WTF?! Chinese Govt. To Execute Polluters?

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air pollution, Beijing China, Canadian Tar Sands, cancer, cars, China, Chinese Government, coal, communism, Deadly, environment, Executions, extremist, Health Problems, human rights violations, industrial pollution, Ministry of Environmental Protection of the People's Republic of China, oil, polluters, pollution, protests, Toxic, U.S, WHO, World Health Organization, Xinhua News Agency

China has introduced “harsher punishments” for breaking the nation’s environmental protection laws: reckless violators of pollution standards in the world’s biggest and fastest-growing economy now face execution.

A new judicial interpretation taking effect on Wednesday has tightened Chinese “lax and superficial” enforcement of environmental protection laws, Xinhua reported citing a government statement.

The government is set to introduce a “precise criteria for convictions and sentencing” while the “judicial explanation provides a powerful legal weapon.” Law enforcement should take environmental regulations seriously and “all force should be mobilized to uncover law-breaking clues of environmental pollution in a timely way,” the statement reads.

In winter of 2013 Beijing was experiencing the worst environmental data on record. Levels of dangerous particles less than 2.5 micrometres across, known as PM2.5s, were 22 times what the World Health Organization considers safe. In response to the widespread public anger, authorities introduced emergency measures to thin traffic and shut down polluting industries. Rallies also erupted in May in the city of Kunming as thousands flooded the streets to protest against the planned production of a chemical at a refinery.

Problems related to pollution are also reaching China’s vast countryside, the Ministry of Environmental Protection acknowledged early June.

“With industrialisation, urbanisation and the modernisation of agriculture, the situation for the rural environment has become grim,” the ministry said. Crucial aspects emanate from an “increase in pressure from mining pollution and severe pollution from the raising of livestock and poultry.”

Read more here (source):  http://rt.com/news/china-execution-environmental-offenders-967/

The Chinese Government is the biggest polluter in China!  Kind of like “the pot calling the kettle black!”  China surpassed the U.S. in carbon emissions and air pollution already by a large margin.  The Chinese Government allows more coal burning plants, Canadian Tar Sands oil burning, industrial, and car pollution than any other country!  If they are going to punish the polluters then they better start with their own government officials! – John Loeffler, Fountain City, Wisconsin, U.S.A.

Daily air pollution in Beijing, China (city population over 20 million people)

 

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TransCanada, FBI and DHS: Keystone XL Activists Are ‘Eco-Terrorists’

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activists, Advocacy Organizations, Canada, Canadian Government, Canadian Tar Sands, corruption, Department of Homeland Security, DHS, Eco-friendly, Eco-terrorism, eco-terrorists, environment, Environmental Defense Fund, environmentalists, Environmentally-friendly, FBI, grassroots, greed, Human Rights, human rights violations, Keystone Pipeline, Keystone XL, Keystone XL Pipeline, National Wildlife Federation, Natural Resources Defense Council, Nebraska, NSA, Peace, people, politicians, politics, power-hungry, protests, psy-ops, Rainforest Action Network, spying, suppression, Surveillance, Tar Sands, tar sands oil, Tar Sands Pipelines, TransCanada, TransCanada Corporation, U.S, U.S. Government, United States, wildlife

Who are the REAL Eco-terrorists, “TransCanada?!”  “Eco-terrorism” is a word made up by the U.S. and Canadian Governments that is a contradictory term!  “Eco” means habitat or environment, and “terrorism” is the use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, especially for political purposes.  Peaceful protests and contacting your elected officials to ensure the safety and preservation of the environment, to include the people and wildlife in it, are called for by a plethora of environmentally-friendly organizations like the Sierra Club, the National Wildlife Federation (NWF), the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and the Rainforest Action Network.  You cannot  call these and dozens of other “eco-friendly,” grassroots organizations and millions of their supporters “eco-terrorists!”  The TRUE “eco-terrorists” are the governments, including politicians, and the corporations (that run such governments through lobbyist money and bribery) who purposely destroy our environment for nothing more than pure GREED and power-hungriness! “Eco-terrorism” is a corporate-political process that uses fear tactics such as surveillance, unwarranted arrests and even cold-blooded murder to achieve its goal of human rights suppression for regional or global dominance!- John Loeffler, Fountain City, Wisconsin, U.S.A.

