So according to Big Eddie, "Oil is here to stay"

[radiclib]

Last edited Wed Feb 5, 2014, 01:11 AM - Edit history (1)

There always seems to be an issue at play that Ed Schultz just doesn't seem to get. Now it's global warming, which he apparently considers no big deal, seeing as he now supports the Keystone XL pipeline. Unbelievable? Not really. Just Ed being Ed.

[bravenak]

1. I was really getting irritated by him.

He seemed to be pushing the idea that the oil has to come out of the ground no matter what. What wrong with not pumping the oil out if the ground? Why can't we just leave it where it is and move on to renewables faster?

I'm also against the Pebble Mine.

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. He is wrong on this, and so is the administration

He is parroting the WH position through the DoS.

[bravenak]

3. This is one area that me and the president can't agree on ever.

I told my husband that he must have gotten a call from the White House telling him to support the stupid pipeline. Next they'll try to bring up that Alaska gas pipeline and I'll rip my hair off.
It's like they forget about the Alaska Oil spills. The pipeline gets holes in it. I wish they would remember that.

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. It is a political problem

As well as an environmental. What I hated is how much Ed, and the WH, ignore the fact that most of this oil will go to the world's market. Energy independence my ass. This is about short term (best case) transfer to other energy sources. I think they are in denial as to how serious climate change really is.

Oh and I believe Ed got a call off the record to be honest. This happens regularly.

[bravenak]

9. He was trying to pretend that it was beneficial to us because we would be refining the oil?

Then it gets sold on the world market to whom ever. They must not notice how hot it is up here in Alaska and that we have been having record temperature all winter. The snow has been melting and there was a highway closed because the melt off caused a big avalanche. I don't know why the answer is ' Drill baby Drill!'
Big Ed would get along with Palin on this issue. She loves big oil. We're giving tax credits to big oil in my state to thank them for pumping more oil. Yay!!!

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. Or California, we are in the midst of a historic drought

Ed is now fully a beltway creature. Until water starts going up the stairs of the Capitol, it will at the pace we are going, they won't care.

[bravenak]

11. My sister told me about the drought. She lives in L.A.

I wish we could give you guys some of our water. We have so much and the sea levels are rising from what I call the big melt. Those icebergs are fresh water and melting fast, shame we can't find a way to cheaply transport some to our friends in the lower 48. You could all come here though, we have enough room but it's cold.

I would be in approval of a water pipeline. If it spills we'd just get more vegetation, instead of pollution.

[nadinbrzezinski]

12. When we used to talk infrastructure

There was talk of one. Either from Alaska or the big lakes, and it be good to be honest.

Should I invite ed to come with me next major fire to cover it from the front lines? Fire fighters do not debate it any longer. They have embraced climate change.

[bravenak]

14. Ed needs to be face to face with the issues cause by climate change. You can't drink oil.

He was acting like it didn't really matter, so yes he should be invited. And that water pipeline will be needed even more if we keep pumping all of that oil out of the ground. Tell him that for me, if he bothers to respond.

[nadinbrzezinski]

15. He used to, living in Fargo.

He's become a creature of the beltway.

[Blue_In_AK]

18. Wally Hickel used to talk about shipping Alaska water south.

Everybody laughed at him then, but it doesn't sound so crazy now.

[Spider Jerusalem]

17. Which may be due to global warming...

(warming is certainly not going to help matters) but the drought is only "historic" in the period since we've been keeping records. The 20th century was one of the wettest in the past millennium in the West; our idea of "normal" climate for the region is exceptional by long-term standards (and previous dry periods have lasted for over a century). The following is from six years ago, and the situation doesn't look to have improved since:

...in the centuries before Europeans settled the Southwest, the Colorado basin repeatedly experienced droughts more severe and protracted than any since then. During one 13-year megadrought in the 12th century, the flow in the river averaged around 12 million acre-feet, 80 percent of the average flow during the 20th century and considerably less than is taken out of it for human use today. Such a flow today would mean serious shortages, and serious water wars. "The Colorado River at 12 million acre-feet would be real ugly," says one water manager.

Unfortunately, global warming could make things even uglier. Last April, a month before Meko and Woodhouse published their latest results, a comprehensive study of climate models reported in Science predicted the Southwest's gradual descent into persistent Dust Bowl conditions by mid-century. Researchers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), meanwhile, have used some of the same models to project Colorado streamflow. In their simulations, which have been confirmed by others, the river never emerges from the current drought. Before mid-century, its flow falls to seven million acre-feet—around half the amount consumed today.

The wet 20th century, the wettest of the past millennium, the century when Americans built an incredible civilization in the desert, is over. Trees in the West are adjusting to the change, and not just in the width of their annual rings: In the recent drought they have been dying off and burning in wildfires at an unprecedented rate. For most people in the region, the news hasn't quite sunk in. Between 2000 and 2006 the seven states of the Colorado basin added five million people, a 10 percent population increase. Subdivisions continue to sprout in the desert, farther and farther from the cities whose own water supply is uncertain. Water managers are facing up to hard times ahead. "I look at the turn of the century as the defining moment when the New West began," says Pat Mulroy, head of the Southern Nevada Water Authority. "It's like the impact of global warming fell on us overnight."

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/print/2008/02/drying-west/kunzig-text

[Blue_In_AK]

13. I 100% agree with you! Brave

I would absolutely LOVE to see the oilies leave Alaska. Sure, it would be hard for a while, but think how great it would be to take our state back.

[bravenak]

16. They have run this state for far too long.

In sixth grade at Oceanview elementary we had a guy come and talk to us about climate change. He was from Exxon.
The money doesn't stay here anyway, so they can FO.

[earthside]

4. Is his Ed's balancing act?

I wonder if Schultz being for the XL pipeline is his way of balancing out his vocal opposition to TPP?

I also think Ed would be a natural supporter of Brian Schweitzer for the presidential nomination and Schweitzer is pro-XL.

And I like Schweitzer, too ... but I don't agree with him on this.

[radiclib]

5. Yes, he and Schweitzer are birds of a feather

"Gun-totin', meat eatin' liberals", like Ed used to describe himself.

[GoCubsGo]

22. I think that train crash in Casselton, ND scared him.

It was the one that happened on Dec. 30th. One of the trains was carrying tar sands oil, and it burned for days and threatened a town. I also think he really believes that we'll give up oil when they pry it from our cold, dead hands. Hey is probably right on that, sadly. My guess is that he thinks he's fighting for the lesser of two evils, and that the conversion to alternative energy sources isn't going to happen until we're forced into it. He might be right. But, I also think he'd to better to fight than have such a fatalistic attitude.

[hatrack]

6. Yes, and we'll be keeping all that oil HERE IN 'MURCA!!

Oh, wait. We'll sell it to the highest bidder just like we always have?

Never mind . .. .

[Lex]

7. Oil is a finite resource.

There *is* an end to it.

[Squinch]

19. I had to turn it off. I can't believe that's his position.

[Greybnk48]

20. I love Big Ed, but I disagree on this one.

I Keep thinking that someone had filled his head with total B.S. and he just can't see it. He's one of the good guys though. He's not afraid to admit when he's wrong and I'm hoping he comes around.

[Atticus]

21. I've already sent him a LENGTHY email urging him to think it over and change his mind.

My wife said Facebook is running about 25 to 1 AGAINST Ed's position.