Boehner is apparently on an incentive scheme from Canadian Oil sands companies -- 'cause he doesn't give a dam about Americans or their Health

U.S. House Speaker John Boehner will make a new attempt to force approval of the stalled Keystone XL oil pipeline as part of legislation for another 90-day extension of federal road, bridge and transit construction funding, Republican aides said on Friday.

By seeking a second short-term funding extension, the plan aims to put the Canada-to-Texas pipeline and expanded drilling rights back at the top of the House agenda without the struggles that the House has endured in trying to pass a longer-term, more expensive transport bill.

Not so banana republic ... more like a developed nation exercising its sovereign rights to protect its nature and people

A Brazilian federal prosecutor filed criminal charges on Wednesday against Chevron and drill-rig operator Transocean for a November oil spill, raising the stakes in a legal saga that has added to Chevron's woes in Latin America and could slow Brazil's offshore oil boom.

Prosecutor Eduardo Santos de Oliveira also filed criminal charges against 17 local executives and employees at Chevron and Transocean, owner of the world's largest oil rig fleet. Among the defendants is George Buck, 46, a U.S. national in charge of Chevron's operations in Brazil, the prosecutor's office said in a statement.
"The spilling of oil affected the entire maritime ecosystem, possibly pushing some species to extinction, and caused impacts on economic activity in the region," Santos de Oliveira, a prosecutor in the oil district of Campos de Goytacazes, said in the filing. "The employees of Chevron and Transocean caused a contamination time bomb of prolonged effect."

The charges stem from a 3,000-barrel leak in the Frade field, about 120 km (75 miles) off the coast of Rio de Janeiro state. They include: failure to realize protocols to contain the leak; failure to take steps to kill the well and stop the drilling process; breach of licenses, legal norms and regulation, including altering documents; and failure to meet legal and contractual duties.

TransCanada Announces Plan to Circumvent Environmental Review to Build Rejected Tar Sands Pipeline in US

WASHINGTON, DC – TransCanada, the company behind the rejected Keystone XL tar sands pipeline sent a letter to the US State Department announcing its intention to circumvent US environmental review and build the southern portion of the proposed crude oil pipeline from Cushing, OK, to Port Arthur, TX. In the month since President Obama denied the permit the company has undertaken an unprecedented lobbying and public relations effort to gain approval for the pipeline.

In response, Michael Brune, Sierra Club Executive Director, issued the following statement:
“TransCanada is hell bent on bringing tar sands, the world’s dirtiest oil, through America to reach foreign markets. They can’t wait for a fair, scientific environmental review they know their pipeline would fail. So we see dirty political tricks, dirty PR tricks, and, now, this dirty trick to build the pipeline piecemeal.

“With TransCanada it’s ‘safety last.’ The first US Keystone pipeline averaged a leak a month. But the company can’t wait to divert tar sands crude oil from the Midwest to the Gulf, raising American oil prices and, likely, also gasoline prices. This Oklahoma to Texas segment of the Keystone XL pipeline will mean more tar sands converted to diesel and available for export overseas.

 “With this announcement TransCanada is telling the Americans that it is above the law. The company did not expect public scrutiny on this project, but the American people are watching and we are unwilling to sacrifice American farmers and ranchers, and the drinking water for millions of Americans whose water supplies lie below or downstream of this dangerous pipeline.”

Keystone XL: the drunk guest at the party that just won't leave.....

Uncertain Gains and Certain Losses

Should the pipeline move forward, the only certain winners would be the Canadian and American oil companies that build and maintain it. The number of jobs that would be produced is the subject of great debate. And the income from future oil revenue is so uncertain, the pipeline is even opposed by some fiscal conservatives.

The losses, however, are clear:

• The process begins with a massive strip-mining operation in Alberta that turns wildlife-rich boreal forest into a barren petro-landscape. Undisturbed, this forest absorbs and stores massive quantities of carbon. Destroy the forest, and that carbon stays airborne.
• The mined tar sands must then be cooked, using natural gas, to separate the petroleum from the sand. This leads to dramatic new sources of greenhouse gas emissions compared with conventional oil refining.
• The pipeline will cross 70 rivers and streams, including the Missouri, Platte, Yellowstone, and Arkansas. It crosses aquifers on which millions of Americans rely for drinking water and agricultural irrigation. The likelihood of pipeline leaks and spills is near certain.

Money Talks in Washington

So why is there this much pressure to keep the pipeline alive? It’s about money. It’s about the $145 million that the oil industry poured into Washington lobbying firms in 2011 alone. It’s about the $22,500,000 in campaign contributions made to Congressional candidates in 2010-11.

H.R. 7 the Worst Environmental Bill = tries to push thru Keystone XL, open the Artic Wildlife Refuge, cut public transportation, safe biking and walking programs = this is Congress for the Corporation not We the PEOPLE!!!