Documents recently obtained by Bold Nebraska show that TransCanada – owner of the hotly-contested Keystone XL (KXL) tar sands pipeline – has colluded with an FBI/DHS Fusion Center in Nebraska, labeling non-violent activists as possible candidates for “terrorism” charges and other serious criminal charges.

Further, the language in some of the documents is so vague that it could also ensnare journalists, researchers and academics, as well.

TransCanada also built a roster of names and photos of specific individuals involved in organizing against the pipeline, including 350.org‘s Rae Breaux, Rainforest Action Network‘s Scott Parkin and Tar Sands Blockade‘s Ron Seifert. Further, every activist ever arrested protesting the pipeline’s southern half is listed by name with their respective photo shown, along with the date of arrest.

Read more important information here (source):  http://www.nationofchange.org/keystone-xl-activists-labeled-possible-eco-terrorists-internal-transcanada-documents-1371307987

Exxon Mobil Pegasus Tar Sands Oil Spill A Mayflower Mystery!

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Arkansas, Canadian Tar Sands, contamination, corruption, Death, environmental catastrophe, environmental disaster, Exxon-Mobil, greed, Keystone XL, Keystone XL Pipeline, Lake Conway, mayflower arkansas, National Wildlife Federation, oil, oil spills, Pegasus Pipeline, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, Tar Sands, tar sands oil, Tar Sands Pipelines, TransCanada, wildlife

Duck coated in Exxon Pegasus tar sands oil in Mayflower, AR, April 2013 (Photo: Lauren Ray)

Here’s today’s update on the Exxon Mobil Pegasus tar sands spill in Mayflower, Arkansas: Exxon still isn’t revealing a cause and the wetlands still aren’t restored. Not much of an update, is it?

In the days following the disastrous pipeline rupture, Exxon rushed to take control of the spill site and wildlife cleanup. But as Debra Hale-Shelton of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (sub. Req.) reports, that urgency hasn’t carried over to Exxon’s safety investigation:

More than two months after an aging pipeline cracked open, spilling more than 100,000 gallons of heavy crude oil into a Mayflower neighborhood and a cove of Lake Conway, Exxon Mobil still has not provided federal regulators with even a preliminary cause for the break and has not requested approval to resume transporting oil through that pipeline.

Before Exxon Mobil Pipeline Co. Can reopen the 850-mile-long Pegasus pipeline, which was built starting in 1947, it must comply with several corrective measures ordered April 2 by the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.

Exxon Mobil has neither updated its April 26 accident report filed with the federal agency nor asked to reopen the pipeline, which spilled an estimated 147,000 gallons of oil March 29, leading to the evacuations of 22 homes, dead and injured wildlife, several lawsuits, and federal and state investigations.

Exxon’s “before” & “after” photos of the Pegasus tar sands oil spill in Mayflower, AR

Meanwhile, Exxon Mobil has released this set of photos of the cleanup of a Lake Conway cove that was devastated by the Pegasus tar sands spill, calling them “before” and “after” photos. But the photos don’t actually show “before” when the area was an oil-free wetland wildlife habitat, and the “after” doesn’t show a restored wetland.

“These photos aren’t before and after – they’re mid-disaster and mid-cleanup,” says National Wildlife Federation South Central Representative Geralyn Hoey. “What does Exxon plan to do for wetland restoration? Are they going to try to recreate what was a thriving habitat for waterfowl, beavers, and other wildlife?”

