fastest growth of any industry in the U.S. Their industry is experiencing growth that's ten times faster than the national economy as a whole over the last 12 months, in the middle of the worst economy since the Great Depression. Another study, released in February 2011, pointed out that the world as a whole doubled its output of solar energy last year - and future forecasts look, well... bright.
As Tuesday's elections proved, with landslide wins for progressive policies in traditionally conservative places like Mississippi, even those people who've been traditionally against change seem to be understanding: we can't just continue doing things the way we always have.
We can find solutions together, that will help divide our resources in a more just manner, and still give people plenty of opportunities to make money in a capitalist way. But not if we just keep pushing the same old, hairy, ugly model of politics and business we've been using for far too long.
According to the United Nations Population Fund report released recently, the world's seven billionth human inhabitant is likely somewhere on the planet right now. While we didn't get to this point overnight, the last three billion people were all born within the lifespan of the youngest two members of our staff - about thirty-five years or so.
There's no legitimate way to determine who the planet's seven billionth individual is, or where he or she was born. The mere existence of that many people on our little island in space brings to light a few very important questions, that - frankly - humans should have had answered long ago.
Everyone needs adequate food, water, and shelter - and far too many of them don't have anything close to that. Those people, in one way or another, will also need energy; to power their cars or motorbikes, their lights, and all the other modern conveniences that much of the world either wants or already has.
After the announcement Wednesday by the International Energy Agency, now more than ever we're concerned about how we're going to obtain and distribute the resources we all want and need.
The agency's report made it clear: "On planned [energy] policies, rising fossil energy use will lead to irreversible and potentially catastrophic climate change... we are on an even more dangerous track to an increase of 6°C [11°F]…. Delaying action is a false economy: for every $1 of investment in cleaner technology that is avoided in the power sector before 2020, an additional $4.30 would need to be spent after 2020 to compensate for the increased emissions.”
In short, we humans need to get our collective butts in gear - or we'll bake our planet into a place where humans can no longer survive. We could get to the point of no return within the next five years.
Already, because the energy sources humans have been using over the last two centuries have been so wasteful and filthy, we've increased the type and severity of weather worldwide. The winter monster storm that is literally half the size of the lower 48 states, that's now slamming Alaska isn't just a rare event. It's an event climate scientists have rarely seen the likes of before.
Sadly, one of the biggest issues being ignored with some of the discussions about the Keystone pipeline has to do not with leaking oil, or how many jobs a pipeline project like Keystone would actually generate. It's the fact that the type of oil energy that would be pumping through the pipeline would be some of the highest polluting materials in the world - at a time when the world can least afford it.
Meanwhile, the executives of companies in the solar power business are having some of the fastest growth of any industry in the U.S. Their industry is experiencing growth that's ten times faster than the national economy as a whole over the last 12 months, in the middle of the worst economy since the Great Depression. Another study, released in February 2011, pointed out that the world as a whole doubled its output of solar energy last year - and future forecasts look, well... bright.
As Tuesday's elections proved, with landslide wins for progressive policies in traditionally conservative places like Mississippi, even those people who've been traditionally against change seem to be understanding: we can't just continue doing things the way we always have.
We can find solutions together, that will help divide our resources in a more just manner, and still give people plenty of opportunities to make money in a capitalist way. But not if we just keep pushing the same old, hairy, ugly model of politics and business we've been using for far too long.
Monday, October 25, 2010
When You're In A Hole...
In an election season with an economy still recovering from the worst failure by Wall Street since the Great Depression, and during the same year that saw the worst oil disaster in history, we'd hoped to hear a few new ideas this fall. We thought it would have made sense for candidates to be talking about jobs programs, fixing the problems with the banks, mortgages, and corporate America. We even thought energy and environmental issues might be on the table.
Instead, for the most part, we've had "I'm not a witch", and "Aqua Buddha", while outside interests from who knows where have attempted to buy our midterm elections out from under the American people.
In a few rare cases, there have been candidates seriously debating substantive issues, and we applaud those few who have done so.
However, the most important discussion we've heard on energy, the environment, and jobs recently has been from two incumbent U.S. Senators, neither of whom is up for reelection.
