Category: Energy (Page 4 of 6)

My Grandfather Would Roll Over In His Grave

August 23, 2013 / MCDC

Speaking directly to the camera, Paul Osborne of Raven says “My family’s been in Southwest Virginia since the mid 1800s. My grandfather would roll over in his grave if he saw what was going on today with the energy companies.”

“Ken Cuccinelli is helping the energy companies take all that they can take from the landowners,” he says. “He’s received over $100,000 for his campaign.”

“If I can’t trust him now as the attorney general, how am I going to trust him as a governor?”

In 2012, Koch Industries contributed more than $2 million, $800,000 from Devon Energy, and more than $639,000 from CONSOL Energy. According to a Center for Public Integrity investigation, oil and gas interests used the RGA to as a conduit for millions in donations in 2010, allowing them to circumvent campaign finance laws and invest heavily in electing candidates who supported fracking and other drilling expansion.

More directly, Cuccinelli accepted about $200,000 from energy companies and executives. These included:

Murray Energy Corporation, $50,000
CONSOL Energy Inc., $25,000
Dominion Political Action Committee (Dominion Resources, Inc.), $25,000
Marvin Gilliam (retired VP of Cumberland Resources Corp.), $25,000
Koch Industries Inc., $25,000
American Electric Power Committee for Responsible Government (American Electric Power), $10,000
William B. Holtzman (president and owner of Holtzman Oil), $10,000
Range Resources Corporation, $10,000
Thomas Farrell (CEO of Dominion Resources, Inc.), $5,000
Michael G. Morris (President and CEO of American Electric Power), $5,000
Baxter F. Phillips Jr. (an executive with Alpha Natural Resources, Inc.), $5,000
Clyde E. Stacy (an executive with Pioneer Group/Rapoca Energy.), $5,000

Between these donations and the RGA’s funds, about half of Cuccinelli’s contributions over the reporting period were tied to oil, gas, and coal.

Inspector General To Investigate Keystone Xl House of Cards

August 7, 2013 / MCDC

Last Friday the State Department’s Office of the Inspector General confirmed that it will investigate evidence that the agency violated ethics guidelines when it hired an oil industry consultant to draft the Keystone XL environmental impact statement This evidence adds to the growing criticism that the State Department’s conclusion, which minimizes the Keystone XL’s profound impact on U.S. carbon pollution, is based on a faulty and biased review. In fact, the tar sands pipeline is a climate disaster waiting to happen.

In April and again in July, the Sierra Club and partner groups presented evidence of ethics violations by State and their consultant, ERM. We requested that the Office of the Inspector General investigate how and why the State Department hired ERM despite the company’s close ties to TransCanada, the company behind the pipeline proposal, and to the American Petroleum Institute, the industry lobbying group that is leading PR efforts to promote the pipeline and an organization of which ERM is a dues-paying member.

Read the rest

America’s Dangerous Pipelines

August 2, 2013 / MCDC

A new analysis by Richard Stover, Ph.D., and the Center for Biological Diversity of oil and gas pipeline safety in the United States reveals a troubling history of spills, contamination, injuries and deaths.

This time-lapse video shows pipeline incidents from 1986 to 2013, relying on publicly available data from the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. Only incidents classified as “significant” by the agency are shown in the video. “Significant” incidents include those in which someone was hospitalized or killed, damages amounted to more than $50,000, more than 5 barrels of highly volatile substances or 50 barrels of other liquid were released, or where the liquid exploded or burned.

According to the data, since 1986 there have been nearly 8,000 incidents (nearly 300 per year on average), resulting in more than 500 deaths (red dots on the video), more than 2,300 injuries (yellow dots on the video), and nearly $7 billion in damage.
Since 1986 pipeline accidents have spilled an average of 76,000 barrels per year or more than 3 million gallons. This is equivalent to 200 barrels every day.