Exxon’s celebratory news release doesn’t say. Exxon has released few details about exactly how it conducted the cleanup.  Reporters were told to stop taking photos of the spill and also not to go anywhere near the site by an Exxon contractor (they moved to another location and kept taking photos). Especially since this was heavy, toxic tar sands oil, it’s impossible to say for sure if the oil is gone without taking samples several feet below the surface.

“These photos are a horrible reminder of what the people and wildlife in Mayflower have gone through and the high price to America of serving as the middleman as oil companies pipe Canadian tar sands to the international market,” says National Wildlife Federation South Central Representative Geralyn Hoey. It’s not just Arkansas – spills of toxic tar sands have fouled communities, waterways and wildlife habitat from Michigan to Missouri. A National Wildlife Federation-led coalition has asked two federal agencies to set stronger safety standards for tar sands pipelines.

Now the tar sands industry wants to build a massive new tar sands pipeline in Keystone XL.  Spills are only part of Keystone’s threat – all of us would be on the hook for its massive amounts of climate-disrupting carbon pollution.

But just last week, officials with British Columbia’s government told national authorities that the province wants nothing to do with the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline that would bring tar sands west for export. Officials said the tar sands industry has failed to answer questions about the impact of spills on clean water and the communities and wildlife that depend on them.

“If Canada doesn’t want to accept the risk of transporting Canadian tar sands, why in the world is Arkansas suffering for it?” asks Geralyn.

TAKE ACTION HERE:  https://online.nwf.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=1707&s_src=Blog_Ark_BeforeAfter

 

Exposed: Canadian Oil and Gas Workers, Major Union Oppose Keystone XL Pipeline

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Alberta Tar Sands, Barack Obama, Canada, Canadian oil and gas workers, Canadian Tar Sands, CEP, Dirty Fossil Fuels, environment, environmental catastrophe, environmental disaster, exports, greed, Gulf of Mexico, Keystone XL, Keystone XL Pipeline, Leaks, mayflower arkansas, oil spills, tar sands oil, TransCanada, U.S, unions, United States

As President Obama weighs whether to give the Keystone XL pipeline his approval, climate scientists have warned that the volume of greenhouse gases released by the pipeline could push the planet over a climate tipping point. Proponents of the pipeline — which would pump 900,0000 barrels a day of bitumen crude from Alberta’s boreal forests to refineries along the Gulf of Mexico — promise that the economic benefits far out weigh whatever environmental damage ensues. Touting jobs numbers that have long been debunked, a large portion of American labor leadership is still providing working-class cover for the project’s corporate backers.

Amidst the ongoing jobs-vs-environment debate, however, one voice is noticeably absent: the bitumen workers in Canada who are largely against long-term tar sands extraction and the building of the pipeline.

“We’re diametrically opposed to the construction of it,” said David Coles, president of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada (CEP), which represents 35,000 Canadian oil and gas workers, including thousands laboring in the country’s tar sands. “The Keystone XL is not good for the economy, it’s not good for the environment, it violates all kinds of First Nations rights.”

Read more here:  http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/16700-exposed-canadian-oil-and-gas-workers-many-unions-now-oppose-keystone-xl-pipeline

 

Petroleum Coke: The Coal Hiding in the Tar Sands

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air pollution, Alberta, Atmosphere, bitumen, Canada, Canadian Tar Sands, carbon dioxide, China, climate change, coal, destruction, environmental catastrophe, environmental disaster, EU, European Union, exports, forests, GOP, increase, Keystone XL, Keystone XL Pipeline, Koch Brothers, lobbyists, oil, Oxbow Carbon, Oxbow Corporation, Petcoke, PetKoch, Petroleum Coke, Republicans, Super-PACS, tar sands oil, U.S, U.S. State Department, United States

The Canadian tar sands have been called the “most environmentally destructive project on earth”, with good reason. Extracting tar sands bitumen from under the boreal forests of Alberta, Canada requires huge amounts of energy and water. It has cleared vast tracts of forest, left scars on the land that are visible from space and threatened the health and livelihoods of indigenous First Nations communities across the region.

