http://www.lcv.org/act/

Gene Karpinski, League of Conservation Voters

9:00 AM (2 hours ago) March 24th, 2012

Dear DeeVon,

End Big Oil Handouts

Tell your senators: Stand up for the American people, not Big Oil.

Did you know that over the past decade, the big five oil companies – BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil and Shell – have earned more than $1 trillion in profits?

At the same time, these oil companies also enjoy billions in special tax breaks. Meanwhile, Big Oil’s congressional allies continue to push ‘oil above all’ energy policies – from advancing the toxic Keystone XL tar sands pipeline to expanding dangerous drilling off our coasts.

It’s time to fight back. The Senate may soon vote on legislation to end billions of dollars in annual giveaways that the Big Oil companies receive.

Click here to tell your senators that it’s time to end Big Oil handouts.

Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) has introduced the ‘Repeal Big Oil Tax Subsidies Act’ (S. 2204), which would cut billions of dollars in unnecessary oil subsidies. Additionally, the senator’s bill would use those savings to invest in clean, renewable energy sources that would create new jobs, make America more energy independent and reduce harmful pollution.

It makes absolutely no sense that ExxonMobil, which reported annual profits of $41 billion in 2011, continues to benefit from massive taxpayer-funded government handouts. But this upcoming Senate vote represents an opportunity to put every senator on the record. As President Obama said recently, “They can either stand up for oil companies, or they can stand up for the American people.”

Click here to tell your senators to stand up for us, not the Big Oil companies.

Thank you for taking action.

Sincerely,
Gene Karpinski
President
League of Conservation Voters

Contributions to Coral-list discussion posted March 22, 2012

Hi,
I’m another Canadian reef scientist (wow! there are at least two of us). I support Mike Risk’s description of tar sands oil and the situation in Canada. I have not had the opportunity to speak directly to our government, although I’d love to take our Prime Minister on a dive on a coral reef. I have previously commented publicly on this topic, first in my book, Our Dying Planet, and more recently on my blog (petersalebooks.com) specifically on the Keystone XL pipeline. One point that Americans need to know is that the purpose of this pipeline is NOT to reduce US dependence on foreign oil — that myth is part of the spin. It is to permit a doubling of the output from the tar sands, because current distribution routes are close to maxed out. This extra output will be processed in Texas, and exported to Europe to fulfill their need for diesel fuel. The contracts for doing this are already in place (details in links on the blog). There is a second pipeline, the Northern Gateway, that will take this product from Alberta across to the Pacific coast. It is currently undergoing environmental impact assessment. Canadians have already been advised by our government that any opposition is one of: inappropriate foreign interference, foreign funded misceivousness, traitorous or terrorist behavior by Canadians. The purpose of this pipeline is also to boost the export of this product. Together the two pipelines will permit the operators to triple output. The benefits of this tripling of output, apart from a few jobs on the oil fields, flow to the shareholders of the multinational oil corporations driving the whole sorry mess. The implications of the environmental crisis for coral reefs are immense.

I think it is time we asked why it is necessary to rely on the oil industry to plan our energy policy? And also time to ask why it is necessary to extract every barrel of hydrocarbons from the earth as soon as we can? But rest assured, there are Canadian reef scientists who are trying to draw attention to the link between tar sands oil and the environmental crisis.

Peter Sale

http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/22/10811855-drillers-environmentalists-not-buying-obamas-energy-pitch

Mandel Ngan / AFP – Getty Images
President Barack Obama speaks at the TransCanada Stillwater pipe yard in Cushing, Okla., on Thursday.

FirstRead on Obama’s support for Keystone’s southern leg
Data show increasing US oil supply won’t lower prices
Keystone pipeline could raise oil prices for some

By msnbc.com staff and news services
CUSHING, Okla. — Touting an “all-of-the-above” energy policy, President Barack Obama traveled to this oil town on Thursday to show his support for the southern leg of the controversial Keystone oil pipeline proposed from Canada to refineries along the Gulf Coast.

“I am directing my administration to cut through red tape, break through bureaucratic hurdles, and make this project a priority,” he said with dozens of pipes stacked up behind him at a yard used by TransCanada, the company proposing the Keystone pipeline.