Oil is by far the most commonly spilled substance, followed by natural gas and gasoline. The data does not separate oil by whether it is light crude or heavy crude typical of tar sands oil, which has proven exceedingly difficult to clean up and is the variety that would flow in the Keystone XL pipeline.

There are a number of reasons for pipeline spills, including damage during excavation operations, metal failure, improper operation and corrosion.

Pipeline failures are concentrated in states with a long history of oil and gas development like Texas and California, but have caused damage to people, property and the environment in all 48 contiguous states.

In most cases, cleanup of pipeline spills is only partially successful, leaving tens of thousands of barrels of oil on our land or in our water. On average, the government’s data shows that more than 31,000 barrels of oil or other substances are not cleaned up following pipeline incidents, and in some years many more barrels are left, polluting our environment for years to come.

President Obama Is Talking About Rejecting Keystone XL

July 31, 2013 / MCDC

To preserve our planet, scientists tell us we must reduce the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere from its current levels of nearly 400 parts per million to below 350 ppm. But 350 is more than a number—it’s a symbol of where we need to head as a planet..

In the past week, President Obama has delivered some straight talk on Keystone XL:

“I meant what I said; I’m going to evaluate this based on whether or not this is going to significantly contribute to carbon in our atmosphere.”

“That oil is going to be piped down to the Gulf to be sold on the world oil markets, so it does not bring down gas prices here in the United States.”

“Putting all your eggs in the basket of an oil pipeline that may only create about 50 permanent jobs … isn’t a jobs plan.”

Wow.

These comments are the result of years of relentless organizing by folks across the country (and the world) to put pressure on the President. More than 1400 people have been arrested, including some last week, and tens of thousands more have taken to the streets in protests against the pipeline.

In fact, since March, President Obama and his closest advisers have been met by #noKXL protests at 30 different events — from Washington, DC to Warrensburg, Missouri to Cape Town, South Africa. Each time the message is simple: keeping your promises on climate change means standing up to the tar sands and stopping Keystone XL.

[ultimate-photo source=”tumblr” uid=”organizing-for-our-future” size=”400″ style=”slideshow” num=”50″ slideshow_style=”1″ remove_np=”1″ align=”center” ]

Every independent analysis of the pipeline — unlike the State Department’s big oil-tainted assessment — has reached the obvious conclusion that building an 830,000 barrel per day pipeline carrying the world’s dirtiest oil will be bad for the climate. Even if Canada said they wanted to clean up their mess, it wouldn’t be enough: the government of Alberta enforces its environmental laws less than 1% of the time, meaning that the only climate-safe tar sands is the stuff that stays in the ground.

Tell Your Senator: The EPA Should Regulate Coal Ash

July 25, 2013 / MCDC

Today, the United States House of Representatives passed a bill that would prevent the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from establishing safeguards for disposal of toxic coal ash. Read more about the bill on our Front Porch Blog.

Any day we expect a similar bill will be filed in the U.S. Senate and both Senators Kaine and Warner are critical swing votes.

Take action now and ask Senators Kaine and Warner to oppose this bill.

Virginia produces 2.4 million tons of toxic coal ash each year and has 25 coal ash impoundments. Over half of these coal ash “ponds” are unlined, which can allow toxic chemicals like arsenic, lead and mercury to seep into our communities’ drinking water.

Already, coal ash waste has led to a major fish kill in Virginia’s Clinch River and contaminated water has been documented at six other sites. It is critical that the EPA is able to create safeguards and prevent further contamination of Virginia’s waters.

Take action now and tell your senators that preventing the EPA from regulating coal ash disposal is dangerous for our communities and the environment.

Thank you,

Nathan Jenkins
Appalachian Voices

Category: Energy (Page 4 of 6)

My Grandfather Would Roll Over In His Grave

Inspector General To Investigate Keystone Xl House of Cards

America’s Dangerous Pipelines

President Obama Is Talking About Rejecting Keystone XL

Tell Your Senator: The EPA Should Regulate Coal Ash

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