Thu, 2013-04-18 11:05Ben Jervey
Ben Jervey's picture

Yet More Proof That Keystone XL Won't Reduce Gas Prices

There are four days left to submit a public comment to the State Department on the Keystone XL pipeline. As we’ve reported time and time again here on DeSmogBlog, the proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline would not improve America’s energy security as proponents of the pipeline insist. Nor would completion of the pipeline reduce gas prices here in America, another common claim.

Over a year ago, when the State Department was turning down TransCanada’s first bid, we took a look at why and how Keystone XL wouldn’t reduce gas prices here in the U.S.

This week, Public Citizen released a report that piles on a whole lot more evidence to support this fact. In fact, it makes a rock solid economic case that construction of the pipeline would almost certainly result in an increase in gas prices in the American Midwest. An increase

For the report, titled "America Can’t Afford the Keystone Pipeline" (PDF download here), Public Citizen analyzed an abundance of data and found that average U.S. gas prices over the past year would have been as much as 3.5-percent lower had there not been any exports of oil. Because Keystone XL would primarily be an export pipeline (as we’ve reported again and again, and as Canadian Energy Minister Ken Hughes has recently admitted), all evidence points to the fact that construction of the pipeline would actually increase gas prices.

Here’s a quick rundown of the report’s main takeaways.

Wed, 2013-04-17 10:47Carol Linnitt
Carol Linnitt's picture

In 5 Minutes This 'Outlaw Hip-Hop Harmonica Player' Takes Down Canada's Climate Criminals

It's not every day you get a self-described "outlaw hip-hop harmonica player" and "beatbox poet" waging a war of words against the masterminds behind the tar sands, oil pipelines and super tankers. But then CR Avery doesn't just live in the every day.

If anything CR Avery is living in the all-too present day of climate disruption, where citizens, students, grannies and punks are uniting against the companies with a vested interest in maintaining the fossil fuel status quo. Enbridge and Kinder Morgan - two companies planning on building new pipelines in B.C. to transport tar sands crude to the Canadian coast - are two of this poet's chosen targets. The risks they pose to neighbourhoods, natural systems and the climate add fuel to the spoken-word fire.

Beautifully crafted and masterfully-filmed by Ethan Miller, this 5 minute short will bring a little passion and clarity back to the cause.

Or as CR says, "With big oil manipulating government's decisions lays firm cause to pause for further inspection…"

Tue, 2013-04-16 13:08Graham Readfearn
Graham Readfearn's picture

Just How Many Climate "Sceptics" Are There?

A version of this post first appeared at RenewEconomy.

WHEN Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced that former Woodside gas company executive and lobbyist Gary Gray was Australia’s new energy and resources minister, questions turned quickly to his position on climate change.

Mon, 2013-04-15 10:42Derek Leahy
Derek Leahy's picture

Pipeline Deadline: Rushed Review Process for Tar Sands Line 9 Stifles Public Participation

Canadians you will need to brush up on those resume writing skills and sharpen your pencils because it is time to fill out your 10-page applications to get permission to send in your comments about another oil pipeline.

And as of Monday, April 15th, you have less than five days left of the 14 days the National Energy Board (NEB) allows to do it. The deadline is noon on April 19th.

The permission-to-comment application consists of 10 pages of essay-style questions that should be submitted with a resume and references to backup your claim that you have a right to participate in the Line 9 pipeline public hearings.

Enbridge's 37-old Line 9 is being reversed to pump 300,000 bpd (barrels per day) of oil and bitumen from Alberta's tar sands through southern Ontario and Quebec.

“Since when does someone’s resume determine if they have the right to be concerned about what’s happening in their home community?” asked Keith Stewart of Greenpeace Canada.

Sat, 2013-04-13 10:41Brendan DeMelle
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DeSmog's Kevin Grandia Featured in Rolling Stone's Fossil Fuel Resistance Edition

Kevin Grandia, DeSmog's former Managing Editor and current senior consultant, is featured in this month's Rolling Stone magazine.

Kevin Grandia: The Muckraker, as Rolling Stone aptly calls him, is recognized for his excellent work in the aftermath of Climategate especially. As long-time DeSmog readers will remember well, Kevin read every page of the stolen emails and worked overtime to educate reporters about the way that climate deniers had ginned up a fake controversy out of thin air. 

Rolling Stone's Jesse Hyde writes:

Grandia hopes something like that never happens again – which is why he now helps run DeSmogBlog, a Canadian website that does daily battle with climate change skeptics, aggregating the best research on global warming and dissecting misinformation campaigns backed by right-wing think tanks. He's traced much of the money that funds anti-global-warming research back to the fossil fuel industry and found that some of the most outspoken skeptics once worked for Big Tobacco. "They're using the exact same tactics they used to convince people smoking doesn't cause cancer," Grandia says. "It's a tactic that's been around forever. You can muddle up a debate for a long time just by creating doubt."

Grandia is featured alongside Tim DeChristopher, James Hansen, Maria Gunnoe, Sandra Steingraber and a dozen other incredible fossil fuel resisters in Rolling Stone. And of course, don't miss Bill McKibben's article about the climate movement rising to challenge the fossil fuel status quo.

Congrats to Kevin from the DeSmog team! 

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