In less than 24 hours, dozens of environmental and progressive groups came together to send 500,000 emails to the Senate against the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. It worked -- Congress heard from nearly 800,000 Americans, from all 50 states.

This is huge. After feeling that grassroots pressure, the Senate has postponed the Keystone XL vote for the second time this month. But there's an even worse bill in the House of Representatives up for a vote this month -- and it's up to you to make sure the House feels the same pressure the Senate did.

H.R. 7 could be the worst environmental bill we see all year. Call your Representative today and let them know: Valentine's Day is over. No more sweetheart deals for Big Oil.

House Republicans are using crucial transportation legislation to push through not just Keystone XL but also drilling in the pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, deep cuts to public transportation and safe biking and walking programs, and attacks on bedrock environmental protections.

Instead, this legislation should be about giving Americans clean transportation choices that move us beyond oil -- a dirty fuel that spills out of pipelines and wells, threatens our national security, and contributes more to climate change and smog than any other fossil fuel.

It's true that Big Oil has millions of dollars to spend lobbying the Hill. But we have 1.4 million supporters and members -- and as we've seen time and time again, when we stand together, voices can speak louder than money.

USA: The right wing ... really the corporate wing with whatever it takes wrapper to corrupt you.

It is no coincidence that so many state legislatures have spent the last year taking destructive actions: making it harder for minorities and other groups that support Democrats to vote, obstructing health care reform, weakening environmental regulations and breaking the spines of public- and private-sector unions. All of these efforts are being backed — in some cases, orchestrated — by a little-known conservative organization financed by millions of corporate dollars. 

The American Legislative Exchange Council was founded in 1973 by the right-wing activist Paul Weyrich; its big funders include Exxon Mobil, the Olin and Scaife families and foundations tied to Koch Industries. Many of the largest corporations are represented on its board. 

ALEC has written model legislation on a host of subjects dear to corporate and conservative interests, and supporting lawmakers have introduced these bills in dozens of states. A recent study of the group’s impact in Virginia showed that more than 50 of its bills were introduced there, many practically word for word. The study, by ProgressVA, found that ALEC had been involved in writing bills that would: 

¶Prohibit penalizing residents for failing to obtain health insurance, undermining the individual mandate in the reform law. The bill, which ALEC says has been introduced in 38 states, was signed into law and became the basis for Virginia’s legal challenge to heath care reform. 

¶Require voters to show a form of identification. Versions of this bill passed both chambers this month. 

¶Encourage school districts to contract with private virtual-education companies. (One such company was the corporate co-chair of ALEC’s education committee.) The bill was signed into law. 

¶Call for a federal constitutional amendment to permit the repeal of any federal law on a two-thirds vote of state legislatures. The bill failed. 

¶Legalize use of deadly force in defending one’s home. Bills to this effect, which recently passed both houses, have been backed by the National Rifle Association, a longtime member of ALEC. 

ALEC’s influence in the Virginia statehouse is pervasive, the study showed. The House of Delegates speaker, William Howell, has been on the board since 2003 and was national chairman in 2009. He has sponsored or pushed many of the group’s bills, including several benefiting specific companies that support ALEC financially, like one that would reduce a single company’s asbestos liability. At least 115 other state legislators have ties to the group, including paying membership dues, attending meetings and sponsoring bills. The state has spent more than $230,000 sending lawmakers to ALEC conferences since 2001.

Similar efforts have gone on in many other states. The group has been particularly active in weakening environmental regulations and fighting the Environmental Protection Agency. ALEC’s publication, “E.P.A.’s Regulatory Train Wreck,” outlines steps lawmakers can take, including curtailing the power of state regulators.

Keystone XL: Republicans want to bisect our country with a pipeline, bypass our laws and then bypass our citizens to send the oil abroad.

A Republican-backed bill giving the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission power to approve TransCanada Corp. (TRP)’s Keystone XL pipeline would remove two federal agencies from oversight, officials of the Interior Department and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said.

The Interior Department is responsible for monitoring construction and maintenance of pipelines on U.S. land, and the legislation makes FERC the “sole federal agency responsible for the project,” Mike Pool, deputy director of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management, said today at a House subcommittee hearing in Washington. The Corps would lose its permitting authority for the pipeline, an official said.

The bill strips the Corps of Engineers of its role in reviewing and approving pipelines, Margaret Gaffney-Smith, chief of the Corps’ regulatory program, said at the hearing. It also poses jurisdictional and legal issues, officials from the State Department and FERC told the House subcommittee Jan. 25. FERC doesn’t have the authority to site oil pipelines.

Keystone XL will endanger Nebraska’s water supplies, and lead to oil exports.

