Richard Fowler: Corporation Exploits Loophole To Build 600 Mile Tar Sands Pipeline Quickly

[WhoIsNumberNone]

In the five years since TransCanada submitted its first application to build the Keystone XL pipeline, protesters have held marches and vigils, chained themselves to pipeline trucks, interrupted a presidential speech and gotten themselves purposefully arrested, all in the name of stopping the pipeline.
For Debra Michaud, one of the founders of Tar Sands Free Midwest, getting these activists to just take notice of the pipeline her group has been working to stop since early last year would be a victory.
"Nobody's heard of it," Michaud said. "People know Keystone, but nobody's heard of Flanagan South."
Unlike Keystone's northern leg, which has been mired in court challenges and political skirmishes since 2008, Flanagan South is already in the works, after about two years of negotiating with landowners along the route and going through its permitting process. Once completed, it will pass over approximately 1,950 wetlands and waterways, including the Missouri and Mississippi rivers.
This is really laying the groundwork for the way they're going to take over this country with pipelines.
But it's not the threat of spills or the ever-present worry of climate change that concerns Michaud most about Flanagan South. It's the ease and speed by which the pipeline was approved, using a tactic that Michaud — and a pending Sierra Club lawsuit — says allows companies to bypass certain environmental protection laws to fast-track pipeline projects.

"This is one of the most important fossil fuel issues of our time," Michaud said. "This is really laying the groundwork for the way they're going to take over this country with pipelines."

[TRoN33]

1. Pardon my English but...

I know this guy who personally held tar sands oil on his hands. He said it is the thickest and very heavy substance, much heavier than it looks. He wondered, how on the Earth can it get to flow through the pipelines? He then realized that Keystone operators will be allowed to use waters across the nation to help push tar sands through pipeline for miles and miles then freely dump it into rivers after complete the journey. He got sick to stomach when he found out where dumping of tainted waters would end up, into the fresh water supplies likes of lakes and rivers. He even said would it get to be dumped into swamps in Louisiana? "Yes" replied by TransCanada. It's real bad for Louisiana because these swamp waters are one of few remaining freshwater sources in that state.

But it get much more worse as everybody know how corrosive tar sands oil is for metals. If it get to spill into aquifers, it's going to be tainted forever because it is impossible to clean up and it will remain sunken, spew out its toxicity agents into water supplies across the nation. Koch Industries, TransCanada, and others are exempt from cleaning up fees. It's as if they knew the spill is inevitable and aren't feeling compelled enough to be responsible for it.

Oh get this, Koch brothers will earn $100 billions combined for themselves, TransCanada will earn more than $80 billion of dollars in short term profits.

Expect the cancer rates to get spike in geometric rate within 5 years after tar sands get it's first flow through Keystone XL.

[loudsue]

2. I didn't know about that. That needs to be more highly publicized and discussed.

That is horrible. Greed and total disregard for the health & safety of the people.... to the max.