At the end of last week, Nebraska Democratic Senator Ben Nelson and Republican Senator Mike Johanns both announced they had significant concerns with the proposed Keystone oil pipeline being built by a Canadian company. The pipeline's proposed route travels from Canada through Montana and South Dakota, across Nebraska, then down through Kansas and Oklahoma to Texas, where the raw crude would be refined.
Currently, the proposal also takes the pipeline through the Nebraska Sandhills, a large area of incredibly porous soil and rock, that sits on top of the Ogallala Aquifer. That aquifer isn't just any insignificant underground puddle. It's one of the world's largest underground sources of water, and provides water suitable for agriculture or drinking for eight states throughout the central portion of the U.S. Without the aquifer, some of the most fertile farmland in the country would dry up and turn into desert.
The company attempting to build and operate the pipeline is the same company responsible for the disastrous oil spill in Michigan this past July, that ranks as one of the worst disasters of its kind in the Midwest.
For now, the Keystone pipeline project has been put on indefinite hold, in part due to the Senators from Nebraska, and in part due to significant trouble the oil company is running into in the wake of new Federal regulations imposed by the Obama administration. Those delays may not hold forever, though, as Sec. of State Clinton mentioned late last week.
It's these kinds of incredibly important issues that we wish we'd seen and heard far more debate over this election season.
If there is a candidate you can vote for, who seriously tackled an issue of this importance, and came down on the correct side of the issue?
We recommend you vote for them as soon as possible. That is, if an actual candidate like that exists where you are.
Instead, for the most part, we've had "I'm not a witch", and "Aqua Buddha", while outside interests from who knows where have attempted to buy our midterm elections out from under the American people.
In a few rare cases, there have been candidates seriously debating substantive issues, and we applaud those few who have done so.
However, the most important discussion we've heard on energy, the environment, and jobs recently has been from two incumbent U.S. Senators, neither of whom is up for reelection.
At the end of last week, Nebraska Democratic Senator Ben Nelson and Republican Senator Mike Johanns both announced they had significant concerns with the proposed Keystone oil pipeline being built by a Canadian company. The pipeline's proposed route travels from Canada through Montana and South Dakota, across Nebraska, then down through Kansas and Oklahoma to Texas, where the raw crude would be refined.
Currently, the proposal also takes the pipeline through the Nebraska Sandhills, a large area of incredibly porous soil and rock, that sits on top of the Ogallala Aquifer. That aquifer isn't just any insignificant underground puddle. It's one of the world's largest underground sources of water, and provides water suitable for agriculture or drinking for eight states throughout the central portion of the U.S. Without the aquifer, some of the most fertile farmland in the country would dry up and turn into desert.
The company attempting to build and operate the pipeline is the same company responsible for the disastrous oil spill in Michigan this past July, that ranks as one of the worst disasters of its kind in the Midwest.
For now, the Keystone pipeline project has been put on indefinite hold, in part due to the Senators from Nebraska, and in part due to significant trouble the oil company is running into in the wake of new Federal regulations imposed by the Obama administration. Those delays may not hold forever, though, as Sec. of State Clinton mentioned late last week.
It's these kinds of incredibly important issues that we wish we'd seen and heard far more debate over this election season.
If there is a candidate you can vote for, who seriously tackled an issue of this importance, and came down on the correct side of the issue?
We recommend you vote for them as soon as possible. That is, if an actual candidate like that exists where you are.
Monday, September 26, 2011
Fighting The Inevitable? Do the Math.
Several times over the last few years we've kept you up to date with the skirmish over installing the Keystone XL pipeline through Nebraska - and over the world's largest underground freshwater body of water, the Ogallala Aquifer. Polls have proven what we already knew - a majority of Nebraskans do NOT want the pipeline where the oil company wants it to be. TransCanada, the company trying to drive the pipeline through Nebraskans seems confident that they'll succeed in jamming the pipeline through. There are even indications some State Department personnel may have acted as internal lobbyists - and may have possibly been bought off.
In theory, the State Department is supposed to be listening to what Nebraskans want or don't want from the pipeline, at two hearings scheduled this week in Lincoln and Atkinson.