It is a well established fact that full exploitation of the tar sands is a grave threat to the climate. Emissions from tar sands extraction and upgrading are between 3.2 and 4.5 times higher than the equivalent emissions from conventional oil produced in North America.On a lifecycle basis, the average gallon of tar sands bitumen derived fuel has between 14 and 37 percent more greenhouse gas emissions than the average gallon of fuel from conventional oil.

But as bad as these impacts already are, existing analyses of the impacts of tar sands fail to account for a byproduct of the process that is a major source of climate change causing carbon emissions: petroleum coke – known as petcoke. Petcoke is the coal hiding in North America’s tar sands oil boom.

Petcoke is like coal, but dirtier. Petcoke looks and acts like coal, but it has even higher carbon emissions than already carbon-intensive coal.

• On a per-unit of energy basis petcoke emits 5 to 10 percent more carbon dioxide than coal.
• A ton of petcoke yields on average 53.6 percent more CO2 than a ton of coal.
• The proven tar sands reserves of Canada will yield roughly 5 billion tons of petcoke – enough to fully fuel 111 U.S. coal plants to 2050.
• Because it is considered a refinery byproduct, petcoke emissions are not included in most assessments of the climate impact of tar sands or conventional oil production and consumption. Thus the climate impact of oil production is being consistently undercounted.

Petcoke in the tar sands is turning American refineries into coal factories.

• There is 24 percent more CO2 embedded in a barrel of tar sands bitumen than in a barrel of light oil.
• 15 to 30 percent of a barrel of tar sands bitumen can end up as petcoke, depending on the upgrading and refining process used.
• Of 134 operating U.S. refineries in 2012, 59 are equipped to produce petcoke.
• U.S. refineries produced over 61.5 million tons of petcoke in 2011 – enough to fuel 50 average U.S. coal plants each year.
• In 2011, over 60 percent of U.S petcoke production was exported.

Keystone XL will fuel five coal plants and thus emit 13% more CO2 than the U.S. State Department has previously considered.

• Nine of the refineries close to the southern terminus of Keystone XL have nearly 30 percent of U.S. petcoke production capacity, over 50,000 tons a day.
• The petcoke produced from the Keystone XL pipeline would fuel 5 coal plants and produce 16.6 million metric tons of CO2 each year.
• These petcoke emissions have been excluded from State Department emissions estimates for the Keystone XL pipeline.
• Including these emissions raises the total annual emissions of the pipeline by 13% above the State Department’s calculations.

Cheap petcoke helps the coal industry.

• As a refinery byproduct, petcoke is “priced to move”, selling at roughly a 25 percent discount to conventional coal.
• Rising petcoke production associated with tar sands and heavy oil production is helping to make coal fired power generation dirtier and cheaper – globally.
• From January 2011 to September 2012, the United States exported over 8.6 million tons of petcoke to China, most of which was likely burnt in coal-fired power plants.

“PetKoch”: The largest global petcoke trader in the world is Florida based Oxbow Corporation, owned by William Koch – the brother of Charles and David Koch.

• Oxbow Carbon has donated $4.25 million to GOP super PACs, making it the one of the largest corporate donors to super PACs.
• Oxbow also spent over $1.3 million on lobbyists in 2012.

To date, the impacts of petcoke on the local and global environment have not been considered by regulatory bodies in assessing the impacts of the tar sands. Petcoke’s full impacts must be considered by the European Union in its debate on the Fuel Quality Directive, by the U.S. State Department in its consideration of the climate impacts of the Keystone XL pipeline, and by Canadian, American, and European governments in tar sands policies across the board.

Increasing petcoke use is a clear result of the increasing production of tar sands bitumen. Petcoke is a seldom discussed yet highly important aspect of the full impacts of tar sands production. Factored into the equation, petcoke puts another strong nail in the coffin of any rational argument for the further exploitation of the tar sands.

Source:  http://priceofoil.org/2013/01/17/petroleum-coke-the-coal-hiding-in-the-tar-sands/