At Grist, Joshua Kahn Russell writes:
Activists drape Niagara Falls with banner to protest tar-sands oil
There’s a 70-foot banner and activists dangling over the observation tower at Niagara Falls. Before dawn this morning, a small team of climate advocates with the Rainforest Action Network rappelled hundreds of feet above the ground, to offer special welcome message to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper ahead of his first official visit to the White House to push dirty Tar Sands oil.
Not that he’s feeling so welcome anyway. Obama limited the meeting to just one hour. While some have called it a slap in the face, aides say Harper will turn the other cheek. "The economy, and the clean-energy dialogue will dominate the discussions," one aid told the Globe and Mail. Obama needed to dodge controversy over oil imports from Canada’s tar sands in the midst of the climate legislation debate. Harper needed a story to go with his photo-op.
During Harper’s first official trip to meet Obama in the U.S., the two leaders are expected to discuss climate change and energy policy ahead of the upcoming G-20 Summit. Canada supplies 19 percent of U.S. oil imports, more than half of which now come from the tar sands, making the region the largest single source of U.S. oil imports. The expansion of the tar sands will strip mine an area the size of Florida. Complete with skyrocketing rates of cancer (by 400%!) for First Nations communities living downstream, broken treaties, toxic belching lakes so large you can see them from outer space, churning up ancient boreal forest, destroyed air and water quality, the tar sands have been called the most destructive project on Earth.
= = =
The diary rescue begins below and continues in the jump. Inclusion of a particular diary does not necessarily indicate my agreement with it.
= = =
geodemographics had something to say about tar sands, too, in the diaryThe Dirtiest Business in the World: "The production of crude oil from Canada's tar sands is arguably the dirtiest business in the world. ... Once raw bitumen is recovered, it is necessary to ‘upgrade’ it to create synthetic crude oil. Simply put, bitumen is a very low grade hydrocarbon. It has a high proportion of carbon atoms to hydrogen atoms. It is therefore necessary to "add" hydrogen atoms through various chemical processes to the extracted bitumen in order to make it a viable fuel stock that can be transported to refineries. The source for this extra hydrogen is... you guessed it, natural gas (CH4). So the natural gas will either be burned to create steam or used to upgrade the dirty bitumen crude. Fossil fuels are therefore being used to manufacture more fossil fuels."
Part of the DK GreenRoots Eco-Series
RLMiller pondered what’s happening to the climate bill in Senators seek to delay ACES, but Inhofe keeps hope alive: "The bad climate news of the day comes from Byron Dorgan (D-ND) and Harry Reid (D-NV): they want to delay climate change legislation until 2010. The good news comes from a most unlikely source: James Inhofe (R-OK). In June, the Energy & Natural Resources committee passed the American Clean Energy Leadership Act (ACELA) ... ACELA is perceived by environmentalists as being weak, toothless, and ineffectual. ACELA does not have a cap & trade provision at all, and its renewable electricity standard is lower than that of the Waxman-Markey bill. Byron "Coal is our most abundant resource!" Dorgan is second in seniority at E&NR. It seems that he likes his weak, toothless, and ineffectual bill better than ACES -- imagine that!"
= = =
wader has posted the Overnight News Digest.
War on Error suggested a nasty formula in Poisons = Poor Health = Health Care Profits: "It's perfect! Our government allows corporations to poison/pollute, we get sick, and the health industry profits. 17% of GNP! Only in America. Ours is a unique heritage, not a positive one. What is the incentive, in a for-profit health care delivery system, to protect/improve our health? The epidemics in America, diabetes, breast and prostrate cancer, obesity, and heart disease can all be linked to things like BPA, fats, sugars, and salts according to the studies cited below. It is becoming nearly impossible and/or affordable to buy foods free from toxic substances. Why isn't there any pressure being put on the purveyors of poisons to help pay our health care costs?"
Frameshift was happy about the President’s new push, Obama jump-starts fuel standards: 35.5mpg by 2016!: "At a news conference including EPA head Lisa Jackson and Dept. of Transportation Sec. Ray LaHood, the Obama administration has unveiled a proposal to accelerate changes to the CAFE fuel mileage standards: requiring that auto and light truck fleets average 35.5mpg by 2016, four years earlier than previously scheduled. And phasing in stronger fuel standards starting in 2012 is expected to prevent nearly a billion metric tons of CO2 pollution and save 1.8 billion barrels of oil. ... The new standards are expected to add about $1300 to the cost of new vehicles, but save the owner around $3000 over time."
leevank urged Kossacks to action on the Transportation Appropriations Bill: "Senators McCain and Coburn have introduced two amendments to the FY10 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill which, if passed, would eliminate the majority of available federal funds for trails, walking and bicycling. I just received an email alert from the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy asking those who are concerned about preserving opportunities for walking and bicycling to call your Senators TOMORROW MORNING to ask them to oppose these amendments, since it appears that the Senate may vote on them as early as tomorrow."
Patricia Taylor warned the First Family in Dear Obamas: The EPA Lied to You About Rubber Mulch: "Rubber mulch is not good for children or gardens because ground up rubber tires have lots of toxins in them. My last diary told you that the EPA was investigating rubber mulch to see if the contaminants it contained might make your children sick. Well, the EPA lied about that study. In fact, they're NOT conducting air and surface sampling. They NEVER have. They've only look at the literature - studies (mostly industry-funded studies) that others have done."
A climate denier on the bus got an earful from Bobs Telecaster and his friend: "I was talking with a meterologist friend on the bus the other day, joking about how global warming was going to mean not having to retire to Florida. A large man nearby broke in, ‘Except that it isn't true. The temperate hasn't gone up in seven years.’ My metereologist friend, who is precise to a fault, said, ‘Generally speaking, that's true.’" And then they bombarded him with information.
wilsona alerted us to the fact that bogus Energy Citizen Rallies Distort American Opinion: "As the Senate gears up to debate climate legislation this fall, paid lobbyists with the American Petroleum Institute are organizing a new type of event – invitation only "Energy Citizens" rallies. These rallies are one of the latest attempts to spread fear that the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES) will raise energy prices and ‘kill jobs’. Recently, one such rally, organized by registered lobbyist Rolf Hanson, came within 30 minutes of Philadelphia, where I live. The event took place at Turbine Hall in the heavily industrialized City of Chester, Pennsylvania. I uncovered a few details before event planners became suspicious and I snuck in undetected."
gmoke urged people in his area to join the Weatherization Barnraising: Cambridge, MA 9/27/09: "The federal government hasn’t cut carbon yet, so let’s do it ourselves! Help to weatherize a neighbor's home. Learn skills you can take back to your own home.
Make new friends. Share food and celebrate with a live band. The Work List Includes: Weatherizing doors with Qlon; Sealing the bandjoist (where the foundation meets the frame of the house);
Use caulk and sprayfoam to stop air penetration and leakage; Air-sealing a leaky attic closet and behind leaky kitchen cabinets; How to save hundreds per year on electric bills, and much more..."