House Democrats led by Representative Edward Markey of Massachusetts today introduced a measure that would prevent exports of the crude transported by the pipeline from Alberta to the Gulf Coast.

“Other countries shouldn’t be allowed to bisect our country with a pipeline and then bypass our citizens to send the oil abroad,” Markey said in a statement.

The legislation “gives the pipeline an unprecedented regulatory earmark,” Representative Henry Waxman, a California Democrat who has led opposition, said. It directs FERC to approve the pipeline “even though we don’t yet know what route it will take through the state of Nebraska.”

Koch Industries Inc. of Wichita, Kansas, may benefit from the pipeline’s construction, said Waxman, who criticized Republicans for not inviting company executives or officials from Calgary-based TransCanada to testify.

Rick Santorum = a man of the 1% !!!!

Million-dollar-plus 2010 income included payments from a lobbying firm, an energy company engaged in controversial "hydrofracking" and a hospital conglomerate that was sued for allegedly defrauding the federal government.

Keystone XL = Dirty & Dangerous!!!

Please call your Congressman/Senator and urge them to stand strong against the dirty, dangerous Keystone XL pipeline:


•Oil pipelines have proven to be dangerous -- from the June 2nd spill of more than 42,000 gallons of oil into Montana's Yellowstone river, to last summer's 840,000 gallon tar sands pipeline spill into Michigan's Kalamazoo River, to the 12 spills along TransCanada's Keystone pipeline in its first 12 months of operation. Our current regulatory system has proven inadequate to protect communities from spills like these and must be updated before any more major pipelines are approved.

•Keystone XL will not increase energy security. It will allow Canadian oil companies to limit the supply of their crude to Midwest refineries and divert it to Gulf Coast deepwater port refineries where it can be exported overseas to markets like China.

•Keystone XL will raise gas prices. TransCanada's Canadian permit application for Keystone XL clearly stated that the pipeline could be used to add up to $4 billion to America's fuel bill. Prominent oil market economist Dr. Philip Verleger concluded that this would increase gas prices by 10-20 cents per gallon, especially in the Midwest, having the greatest impact on U.S. farmers.

•The pipeline would threaten the environment. Tar sands crude oil produces 82% more global warming pollution on a life cycle basis than conventional crude oil. This vote follows a weekend where record high temperatures threatened communities across the country.

Let your Congressmen/Senators know that you oppose this attempt to force the construction of a dangerous and unnecessary pipeline through America's land and waters.

Canadian Tar Sands summarized = TRULY NUTS!!!

For every barrel of oil they extract there, they have to use enough natural gas to heat a family's home for four days, and they have to tear up four tons of landscape, all for one barrel of oil. It is truly nuts.

Republicans kill Keystone Pipeline by handing knife to the Democrats.....

To try to break a stalemate in the payroll tax cut negotiations, Obama's fellow Democrats first dropped their proposal to pay for it with a surtax on millionaires. Then on Friday they abandoned what had appeared to be a non-negotiable demand -- for the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada to Texas to be kept separate from the payroll tax cut issue.


The measure would require Obama to make a decision on allowing construction of Keystone within 60 days or declare that "oil trade with Canada is not in the national interest of the United States," according to an aide to Republican Senator Richard Lugar.


Obama recently put off a decision on the pipeline until 2013 while the government studies alternative routes. Many interpreted that move as a way to appease his environmental base in his bid to win re-election in November 2012.


The deal immediately drew fire from environmentalists, who said it was an example of House Republicans holding the federal government hostage on behalf of the oil industry.


"We're disappointed that the president seemingly signed off on this deal, but we expect that he's going to live up to his promise ... that he will turn down the permit for the pipeline," said Daniel Kessler, spokesman for Tar Sands Action, a group that opposes the project.


Kessler said he expected members from his group would reprise their protests about the project at Obama's campaign offices across the country.


In a defense of what appeared to be a major concession to Republicans, an Obama administration official said the deal would effectively mean the Keystone project would not go ahead.


The official noted that the State Department has said it could not make a decision on the project within 60 days and any attempt to force its hand would likely result in a decision to deny a permit for the project.

Republicans sneak bad legislation into your Christmas Stocking!!!! Ho Ho Ho....

Here's just a small sampling of what we're facing in the next two weeks and why we MUST speak up immediately:



Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner is pushing to attach a rider that would force approval of the highly controversial Keystone XL pipeline with almost no review of its effect on water supplies and other public resources to the payroll tax bill. If it goes through, this would circumvent the State Department's authority and expose America's heartland to the risk of spills and contamination from the 2,000+ mile pipeline.


Another rider would block new limits on mercury and other hazardous emissions. If it passes, this rider will cause up to 28,350 premature deaths, 150,000 asthma attacks, and nearly 19,000 hospital visits over the next 3 ½ years.