Many don't believe the State Department is listening at all. Contrary to the rosy picture some media outlets are attempting to propagandize with, the pipeline won't create very many jobs for Nebraska workers. Labor unions have been duped into thinking Nebraskans will get long-term stable, good paying jobs from this project. Most welders and installers will be brought in by the TransCanda corporation from outside the state, just as they've done elsewhere. Even IF the pipeline is allowed to be built, once the initial construction is completed - in little more than two years - those jobs will all go away.
Any claims that the Keystone XL pipeline will generate energy for the U.S. for years to come are also a load of bull. When oil is sold on the world market, it isn't labeled 'American' or 'Saudi'. Companies like Exxon Mobil and Chevron sell any oil pumped in America at the going global rate - a rate determined mostly overseas by OPEC - and America doesn't get a discount because it's buying oil that was pumped here.
Further, as we already noted earlier this year, if there is an oil spill that gets into the Ogallala Aquifer we could be making the Great Plains an uninhabitable wasteland. Farmers, ranchers, and everyone else living in an area from North Dakota to Texas, and from the Rockies to the Missouri River could be forced to find a different source for drinking water and agricultural irrigation if tar sands oil leaks into the aquifer.
If you go to the meetings this week, we don't recommend trusting TransCanada's assurances about how safe they can be. TransCanada's rival, Enbridge, still hasn't cleaned up their "small" oil spill in Michigan from last year - the same kind of incredibly toxic tar sands oil TransCanada wants to pump across the Ogallala Aquifer. Formerly pristine Michigan wetlands that were perfect for hunting and fishing are still damaged, and don't look to be cleaned up in the forseeable future.
The disaster on the Yellowstone River in Montana that TransCanada promised would be safe is even more serious. That oil pipeline has now been turned back on after being reburied deep enough so that when it leaks, no one downstream is likely to know for years. Folks in every state along the Missouri and lower Mississippi would be wise to test their water quality far more often than they do now.
All of this unnecessary risk over an energy source that won't do anything to curb America's addiction to oil, makes little sense.
Meanwhile, the Chinese expect to grow their solar power use by over ONE THOUSAND PERCENT in the next four years. Chinese government officials are literally laughing at America's failure to jump on board the green energy technology explosion. Back at home, right-wing extremists continue desperately trying to claim Solyndra was a failure of the Obama Administration, even though much of its support and loan money was authorized under the Bush regime.
Regardless of what the paranoid idiots claim, the mathematical facts regarding the U.S. energy situation haven't changed.
Solyndra was only ONE of forty alternative energy companies our government supported - and the others have all succeeded to various degrees. The green economy will easily overcome Solyndra's bankruptcy. Meanwhile, an oil company responsible for both major and minor oil disasters in the last few years is supposed to be given a hands-off approach to endangering the primary water supply for millions of Americans living in the center third of the country? That doesn't compute.
When you add up the risks of endangering the food and water security of America for generations while possibly depopulating the entire central United States, against a few hundred short-term jobs that might not even go to Americans who live in the area where the work is planned, we just can't see the benefits.
Do the math, folks. Kill the pipeline, before it kills us.
In theory, the State Department is supposed to be listening to what Nebraskans want or don't want from the pipeline, at two hearings scheduled this week in Lincoln and Atkinson.
Many don't believe the State Department is listening at all. Contrary to the rosy picture some media outlets are attempting to propagandize with, the pipeline won't create very many jobs for Nebraska workers. Labor unions have been duped into thinking Nebraskans will get long-term stable, good paying jobs from this project. Most welders and installers will be brought in by the TransCanda corporation from outside the state, just as they've done elsewhere. Even IF the pipeline is allowed to be built, once the initial construction is completed - in little more than two years - those jobs will all go away.
Any claims that the Keystone XL pipeline will generate energy for the U.S. for years to come are also a load of bull. When oil is sold on the world market, it isn't labeled 'American' or 'Saudi'. Companies like Exxon Mobil and Chevron sell any oil pumped in America at the going global rate - a rate determined mostly overseas by OPEC - and America doesn't get a discount because it's buying oil that was pumped here.