But neither the oil industry, which insists Obama could send stronger market signals to lower prices at the pump, nor environmentalists, who cite the climate impact of fossil fuels, were on board.

“A true all-of-the-above energy strategy would include greater access to areas that are currently off limits, a regulatory and permitting process that supported reasonable timelines for development, and immediate approval of the Keystone XL pipeline to bring more Canadian oil to U.S. refineries,” Jack Gerard, president of the American Petroleum Institute, said in a statement. “This would send a positive signal to the market and could help put downward pressure on prices.”

Obama in his speech noted that domestic production has risen during his term. “America is producing more oil today than at any time in the last eight years,” he said. “Over the last three years, I’ve directed my administration to open up millions of acres for oil and gas exploration across 23 different states. We’re opening up more than 75 percent of our potential oil resources offshore. We’ve quadrupled the number of operating oil rigs to a record high.”

As for the overall Keystone project, Obama said the delay in the northern leg came about because Nebraska lawmakers — both Republicans and Democrats — raised concerns about the potential impact on the state’s water supply if a spill happened. “So to be extra careful that the construction of the pipeline in an area like that wouldn’t put the health and safety of the American people at risk, our experts said that we needed a certain amount of time to review the project,” he said Thursday.

Environmentalists, for their part, oppose the pipeline because it promotes the expanded use of fossil fuels, which emit greenhouse gases tied to global warming. The activist group 350.org planned to make that case by protesting Obama’s visit to Ohio State University later Thursday.

Some have even made the argument that Keystone’s southern leg won’t help domestic oil producers much since most of the oil will be coming from Canada.

It “simply is not designed to move significant volumes of domestic crude,” Anthony Swift, an international law attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, wrote in a blog post. “The 900,000 barrel per day (bpd) pipeline only has two comparatively small on-ramps in the United States,” he added, citing company documents filed with the U.S.

“The first, in Montana, includes an on-ramp for a maximum of 100,000 bpd of crude. The second in Cushing, Oklahoma, allows a maximum of 150,000 bpd … That means that at most, little more than a quarter of the oil on Keystone XL would be from domestic producers.”

Republicans dismissed Obama’s move as a publicity stunt that made little difference to the timeline of the southern project or the problem of U.S. energy security. “He’s taking credit for going forward on the only portion of the pipeline that he doesn’t need to approve,” said Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., at a press conference. “This is literally straddling both sides of the issue.” Hoeven has led the charge in the Senate to pass legislation that would bypass the administration and approve the full pipeline.
Construction of Keystone’s 485-mile southern leg is expected to start this spring.

TransCanada plans to submit a new proposal for the 1,200-mile northern leg, after which federal agencies will weigh in.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Special thanks to Richard Charter

http://www.ogj.com/articles/2012/03/boem-seeks-comments-on-proposed-eastern-gulf-lease-sales.html?cmpid=EnlDailyMarch192012

WASHINGTON, DC, Mar. 19
03/19/2012
By Nick Snow
OGJ Washington Editor
The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said it will open a public comment period and hold four public meetings concerning two proposed oil and gas lease sales in the eastern Gulf of Mexico.

OCS Lease Sales 225 and 226 would include 657,905 acres more than 120 miles off the Alabama and Florida coasts, where there are active leases and known or anticipated hydrocarbon potential, as part of the 2012-17 US Outer Continental Shelf leasing program, the US Department of the Interior agency said on Mar. 19.

Other eastern gulf areas are not part of the 5-year OCS program because they are under a congressionally imposed leasing moratorium until June 20, 2022, it added.

BOEM Director Tommy P. Beaudreau said the agency would use information from submitted comments and the public meetings to determine issues which would be addressed in an environmental impact statement. Planning for an EIS does not represent a final decision about the sales’ inclusion in the 2012-17 plan, he noted.

The agency has scheduled public meetings about the proposed lease sales on Apr. 3 in Tallahassee, Fla.; Apr. 4 in Panama City Beach, Fla.; Apr. 5 in Spanish Fort, Ala.; and Apr. 9 at BOEM’s New Orleans offices. Comments will be accepted until May 4, it indicated.

Contact Nick Snow at nicks@pennwell.com.

Special thanks to Richard Charter