Republican Senator Barrasso of Wyoming is also pushing for a rider that would hamper efforts to preserve critical waterways, including wetlands and small streams that filter pollutants, prevent flooding, and replenish our drinking water.

Canada says to the WORLD: Damn the environment; let's get on with polluting in a really big way!!!!

Canada on Monday became the first country to announce it would withdraw from the Kyoto protocol on climate change.


Environment Minister Peter Kent broke the news on his return from talks in Durban, where countries agreed to extend Kyoto for five years and hammer out a new deal forcing all big polluters for the first time to limit greenhouse gas emissions.

Canada, a major energy producer which critics complain is becoming a climate renegade.

The right-of-center Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, which has close ties to the energy sector.

"It's a national disgrace. Prime Minister Harper just spat in the faces of people around the world for whom climate change is increasingly a life and death issue," said Graham Saul of Climate Action Network Canada.

"Our government is abdicating its international responsibilities. It's like where the kid in school who knows he's going to fail the class, so he drops it before that happens," said Megan Leslie of the opposition New Democrats.

Canada's former Liberal government signed up to Kyoto, which dictated a cut in emissions to 6 percent below 1990 levels by 2012. By 2009 emissions were 17 percent above the 1990 levels, because of the expanding tar sands development.

Republicans : We get to screw up the environment if you want your payroll tax cut extension...."It's a wonderful LIFE!"

The Republican House bill containing the payroll tax cut would also push through a decision by the administration on TransCanada Corp.’s proposed Keystone XL pipeline without further needed environmental studies, which would connect Canada’s oil sands to refineries on the Gulf Coast. Environmental groups are opposing the project that will contaminate aquifers and put citizens lives and the lives of their children at risk.



The State Department, which has jurisdiction because the pipeline crosses an international border, has said it will rule on plan in 2013 to allow time to study a new route that avoids the environmentally sensitive Sandhills region in Nebraska.

President Barack Obama has said he’ll reject legislation to extend the payroll tax if the pipeline language is attached.


While he Labor Department last week said the unemployment rate fell to 8.6 percent in November, the lowest since March 2009, Obama administration officials such as Alan Kreuger, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, said the global economy remains “in a fragile state.”

The Republican legislation would also require the Environmental Protection Agency to delay new pollution rules for industrial boilers.
Obama advisers have said they would recommend the president veto a delay on the boiler rule.

Environment = who cares!!! It's not like our children breath the air, drink the water or want to see blue skies & sunsets....

The House of Representatives in the current Congress is the most anti-environment House in the history of Congress. So far this year, the House has voted 125 times to undermine the protection of the environment.


The House has not completed debate of H.R. 2584, the FY 2012 Interior and Environment Appropriations bill, which some have called “the worst assault on clean air and water in history.” This legislation contains 39 new anti-environment riders and slashes funding for the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Interior. This analysis includes the votes on H.R. 2584 taken on or before July 28th, 2011.

The anti-environment votes taken by the House include 20 votes to block actions to address climate change. These include votes to deny that climate change is occurring; to block EPA from regulating carbon emissions from power plants and oil refineries; to block EPA from regulating carbon emissions from motor vehicles, which also reduces oil imports; and even to eliminate requirements that large sources disclose the level of their carbon emissions.

The anti-environment votes include 31 votes to block actions to prevent air and water pollution. These include votes to block EPA from regulating mercury and other hazardous air pollutants emitted from cement plants; to relax emission requirements for offshore oil and gas activities; to stop EPA from establishing new water quality standards or enforcing existing ones; and to prevent EPA from protecting streams from the effects of mountaintop-removal mining.

The anti-environment votes include 33 votes to undermine protection for public lands and coastal areas. These include votes to slash funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund; to require oil and gas leasing off of the East and West Coasts; and to waive requirements for environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for offshore oil and gas activities.

And the anti-environment votes include 22 votes to defund or repeal clean energy initiatives. These include votes to overturn new, industry-supported energy efficiency standards for light bulbs; to cut funding for renewable energy projects; and to defund research into promising clean energy technologies.

Multiple federal agencies and statutes have been targeted by the anti-environment votes. Among federal agencies, the most common targets have been the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Energy, and the Department of Interior: 50 votes targeted the Environmental Protection Agency; 24 votes targeted the Department of Energy; and 25 votes targeted the Department of the Interior.

Among federal statutes, the most common targets have been the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and NEPA: 28 votes rolled back or defunded the Clean Air Act; 16 votes rolled back or defunded the Clean Water Act; and 11 votes limited the application of NEPA.

The anti-environment votes were highly partisan. Of the 125 anti-environment votes, 104 were roll-call votes. On average, 96% of Republicans voted for the anti-environment position. In contrast, 84% of Democrats voted for the pro-environment position.