Further, as we already noted earlier this year, if there is an oil spill that gets into the Ogallala Aquifer we could be making the Great Plains an uninhabitable wasteland. Farmers, ranchers, and everyone else living in an area from North Dakota to Texas, and from the Rockies to the Missouri River could be forced to find a different source for drinking water and agricultural irrigation if tar sands oil leaks into the aquifer.
If you go to the meetings this week, we don't recommend trusting TransCanada's assurances about how safe they can be. TransCanada's rival, Enbridge, still hasn't cleaned up their "small" oil spill in Michigan from last year - the same kind of incredibly toxic tar sands oil TransCanada wants to pump across the Ogallala Aquifer. Formerly pristine Michigan wetlands that were perfect for hunting and fishing are still damaged, and don't look to be cleaned up in the forseeable future.
The disaster on the Yellowstone River in Montana that TransCanada promised would be safe is even more serious. That oil pipeline has now been turned back on after being reburied deep enough so that when it leaks, no one downstream is likely to know for years. Folks in every state along the Missouri and lower Mississippi would be wise to test their water quality far more often than they do now.
All of this unnecessary risk over an energy source that won't do anything to curb America's addiction to oil, makes little sense.
Meanwhile, the Chinese expect to grow their solar power use by over ONE THOUSAND PERCENT in the next four years. Chinese government officials are literally laughing at America's failure to jump on board the green energy technology explosion. Back at home, right-wing extremists continue desperately trying to claim Solyndra was a failure of the Obama Administration, even though much of its support and loan money was authorized under the Bush regime.
Regardless of what the paranoid idiots claim, the mathematical facts regarding the U.S. energy situation haven't changed.
Solyndra was only ONE of forty alternative energy companies our government supported - and the others have all succeeded to various degrees. The green economy will easily overcome Solyndra's bankruptcy. Meanwhile, an oil company responsible for both major and minor oil disasters in the last few years is supposed to be given a hands-off approach to endangering the primary water supply for millions of Americans living in the center third of the country? That doesn't compute.
When you add up the risks of endangering the food and water security of America for generations while possibly depopulating the entire central United States, against a few hundred short-term jobs that might not even go to Americans who live in the area where the work is planned, we just can't see the benefits.
Do the math, folks. Kill the pipeline, before it kills us.
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Welcome And Unwelcome Guests
We apologize in advance if we're a bit distracted this week. We're excited that our friend and Paul's fellow cartoonist, Gustavo Rodriguez, is going to be our guest for a few days.
As the current staff cartoonist for El Nuevo Herald, the Spanish-language version of The Miami Herald, and as a naturalized American citizen, who emigrated from Cuba, Gustavo has had more than his fair share of dealing with bureaucracy and strange government rules under both so-called capitalism and so-called socialism. We're sure Mr. Rodriguez will be willing to discuss many of those differences with the journalism and other students he'll meet at Peru State College this week. You can even join him at the recital hall tonight at 7, local time, or in the Student Center, Wednesday morning, starting at 11.
The likelihood is that many of the individuals Gustavo addresses will listen intently, and some may even learn to think about a few subjects in a different way.
We're not so confident that the members of Nebraska's Unicameral will follow the lead of those young college students.
Today marks the beginning of the special session for that body of lawmakers, and they have only one topic to consider: the Keystone XL pipeline.
As we've mentioned previously and extensively, even allowing the existence of a new Keystone pipeline over the Ogallala Aquifer endangers the water supply for the entire middle section of the United States - where large portions of the world's food are grown.
Not surprisingly, TransCanada, the massive oil company desperate to build this pipeline, hired lawyers - not scientists or pipeline engineers - to release a statement on Monday to attempt to tie the hands of the Nebraska Legislature, and limit the scope and vision of the task that lies before them.
Like our welcome guest, Gustavo, and the students at Peru State, we hope our suggestions here to members of the Nebraska Legislature will help widen that scope back to where it should be.
In short, we're aware the pipeline is likely to ultimately go through Nebraska, regardless of what its opponents do or say.
That doesn't mean TransCanada should be able to bully and push the citizens of Nebraska around, in a similar way to the unwelcome and unethical influence exerted by Wall Street banks on the American political landscape.
