#NoKXL: Guess What's NOT in POTUS' Budget! (Rhymes with Shnipeline)

From The Huffington Post:

WASHINGTON -- The White House budget released Wednesday highlighted President Barack Obama's all-of-the-above energy strategy, yet conspicuously absent is any mention of Keystone XL, the controversial oil pipeline proposal being reviewed by the State Department.

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and House Republicans had included funding for the $7 billion pipeline in their own budget and have been pressing the White House in budget talks to do the same.

The GOP House plan, which aims to encourage domestic energy development, would force the Obama administration to approve Keystone XL. The funds included for its construction underscore the importance the GOP has placed on the pipeline, which would carry tar sands oil from Canada to refineries along the Gulf Coast...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...

(bolding by diarist)

Does this mean we don't need this blogathon? OF COURSE NOT! The GOP is trying to get Congress to force the administration to approve the pipeline. (See this Washington Post article for more on this, if you can stomach it: http://www.washingtonpost.com/...) So we need to sway vacillating Democratic congress members and, if we're lucky, a few Republican ones to our side. And we need to make it crystal clear to the President that KXL approval is an unacceptable concession to the GOP.

Also, if the chained CPI flap doodle is any guide, a budget's inclusion or omission is not necessarily reflective of what authors of said budget want implemented. I strongly believe that the President wants, nay needs us to "make him" prevent the construction of the KXL pipeline.

One last encouraging excerpt from the HuffPo article:

The White House budget also includes funding to boost communities' resilience in the face of climate change, increases in Interior Department revenue through higher royalty rates on energy production, closure of loopholes for oil and gas producers, and permanent tax provisions for renewable energy.

#NOKXL Blogathon: April 12 - April 22, 2013 Poster Credit: National Wildlife Federation

#NOKXL Blogathon: April 12 - April 22, 2013 You Can Make a Difference On March 1, 2013, the United States State Department released a Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) for the Presidential Permit application for the proposed Keystone XL pipeline.  The SEIS evaluates the potential environmental impacts. The purpose of this campaign is to obtain one million public comments in opposition to building this environmentally-destructive pipeline.  We hope that this blogathon will make submission of public comments easier. This effort is being coordinated with Bill McKibben of 350.org and in coalition with the Sierra Club, National Wildlife Federation, League of Conservation Voters, Natural Resources Defense Council, Oil Change International, and Bold Nebraska.   A victim of the recent tar sands oil spill in Mayflower, Arkansas, this bird says it all.   Photograph being used with permission from Fast For The Earth. We have an exciting line up of prominent lawmakers, environmental activists, and Daily Kos diarists.  Each one of them will be posting a diary in opposition to the Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline. Some guests will be including a brief "sample comment" that readers can copy and submit at the State Department website.  The diaries and "sample comments" can be used as your comments! Readers who have specialized knowledge and skills relating to the pipeline, tar sands, climate change, or the petroleum industry may, of course, choose to create their own comments with additional details.   Comments written by you are reviewed by our government with no media filter.  Three of our coalition partners will keep track of the number of comments submitted to the U.S. Department of State. Please submit your comments through one of the below links: "A Million Comments Against Keystone XL" - 350.org will deliver your comments directly to the State Department and has a system set up so that you can customize your comment. "Tell President Obama: Reject Keystone XL!" - Sierra Club has a sample public comment that allows you to personalize your message. "Tell the State Department: #NoKXL" - Oil Change International has a very helpful template to formulate your comments. The deadline for submission of public comments is April 22, 2013. Let your voice be heard.  Our Daily Kos community organizers are Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse, boatsie, rb137, JekyllnHyde, Onomastic, citisven, peregrine kate, DWG, and John Crapper, with Meteor Blades as the group's adviser. Diary Schedule - All Times Pacific More helpful details are in this diary - DK Blogathon Hosts Eco Coalition in #NOKXL Public Comment Campaign by Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse.  Use hashtag #NOKXL to tweet all diaries posted during this blogathon. Friday, April 12 1:00 pm: #NOKXL Blogathon: Your voice on the Keystone XL pipeline matters by DWG. 3:00 pm: Daniel Kessler, Media Campaigner for 350.org. (will be rescheduled) Saturday, April 13 11:00 am: Keystone XL: a pipeline THROUGH the US, not to it by dturnbull, Campaigns Director of Oil Change International. 1:00 pm: #NOKXL: Dilbit in the Pipeline by Agathena. Sunday, April 14 11:00 am: Keystone XL: Wildlife in the Crosshairs by Target Global Warming, Peter LaFontaine is the Energy Policy Advocate for the National Wildlife Federation. 1:00 pm: #NoKXL: The Future Is In Our Hands; Say No To The XL Pipeline Disaster by beach babe in fl. 3:00 pm: ericlewis0. Please remember to republish these diaries to your Daily Kos Groups.  You can also follow all postings by clicking this link for the Climate Change SOS Blogathon Group. Then, click 'Follow' and that will make all postings show up in 'My Stream' of your Daily Kos page.