TransCanada « Progressive Bloggers // Blogues progressistes

The Canadian Progressive | News & Analysis: In Texas, An Activist Climbs Flagpole, Hangs Banner Denouncing Alberta Tar Sands

By Admin CP, on March 30, 2013, at 3:01 pm

LyondellBasell recently announced its plans to nearly triple its tar sands refining capacity from the Keystone XL pipeline as protests escalate across the continent By: Tar Sands Blockade | Press Release: HOUSTON, TX – An activist with Tar Sands Blockade climbed a 50 foot flagpole in front of LyondellBasell’s downtown Houston office [...]

The post In Texas, An Activist Climbs Flagpole, Hangs Banner Denouncing Alberta Tar Sands appeared first on The Canadian Progressive | News & Analysis.

The Canadian Progressive: State Department’s Keystone XL Project Review Upsets Environmentalists

By Obert Madondo, on March 2, 2013, at 3:19 pm

By: Obert Madondo | The Canadian Progressive | March 2, 2013: Environmentalists have soundly condemned the U.S. State Department’s Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) report on TransCanada Corp’s proposed Keystone XL pipeline. The report, released Friday, concluded that the proposed 875-mile long pipeline, which would ship up to 830,000 barrels of Canada‘s dirty tar sands oil per day from Alberta to refineries on the READ MORE

Song of the Watermelon: An Open Letter to Barack Obama and John Kerry

By Song of the Watermelon, on February 26, 2013, at 10:44 pm

Dear President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry:

As a concerned Canadian, I am writing to urge you to reject TransCanada’s application to build the Keystone XL pipeline for purposes of transporting dirty oil from Alberta’s tar sands to refineries in the United States.

I assure you that not all Canadians are quite as eager to export climate-busting bitumen as our federal government seems to be. Many of us recognize that the high energy demands required to exploit this unconventional resource give it a dangerously large carbon footprint. For this reason, we consistently oppose similar projects, such as (Read more…)

The Canadian Progressive: Forward On Climate Rally, Washington D.C., Feb 17: PHOTOSTREAM

By Obert Madondo, on February 17, 2013, at 11:19 am

Forward On Climate Rally, Washington D.C., Feb 17: PHOTOSTREAM The Canadian Progressive recommends: HISTORY: #ForwardOnClimate Rally in Washington, D.C., Feb. 17

DeSmogBlog: Keystone XL Pipeline To Take Center Stage At Republican National Convention

By Farron Cousins, on August 25, 2012, at 7:00 am

money-pipeline.jpg

Over the next few days, Republican lawmakers, Party officials, delegates, and supporters will gather in Tampa, Florida for the Republican National Convention. During their weeklong convention, we can expect to hear a lot of debunked talking points, particularly about the need to approve the Keystone XL Pipeline.

For more than a year, Republican lawmakers in the U.S. have been pushing for approval of the Keystone XL Pipeline, while completely ignoring the environmental risks that would come along with the plan to pipe dangerous DilBit from the Alberta tar sands south to the Gulf Coast.

DeSmogBlog: Breaking Up With Keystone XL and Dirty Energy – It’s Not Us, It’s You [Video]

By Guest, on July 24, 2012, at 5:23 pm

Screen Shot 2012-07-24 at 2.27.06 PM.png

This is a guest post by Heather Libby.

A new video from the Post Carbon Institute pokes fun at the Keystone XL pipeline’s tendency to reappear no matter how very little we want it around – much like an ex-boyfriend who won’t get the hint.

Like many in the environmental movement, I was thrilled when President Obama denied the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline. I really thought it was the end of the Keystone XL. Silly me.

Within weeks, Republicans were looking for new ways to resubmit the Keystone XL

DeSmogBlog: TransCanada’s Latest Extreme Energy Export Pipelines in the U.S. and Canada

By Steve Horn, on June 6, 2012, at 11:36 am

shutterstock_48011347.jpg

TransCanada was once in the limelight and targeted for its Keystone XL pipeline project. Now, with few eyes watching, it is pushing along two key pipeline projects that would bring two respective forms of what energy geopolitics scholar Michael Klare calls "extreme energy" to lucrative export markets.