The Nebraska Legislature MUST seriously consider not only its legal obligation to its own citizens, but also the fact that, should the pipeline leak oil or other contaminants into the aquifer, virtually every other state in the central portion of the country may sue Nebraska for destroying their water supplies as well.
Furthermore, while there are already Federal standards for safety along the pipeline, Nebraska currently has almost no significant binding legislation regarding the cleanup of a natural disaster, like a massive oil spill.
Finally, one of Nebraska's extended neighbors has already dealt with the bullies of Big Oil over a similar nature - and won. Nebraska's senators and governor should warmly welcome advice from Montana's Governor Brian Schweitzer and Montana's legislators, on the problems they experienced - and how they could have handled their own pipeline re-routing challenge better.
There are ways in life to make some interactions with even unwelcome guests more successful.
Many times, those methods for success can be learned from the guests we'd rather interact with.
As the current staff cartoonist for El Nuevo Herald, the Spanish-language version of The Miami Herald, and as a naturalized American citizen, who emigrated from Cuba, Gustavo has had more than his fair share of dealing with bureaucracy and strange government rules under both so-called capitalism and so-called socialism. We're sure Mr. Rodriguez will be willing to discuss many of those differences with the journalism and other students he'll meet at Peru State College this week. You can even join him at the recital hall tonight at 7, local time, or in the Student Center, Wednesday morning, starting at 11.
The likelihood is that many of the individuals Gustavo addresses will listen intently, and some may even learn to think about a few subjects in a different way.
We're not so confident that the members of Nebraska's Unicameral will follow the lead of those young college students.
Today marks the beginning of the special session for that body of lawmakers, and they have only one topic to consider: the Keystone XL pipeline.
As we've mentioned previously and extensively, even allowing the existence of a new Keystone pipeline over the Ogallala Aquifer endangers the water supply for the entire middle section of the United States - where large portions of the world's food are grown.
Not surprisingly, TransCanada, the massive oil company desperate to build this pipeline, hired lawyers - not scientists or pipeline engineers - to release a statement on Monday to attempt to tie the hands of the Nebraska Legislature, and limit the scope and vision of the task that lies before them.
Like our welcome guest, Gustavo, and the students at Peru State, we hope our suggestions here to members of the Nebraska Legislature will help widen that scope back to where it should be.
In short, we're aware the pipeline is likely to ultimately go through Nebraska, regardless of what its opponents do or say.
That doesn't mean TransCanada should be able to bully and push the citizens of Nebraska around, in a similar way to the unwelcome and unethical influence exerted by Wall Street banks on the American political landscape.
The Nebraska Legislature MUST seriously consider not only its legal obligation to its own citizens, but also the fact that, should the pipeline leak oil or other contaminants into the aquifer, virtually every other state in the central portion of the country may sue Nebraska for destroying their water supplies as well.
Furthermore, while there are already Federal standards for safety along the pipeline, Nebraska currently has almost no significant binding legislation regarding the cleanup of a natural disaster, like a massive oil spill.
Finally, one of Nebraska's extended neighbors has already dealt with the bullies of Big Oil over a similar nature - and won. Nebraska's senators and governor should warmly welcome advice from Montana's Governor Brian Schweitzer and Montana's legislators, on the problems they experienced - and how they could have handled their own pipeline re-routing challenge better.
There are ways in life to make some interactions with even unwelcome guests more successful.
Many times, those methods for success can be learned from the guests we'd rather interact with.
Monday, October 28, 2013
Clown Show Climate
While we're unsure of how long this respite will last, it appears that extremist right-wing stupidity on the national level experienced a bit of a lull this past weekend. Of course, there are always the exceptionally stupid and evil, and both Iowa's Rep. Steve King and Texas' Sen. Ted Cruz continued to fill those roles.
Still, most Congressional Republicans now appear to have finally joined their Democratic colleagues for once, getting serious by turning their attention to the federal budget and immigration bills. On both fronts, developments so far look promising, with some Republicans now finally acknowledging that new tax revenues must be part of any budget deal. Elected Republicans have also begun to admit publicly that immigration reform must happen soon.
This positive turn of events at the national level allowed us to turn our eyes back to our state offices, where the level of political idiocy seems to be on the rise.
