Year 4, Month 6, Day 11: They’re Not Going To Care, Are They?

The Boston Globe looks at the pressure facing John Kerry over KXL:

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State John F. Kerry, who for decades has portrayed himself as one of the nation’s leading environmentalists, is under siege from all sides as he faces one of the most difficult decisions of his career: whether to approve the Keystone pipeline.

Several environmental groups are set to launch campaigns this summer to pressure Kerry into opposing the pipeline. One will publicize his past calls to fight global climate change — statements that they argue would make Kerry look like a hypocrite if he now supports the pipeline.

Pipeline advocates, meanwhile, aregearing up for lobbying efforts of their own, hiring firms whose consultants include several former Kerry aides.

One measure of the intensity of public sentiment: A staggering 1.2 million comments — an unprecedented number — have been submitted by the public as part of the State Department’s review process.

The Keystone pipeline would transport tar sands oil from Canada to refineries along the Gulf Coast. Environmental groups warn that a spill along the route would have a devastating effect on drinking water and that turning the tar sands into usable fuel would result in excessive greenhouse gas emissions.

Just fucking block the thing, ok? May 28:

If John Kerry approves the Keystone XL pipeline, he will have bowed deeply to the corporatist forces which have largely co-opted our system of government. Given Kerry’s lifelong environmentalist orientation, such capitulation is a depressing diagnostic indicator of how deeply the rot has penetrated into our society.

The pipeline’s claims of minimal environmental impact have been revealed as risible, the loudly-touted job creation claims have been substantially debunked, the authors of the State Department’s study of the project are case studies in conflict of interest, and the world’s leading climatologists are unified in their assessment of the tar sands’ potential to trigger devastating and geocidal destabilization of Earth’s climate. What’s left? The Keystone XL is about profits, and nothing more.

If John Kerry wishes to be remembered as a statesman, he must place the lives of our descendants above the lure of unfettered gains for the privileged and powerful few.

Warren Senders

Published.