Pipeline one: the southern segment of the originally proposed TransCanada Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, popularly referred to as the Cushing Extension, but officially referred to as either the Gulf Coast Project or the Cushing Marketlink pipeline. This pipeline will carry tar sands crude, or "dilbit,"

DeSmogBlog: New Bakken Shale Pipeline to Cushing, OK in the Works

By Steve Horn, on April 19, 2012, at 4:45 pm

shutterstock_79616923.jpg

The controversy over TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline has raged on for years now, with no end in sight.

The Keystone XL pipeline would carry tar sands crude from the tar sands epicenter of the world in Alberta, Canada, take it down to Cushing, OK, and then eventually down to Port Arthur, TX, where it will be refined and placed on the lucrative oil export market.

While Republicans continue to try to make Keystone XL a campaign issue, President Obama has officially put the fate of the pipeline on the backburner until after the November

DeSmogBlog: Investors: No More Flaring of Fracked Oil and Gas in Bakken Shale

By Steve Horn, on April 1, 2012, at 7:22 pm

exxon-gas-flaring-photo01.jpg

The debate over flaring unconventional oil and gas in shale basins across the United States has suddenly heated up immensely (excuse the bad pun).

On March 27, the Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economy (CERES) penned a letter calling for an end to the practice, writing,

We are a group of 37 investors, representing $500 billion in total assets, who areconcerned about the financial risks associated with the flaring of natural gas that has accompanied fast-proliferating oil production from shale formations in North Dakota, Texas and elsewhere in the U.S.

We are concerned that excessive

DeSmogBlog: Obama Sojourns to "Pipeline Crossroads of the World" for Campaign Speech

By Steve Horn, on March 20, 2012, at 5:03 pm

Cushing .jpg

It's the multi-pronged fight that never seems to end.

The Alberta Tar Sands have been near the forefront of the North American energy and climate debate, thanks in large part to growing public concern and grassroots efforts like Tar Sands Action, a campaign led by climate activists to block construction of the Keystone XL pipeline.

The temporary derailing of Keystone XL by President Obama – who in January delayed permission to construct the pipeline for the foreseeable future - was labeled a "victory" by many activists.

But complicating the "victory" narrative, Obama later granted permission to TransCanada Corporation

DeSmogBlog: Warren Buffett Exposed: The Oracle of Omaha and the Tar Sands

By Steve Horn, on February 3, 2012, at 4:00 pm

Warren Buffett Barack Obama.png

On January 23, Bloomberg News reported Warren Buffett's Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway (BNSF), owned by his lucrative holding company Berkshire Hathaway, stands to benefit greatly from President Barack Obama’s recent cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline.

If built, TransCanada's Keystone XL (KXL) pipeline would carry tar sands crude, or bitumen (“dilbit”) from Alberta, B.C. down to Port Arthur, Texas, where it would be sold on the global export market.

If not built, as revealed recently by DeSmogBlog, the grass is not necessarily

DeSmogBlog: Greenpeace Calls On SEC To Investigate TransCanada’s Inflated Jobs Claims

By Brendan DeMelle, on January 27, 2012, at 9:40 pm

keystone_xl_jobs.jpg

Greenpeace USA President Phil Radford sent a formal complaint this week to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) calling for an investigation into TransCanada’s use of wildly inflated jobs figures in promoting its application to build the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. The letter asks the SEC to review the false and misleading claims made by TransCanada on a number of matters related to the pipeline.

Although President Obama rejected the company’s first proposal to build the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, industry-friendly Republicans continue to push for its construction, often citing vastly inflated jobs figures. The

DeSmogBlog: Media Matters Analysis Shows Keystone XL Proponents Dominated Media

By Farron Cousins, on January 26, 2012, at 2:16 pm

corporate news.jpg

A compelling new study from Media Matters for America reveals that proponents of the Keystone XL pipeline were granted far more time in the media than those who opposed it. As their study reveals, the majority of the coverage of the proposed pipeline regarded the creation of jobs, which was overwhelmingly discussed in a positive light, with most news outlets reporting only the industry’s own analysis of the jobs that would be created, even as reports repeatedly showed the industry’s job numbers to be false.