Surprisingly, the level of stupid in Florida politics seems to be at the lowest of our three locations right now - even if a bit of ridiculousness did happen surrounding the funeral of U.S. Rep. Bill Young last week. Virginia's level of political stupid has been ramped up recently thanks to the ugly gubernatorial race, where Democratic candidate Terry McAuliffe solidly leads current Republican Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli. Since Cuccinelli also oversees the state's voting laws, this race could get far more nutty before it's all over in a little more than week.
The climate of political stupid in our home state of Nebraska, however, reached new levels recently. That fact became evident to the whole world last week, as the clown show that will certainly be the 2014 elections spilled over into action commissioned this past spring by the Nebraska legislature.
We've published quite a lot about the importance of water to Nebraska over the years, and we wrote about that climate change study earlier this year, in reference to the Keystone pipeline and the effects on water use in Nebraska. We specifically noted Nebraska state Sen. Tom Carlson's surprising but brutally honest quote, that "We will die" if Nebraska's fragile access to an amazing surplus of clean, drinkable, useable water disappears.
The overwhelming majority of the world's climate science studies - 97% of them - concur with Sen. Carlson about water. They all agree that one of the key resources affected by climate change will be safe, clean, potable water. Drought, in fact, was a major cause of the ongoing war in Syria.
Apparently, none of that seems to matter to Nebraska Republican state Sen. Beau McCoy - a GOP candidate for governor in 2014, and a climate change denier. As Nancy Gaarder pointed out in the Omaha World Herald, McCoy slipped a provision into Nebraska's climate study bill making it impossible to do an intellectually honest investigation of the problems of climate change, which would include the role of how humans have affected the climate.
This is exactly why University of Nebraska-Lincoln scientists at last week's Climate Assessment and Response Committee meeting immediately refused to do the study. That the Nebraska legislature had also demanded the study be completed next year, and only budgeted $44,000 for the full study, just adds to the clownish nature of dogmatic right-wing extremists like state Sen. McCoy.
For now, it's clear that legitimate scientists aren't going to allow themselves to be seen as political pawns in Nebraska - meaning the climate change study will likely go undone. That also means another tool to properly judge the future water needs of Nebraskans will not exist, even as Keystone's backers attempt another effort to jam the pipeline through.
Without proper data and planning, Nebraskans may not have enough water to drink in about fifty years, let alone grow crops, as Nebraska state Senator Tom Carlson made clear earlier this year.
At least Nebraskans will have another example of clownishly stupid dogmatic politics to study, courtesy of Nebraska state Sen. McCoy.
Still, most Congressional Republicans now appear to have finally joined their Democratic colleagues for once, getting serious by turning their attention to the federal budget and immigration bills. On both fronts, developments so far look promising, with some Republicans now finally acknowledging that new tax revenues must be part of any budget deal. Elected Republicans have also begun to admit publicly that immigration reform must happen soon.
This positive turn of events at the national level allowed us to turn our eyes back to our state offices, where the level of political idiocy seems to be on the rise.
Surprisingly, the level of stupid in Florida politics seems to be at the lowest of our three locations right now - even if a bit of ridiculousness did happen surrounding the funeral of U.S. Rep. Bill Young last week. Virginia's level of political stupid has been ramped up recently thanks to the ugly gubernatorial race, where Democratic candidate Terry McAuliffe solidly leads current Republican Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli. Since Cuccinelli also oversees the state's voting laws, this race could get far more nutty before it's all over in a little more than week.
The climate of political stupid in our home state of Nebraska, however, reached new levels recently. That fact became evident to the whole world last week, as the clown show that will certainly be the 2014 elections spilled over into action commissioned this past spring by the Nebraska legislature.
We've published quite a lot about the importance of water to Nebraska over the years, and we wrote about that climate change study earlier this year, in reference to the Keystone pipeline and the effects on water use in Nebraska. We specifically noted Nebraska state Sen. Tom Carlson's surprising but brutally honest quote, that "We will die" if Nebraska's fragile access to an amazing surplus of clean, drinkable, useable water disappears.
The overwhelming majority of the world's climate science studies - 97% of them - concur with Sen. Carlson about water. They all agree that one of the key resources affected by climate change will be safe, clean, potable water. Drought, in fact, was a major cause of the ongoing war in Syria.
