Here at Earth Tribe – Activist News, we are just as guilty as many people of focusing too much attention on US President Barack Obama’s decision to say yes or no to the Keystone XL pipeline. It is certainly a crucial issue. If Obama says yes, it is a vote for tar sands oil and the appalling damage done by the mining of this sludge, it means danger for the many people who live near its source and along the route of the pipeline, and it poses a global threat to the atmosphere by burning the fuel.
More than one pipeline
But if we are too focused on the Obama decision, we miss what is quietly happening in the US and in conjunction with the government of Canada and TransCanada and other fossil fuel company.
Call it a slight of hand but the Keystone XL pipeline is well on its way to being built. There is no halt while we wait for a US government decision.
In addition, there are other pipelines already laid or in the planning stage that get less press coverage. Added to that, there are the rail lines that can transport tar sands or any other form of oil across America to ports and refineries, a commodity headed for sale abroad, primarily to China.
Environmentalist and author Bill McKibben has done much to highlight the dangers of the Keystone XL pipeline and the whole fossil fuel industry. In a recent story in Yes! Magazine, entitled, Keystone XL Decision: Obama’s Last Chance to Fulfill Climate Promises?.
He stresses the importance of Obama saying no. He goes as far as saying that a presidential block of Keystone XL could help reset the international negotiations that Obama allowed to go aground at climate change talks in Copenhagen.
Worries about Obama
The big problem is that there is nothing to indicate Obama will say no, and in fact the focus on this one project can at times distract from all the other infrastructure and plans pipelines and rail networks that nourish the fossil fuel industry.
One approach that may make sense is to include the Keystone XL pipeline in a campaign that says no to fossil fuels and yes to renewable energy sources – offering an alternative. A number of activist groups are taking this approach.
Of course, there are those that argue that even so-called renewable energy options, such as solar, wind, and bio-mass, also come at a cost to the environment, in terms of the materials used and the setting up of infrastructure. And it will be a major challenge to try to fill in for what until recently have been relatively cheap fossil fuels. But that is a subject for another story.