In general, the report shows that the pipeline issue was often covered

DeSmogBlog: Built to Fail: National Energy Board Muzzles Environmental Scientists In Enbridge Northern Gateway Hearing

By Carol Linnitt, on January 25, 2012, at 1:16 pm

Picture 1.png

The Obama Administration’s recent decision to deny TransCanada’s application to build the Keystone XL pipeline is monumental. Alongside the rousing display of public environmental activism sparked by the proposed pipeline, the US government finally showed its environmental assessment process has a backbone. And given this timely announcement, which coincides with the Enbridge Joint Panel Review of the proposed Northern Gateway Pipeline, it might be cause for some optimism. That is, it would be if the Enbridge hearing wasn’t built to fail.

But the hearings are built to fail. The National Energy Board (NEB), the federal

DeSmogBlog: Demise of Keystone XL Means More Bakken Shale Gas Flaring

By Steve Horn, on January 24, 2012, at 12:38 am

NA-Pipeline-Map-Theodora.png

Damned if we do, damned if we don't – this is the CliffsNotes version of the ongoing Keystone XL pipeline debate. President Barack Obama recently halted TransCanada's proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline project, which would bring tar sands crude, or dilluted bitumen ("dilbit") from Alberta, B.C. through the heart of the U.S., to Gulf Coast refineries near Port Arthur, Texas, where the oil would then be exported to the global market.

Most environmental organizations declared victory and suggest the Keystone XL pipeline is dead. Unfortunately, this is far from the case. Republican House Majority Leader John

DeSmogBlog: American Petroleum Institute’s Jack Gerard Fact Checked By Activists During Speech

By Guest, on January 22, 2012, at 9:15 pm

Vote 4 Oil.png

Guest post by Connor Gibson, cross-posted from Polluterwatch.

Two days ago, President Obama denied the permit for the destructive Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, much to the dismay of Big Oil's top lobbyist and propagandist. Speaking at the National Press Club to an audience dominated by oil, coal and nuclear representatives and lobbyists, American Petroleum Institute (API) president Jack Gerard continued to lash out at President Obama over the pipeline decision. However, activists attending their event fact checked Jack's big oil talking points.

Shortly after asking the president, "what are you thinking?!" a group of

DeSmogBlog: Without Facts on Their Side, Oil Shills Try to Buy Keystone Support on Twitter

By Ben Jervey, on January 18, 2012, at 6:24 pm

As the internet reacts to the State Department's bold decision to deny the Keystone XL pipeline proposal, you're likely to come across the moans and cries of the stumbling Goliaths of Big Oil.

Having lost the Keystone XL battle, the oil industry and its shills in Washington are falling back on that old reliable strategy to spin the decision. That old reliable strategy is, of course, "spending money" to pollute the public conversation with misinformation.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Republican Congressional Committee want to make sure that no matter what your opinion of the decision,

DeSmogBlog: Keystone XL Pipeline Would Increase Oil Prices in Midwest

By Ben Jervey, on January 18, 2012, at 2:11 pm

Screen shot 2012-01-18 at 10.14.20 AM.png

Twitter is ablaze with the news that the State Department will announce today that the original TransCanada presidential permit application is dead in the water. Details are murky, so stay tuned for more, but what this likely means is that the State Department will allow TransCanada to re-apply for the permit with a new route that avoids the heart of Nebraska's Ogallalla Aquifer.

While it's good to see that President Obama is standing up to oil industry bullying and Republican pressure to fast-track the permit, this still means Keystone XL is very

DeSmogBlog: Bechtel Whistleblower Warns Against Keystone XL; Witnessed Shoddy Work on TransCanada’s Keystone I

By Ben Jervey, on January 8, 2012, at 3:14 pm

Back in August, DeSmogBlog’s own Emma Pullman co-produced a startling infographic about how the first section of TransCanada’s Keystone pipeline system was “Built to Spill,” with a dozen spills recorded in the pipeline’s first year of operation.