Apparently, none of that seems to matter to Nebraska Republican state Sen. Beau McCoy - a GOP candidate for governor in 2014, and a climate change denier. As Nancy Gaarder pointed out in the Omaha World Herald, McCoy slipped a provision into Nebraska's climate study bill making it impossible to do an intellectually honest investigation of the problems of climate change, which would include the role of how humans have affected the climate.
This is exactly why University of Nebraska-Lincoln scientists at last week's Climate Assessment and Response Committee meeting immediately refused to do the study. That the Nebraska legislature had also demanded the study be completed next year, and only budgeted $44,000 for the full study, just adds to the clownish nature of dogmatic right-wing extremists like state Sen. McCoy.
For now, it's clear that legitimate scientists aren't going to allow themselves to be seen as political pawns in Nebraska - meaning the climate change study will likely go undone. That also means another tool to properly judge the future water needs of Nebraskans will not exist, even as Keystone's backers attempt another effort to jam the pipeline through.
Without proper data and planning, Nebraskans may not have enough water to drink in about fifty years, let alone grow crops, as Nebraska state Senator Tom Carlson made clear earlier this year.
At least Nebraskans will have another example of clownishly stupid dogmatic politics to study, courtesy of Nebraska state Sen. McCoy.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Obama To America: It's Time To Grow Up
There has been action on political topics of note around the country - like the latest infuriating news about the attempt by the Keystone Cops of safe oil handling, TransCanada. They continue their efforts to drive the Keystone pipeline through places in Nebraska where the people who live there really don't want it. Today, though, we're going to follow the President's lead from Wednesday.
We're going to address this issue just one more time.
In case you missed President Obama's press conference on Monday, we can give you the "Shorter Obama" as they say on Twitter. In short, he presented his long-form birth certificate, and told the nation - especially the media - to grow up.
We have a whole slew of problems to handle as a nation, problems we discuss and debate with you every day here at The Daily Felltoon. The Federal budget. The Federal debt ceiling. State budgets. State laws. Wars that our country is involved in, like Afghanistan and the cleanup still going on in Iraq. Wars we're just sending drones and aid supplies to, like the evolving civil war in Libya.
We've got diseases to fight, education to fix - and even our professional sports franchises aren't immune from the war on workers.
There are more challenges facing our country at one time than we've ever seen before. These challenges don't just affect one small group of us; they are facing all of us together, regardless of race, creed, sexual orientation, or any other divisive measure one can conjure up. Yet millions of idiotic Americans have chosen to consciously, purposely, be obtuse about the truth of this President's birth - Americans who we feel are, to be blunt, racists.
No other President has EVER had to go through this kind of a ridiculous media circus before. This insult to logic and decency called "birtherism" has dishonored the office of the President, in ways no botched election, no ginned up excuse for war, and no stained intern's dress ever could have. In short, it's an embarrassment.
Yet, instead of simply calling out the idiots and the racists, our President has been courteous, genial, and tried to ignore the insane accusations of the birthers for years now. He has given them not just the initial, fully legal birth certification that Hawaii considers the ONLY legal proof of birth (which he did over two years ago). He has also finally gotten the clearance to release the "long-form", not technically "legal" birth certificate - which he did Wednesday.
We are proud of how he stood up for himself on Wednesday, as are all Americans who actually want to get to work solving the problems we collectively face.
There are still those who will say that this was just another ploy by President Obama.
So instead of insulting those people, and calling them worthless, we're going to let President Obama have the very last words on this topic that we hope to ever write:
We're going to address this issue just one more time.
In case you missed President Obama's press conference on Monday, we can give you the "Shorter Obama" as they say on Twitter. In short, he presented his long-form birth certificate, and told the nation - especially the media - to grow up.
We have a whole slew of problems to handle as a nation, problems we discuss and debate with you every day here at The Daily Felltoon. The Federal budget. The Federal debt ceiling. State budgets. State laws. Wars that our country is involved in, like Afghanistan and the cleanup still going on in Iraq. Wars we're just sending drones and aid supplies to, like the evolving civil war in Libya.
