Tag Archives: Tar Sands

U.S. rejects Keystone XL: next let’s stop Sabal Trail!

Thanks to Bill McKibben and everyone else who made that pipeline an international cause. Now let’s stop Spectra’s Sabal “Sinkhole” Trail and keep Kinder Morgan’s Palmetto pipeline denied. And let’s stop the Trans-Pacific Parternership (TPP) before it can produce more “free trade” countries for LNG export.

Coral Davenport, New York Times, 6 November 2015, Obama Rejects Construction of Keystone XL Oil Pipeline,

President Obama’s denial of the proposed 1,179-mile pipeline, which would have carried 800,000 barrels a day of carbon-heavy petroleum from the Canadian oil sands to the Gulf Coast, comes as he is seeking to build an ambitious legacy on climate change.

“The pipeline would not make a meaningful longterm contribution to our economy,” Mr. Obama said in remarks from the White House.

The move was made ahead of Continue reading U.S. rejects Keystone XL: next let’s stop Sabal Trail!

Rockefeller Brothers Fund divesting from coal and tar sands, but not from natural gas

It’s indeed historic when heirs of John D. Rockefeller, the man whose Standard Oil more than any other company put the world on its current fossil-fuel-burning climate-changing path decide to divest from coal and tar sands. But read their actual statement: they’re not divesting from natural gas, or fracking, or even from oil. Yet.

Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF) PR 22 September 2014 Fund Announces Plans to Divest from Fossil Fuels,

The Rockefeller Brothers Fund has been working to better align its endowed assets with its mission since 2010, when the board of trustees approved a commitment of up to 10 percent of the endowment to investments consistent with the foundation’s Sustainable Development program goals. Stephen Heintz, president of the Fund, announced its decision to divest from fossil fuels at a press conference in New York City on September 22, 2014, one day before world leaders convene at the UN Climate Summit. The Fund has begun a two-step process to divest from investments in fossil fuels, first focusing on limiting its exposure to coal and tar sands, with a goal to reduce these investments to less than one percent of the total portfolio by the end of 2014. The Fund is also analyzing in detail its remaining fossil fuel exposure and will develop a plan for further divestment as quickly as is prudent over the next few years.

There’s nothing about this continued investment in fracked methane in the New York Times story or in any of the others I’ve found. But RBF’s own PR is pretty clear.

That PR and a longer statement refer us to Continue reading Rockefeller Brothers Fund divesting from coal and tar sands, but not from natural gas

Spectra and TransCanada competing in LNG export in British Columbia

TransCanada, of the notorious Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline, is also competing with Spectra Energy for fracked methane export through an LNG export terminal on the British Columbia coast, and Spectra just got another approval for its “corridor” for not one but two giant pipelines to the Pacific Ocean.

Gordon Jaremko wrote for GPI 4 April 2014, NEB OKs Spectra (Westcoast) Tolls; Major Expansion Planned to Serve Pacific LNG,

Spectra Energy (Westcoast) received approval from the National Energy Board (NEB) for the stable base of its agenda: a 2014-2015 tolls and tariff settlement with customers of its current capacity of 3 Bcf/d.

The deal enables the BC grid to focus on a plan aimed at almost quadrupling its capacity by becoming the principal conduit between northern shale deposits and proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminals on the Pacific Coast.

The settlement was not opposed or even questioned Continue reading Spectra and TransCanada competing in LNG export in British Columbia

Judge lets pipeline company intervene in lawsuit

Stop the Sabal Trail pipeline early before it gets harder. Making a bad bet shouldn’t guarantee winning by legal judgment at the expense of landowners, methane pollution, and delayed solar deployment.

Gabriel Tynes wrote for Lagniappe yesterday, Pipeline company intervenes in lawsuit against Corps,

A federal judge has allowed pipeline company Plains Southcap to intervene in a lawsuit between Mobile Baykeeper and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, citing a rule of civil procedure permitting non-parties to step in to protect interests “that may be impaired by the disposition of the suit,” particularly those which existing parties “cannot adequately protect.”

Maybe the court should “adequately protect” the local watershed and drinking water supply from this kind of spill or worse: Continue reading Judge lets pipeline company intervene in lawsuit

Landowner gains review against pipeline in Texas Supreme Court

A huge transnational company has to justify its attempted use of eminent domain to a small farmer in Texas, so says the Texas Supreme Court. Somebody should make Sabal Trail and Spectra Energy try to justify their attempted use of eminent domain in Alabama, Georgia, and Florida.

Julia Trigg Crawford wrote 8 January 2014 for Tar Sands Blockade, Texas Supreme Court Favors Landowner Over TransCanada in Eminent Domain Case,

The Texas Supreme Court ruled in favor of landowner Julia Trigg Crawford, ordering TransCanada to submit information by Feb. 6 as the justices weigh arguments to hear the case regarding eminent domain abuse.

Texas’s highest court delivered a clear victory for pipeline opponents and landowners fighting TransCanada’s overreach on property rights. At the heart of Crawford’s case is the ability of TransCanada, a foreign corporation, to use eminent domain under the state’s “common carrier” clause since their pipeline transports 90% Canadian tar sands and 10% North Dakota oil. There is no on ramp for Texas oil therefore violating the definition of a common carrier under Texas law.

Crawford said she looks forward to her family’s day in court, “As a landowner, property rights are key to my livelihood and family legacy. A foreign corporation pumping foreign oil simply does not qualify as a common carrier under Texas law. TransCanada does not get to write their own rules. I look forward to the Supreme Court hearing our case and our plea to protect the fundamental rights of property owners.”

Here’s the Court’s letter in PDF on the Court’s website. It’s Case Number 13-0886, THE CRAWFORD FAMILY FARM PARTNERSHIP v. TRANSCANADA KEYSTONE PIPELINE, L.P.

That’s an oil pipeline, but the issues are the same Continue reading Landowner gains review against pipeline in Texas Supreme Court