According to a must-read bombshell Op-Ed in the Lincoln Journal Star, these spills came as no big surprise to the workers closest to the project. The piece, published on New Years Eve by a former Bechtel engineer who worked on that original stretch of pipeline, tells the story of gross safety negligence and lax oversight in constuction of that first Keystone line,

DeSmogBlog: The Year In Dirty Energy: Keystone XL

By Farron Cousins, on December 30, 2011, at 4:49 pm

tarsands protests.jpg

This year, a deal between TransCanada and the U.S. government almost allowed one of the most disastrous plans in energy history to win aproval. The deal would have allowed TransCanada to build the Keystone XL pipeline across the U.S. border to carry an exceptionally dirty form of oil from Alberta's tar sands through several U.S. states to refineries along the Texas gulf coast.

But thanks to some bizarre GOP politicking in the year-end fight over payroll tax cut legislation, the table is set for President Obama to reject this fossil folly. The likely demise of

DeSmogBlog: House Republicans Working On Huge Polluter Giveaways

By Farron Cousins, on December 9, 2011, at 7:49 pm

House-Republicans-Boehner-Pence-Cantor.jpg

The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives is playing hardball with President Obama’s proposal to extend a payroll tax cut extension, and now they’ve found a way to use the extension as a means to grant their polluter friends everything on their holiday wish list.

According to Reuters, Republicans in the House added the approval of the recently-killed (albeit temporarily) Keystone XL Pipeline to the payroll tax cut extension bill, granting the project immediate approval if the rider stays connected to the bill. From Reuters, via Raw Story:

House of Representatives will include approval of a

DeSmogBlog: Congressmembers Implicated in Insider Stock Trading on TransCanada, Keystone XL Pipeline

By Steve Horn, on December 9, 2011, at 7:07 pm

shutterstock_89794186.jpg

When it comes to TransCanada Corporation's Keystone XL pipeline approval process, corruption has been rampant, as well covered by DeSmogBlog as it unfolded. The Keystone XL pipeline, currently in limbo, would carry tar sands crude — a thick and dirty fossil fuel called bitumen — from the Alberta tar sands through the heartland region and eventually down to Port Arthur, Texas, to be refined and placed on the global export market.

This week, a new layer of corruption was revealed by Sunlight Foundation Reporting Group, this one involving insider trading of TransCanada's stocks by

DeSmogBlog: Breaking: State Department Delays Keystone XL Decision Until 2013

By Ben Jervey, on November 10, 2011, at 4:27 pm

Obama tar sands.gif The State Department announced today that they would “seek additional information” about the Keystone XL pipeline, meaning that they will take another 12 months at… . . . → Read More: DeSmogBlog: Breaking: State Department Delays Keystone XL Decision Until 2013

DeSmogBlog: Valero Positioning To Export Tar Sands Oil, Guarding Pot of Gold at End of Keystone XL Pipeline

By Ben Jervey, on November 9, 2011, at 9:00 am

Valero Logo.gif In the heated Keystone XL debate, the Canadian company TransCanada, which is attempting to build the line, and the Koch brothers, who are throwing their considerable weight behi… . . . → Read More: DeSmogBlog: Valero Positioning To Export Tar Sands Oil, Guarding Pot of Gold at End of Keystone XL Pipeline

DeSmogBlog: Bogus Job Numbers Used To Sell Keystone XL Pipeline

By Farron Cousins, on November 6, 2011, at 1:46 pm

tarsands protests.jpg As thousands of protestors gather at The White House today to voice opposition to the Keystone XL Pipeline plan, one of the major selling points from the pipeline proponents… . . . → Read More: DeSmogBlog: Bogus Job Numbers Used To Sell Keystone XL Pipeline

Top votes – past day

Top votes – past month