Developing Oil Sands is a Crime

by Mary

Bill McKibben asks why Canada has become a worse planet steward than Brazil in its terrible resolution to exploit the tar sand fields in Alberta. And he questions why the US is abetting Canada in this venture instead of treating it like the crime it is.

Exploiting the tar sands is a crime, pure and simple — and, given the stakes, it is one of the most staggering the world has ever seen. Not surprisingly, given geography and history, Canada has an accomplice in this crime. Most of the petroleum it produces gets sold in the U.S., still the largest market for oil in the world. Early in the Obama administration, the president approved a pipeline to the Midwest that expanded this trade. This year, the U.S. stands poised to open a much larger spigot, the so-called Keystone XL pipeline, which will carry the heavy Canadian bitumen to Texas refineries.

And if that wasn't enough, the state of Idaho is abetting ExxonMobil by permitting transporting massive refinery modules to Canada over scenic mountainous highways that require being escorted by Idaho State Police because the road is considered too dangerous for the megaloads to travel alone.

Can the world survive this century of changing climate? Only by kicking carbon addiction and that means moving to a non-carbon based energy system ASAP.