We've got diseases to fight, education to fix - and even our professional sports franchises aren't immune from the war on workers.
There are more challenges facing our country at one time than we've ever seen before. These challenges don't just affect one small group of us; they are facing all of us together, regardless of race, creed, sexual orientation, or any other divisive measure one can conjure up. Yet millions of idiotic Americans have chosen to consciously, purposely, be obtuse about the truth of this President's birth - Americans who we feel are, to be blunt, racists.
No other President has EVER had to go through this kind of a ridiculous media circus before. This insult to logic and decency called "birtherism" has dishonored the office of the President, in ways no botched election, no ginned up excuse for war, and no stained intern's dress ever could have. In short, it's an embarrassment.
Yet, instead of simply calling out the idiots and the racists, our President has been courteous, genial, and tried to ignore the insane accusations of the birthers for years now. He has given them not just the initial, fully legal birth certification that Hawaii considers the ONLY legal proof of birth (which he did over two years ago). He has also finally gotten the clearance to release the "long-form", not technically "legal" birth certificate - which he did Wednesday.
We are proud of how he stood up for himself on Wednesday, as are all Americans who actually want to get to work solving the problems we collectively face.
There are still those who will say that this was just another ploy by President Obama.
So instead of insulting those people, and calling them worthless, we're going to let President Obama have the very last words on this topic that we hope to ever write:
"I know that there’s going to be a segment of people for which, no matter what we put out, this issue will not be put to rest. But I’m speaking to the vast majority of the American people, as well as to the press. We do not have time for this kind of silliness. We’ve got better stuff to do. I’ve got better stuff to do. We’ve got big problems to solve. And I’m confident we can solve them, but we’re going to have to focus on them -- not on this."
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
It's No Joke - Spring Is Coming
For some of our staff and readers who live in the Midwest, so far spring 2013 hasn't exactly put a lot of bounce in our step. In fact, every time the temperature gets seasonably comfortable, everyone begins to cringe, as though they're just waiting for winter to jump out from behind a rock and maul the fair maiden of spring once again.
From the snowbound doubleheader at the Rockies-Mets game last week, to the spring snow storms that hit Kansas and Colorado, Nebraska, the Dakotas, and Minnesota this month, Midwesterners have had good reason to fear that winter will never go away. Even now, a hard freeze overnight Tuesday into Wednesday in Eastern Nebraska and Western Iowa will leave daytime temperatures today far cooler than they should be for this time of year.
Not surprisingly, the anti-science idiots who insist climate change isn't real are crowing with glee once again, in the shadow of Earth Day 2013 (which was Monday, April 22). They continue to insist all this cold weather must mean that global warming isn't happening.
As we reminded them and you last year on Earth Day, there is a difference between climate and weather - and this year, that difference is more important than ever.
While the weather in the Midwest this spring may have appeared to be colder and wetter than normal, the climate for the region is still warmer - and drier. In fact, according to a report released recently by NOAA, and made understandable by the Pulitzer Prize-winning InsideClimateNews, 2013 looks to be another bleak and desperate year for drought conditions, comparable to the Dust Bowl era of the 1930s.
Thankfully, there are some state governments that are grudgingly moving forward on climate change legislation, that primarily focuses on the most important potential problem created by climate change in landlocked regions like the Midwest: water. Even in deep red conservative Nebraska, lawmakers seem to clearly understand that without access to clean, drinkable, useable water in the Midwest, everyone and everything will be dead.
We're not going to tell you that any level of government in the U.S. has been perfect on environmental issues. President Obama has been more successful in his environmental initiatives than most liberals will give him credit for - especially with the obstructionist Republicans in Congress he must deal with. Still, we expect more from him, and from all areas of government.
Those who care about the environment may get more help soon on crucial issues, in light of the EPA's harsh review of the State Department's flimsy Keystone review, and the million-plus citizen responses against the Keystone pipeline that the State Department received during the official public comment period.
No matter what the weather is outside, or what the anti-science idiots are saying, the fact remains that environmentally sensible decisions will often lead to positive outcomes in the long term.
It's also true that in the long term, spring will eventually come back to the region. As the old joke goes, why wouldn't spring come to the Midwest? It's already been everywhere else.
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