Texas Tar Sands Public Meetings

EAST TEXAS LANDOWNERS UNDER ATTACK (3.00 / 1)

I am from East Texas and cherish the beautiful land and area where I was blessed to grow up and live.  Unfortunately, right now, the good people who are land owners along the pipeline route for Trans Canada are about to have the fight of their lives within the coming weeks and months.  

Families, farms, and landowners are under attack and being threatened with eminent domain if they do not sign a DEAL with TRANS Canada.
Property owners have the right to fight back and take action!

It is wrong for a FOREIGN oil company to threaten EMINENT DOMAIN against local landowners.  Texas is a place that has always fought for the rights of property owners and to help them have options against government forces coming in and we should stand up and fight this as only Texans know how.

We have the Constitution on our side. We must make our voices heard.

Not only do they have to worry about keeping this land but there is no conclusive evidence stating that this is safe and will not have an effect on drinking water and our air quality for families who live in the area.   We need absolute certainty before we can put our children and families at risk.

This is my call to fellow citizens in East Texas to join me attending a hearing near you to get answers to questions and to stop us from losing our land to government forces.

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by: CWDem @ Wed Dec 15, 2010 at 23:20:13 PM UTC

More uncontroller pollution coming into Texas (3.00 / 1)

Texas has got to put a stop to expanding uncontrolled pollution.  These companies never have enough safeguards and we can't expect our agencies to monitor them effectively. Never mind the clean up costs when there is an accident.  Texas taxpayers will be paying for that too.

The best option for Texas is not to let them in.  Consider the future we leave for our children.  These are fossil fuel jobs and they won't last.  It's time we started thinking about real growth jobs for the future and the new energy economy.

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by: sonia @ Thu Dec 16, 2010 at 01:24:48 AM UTC

Easy on Xenophobia (0.00 / 0)

You can hate the project, but don't bring up the fact it is "foreign" up.  Seriously, how "foreign" is Canada to begin with?

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by: Aero @ Thu Dec 16, 2010 at 02:55:02 AM UTC

Agreed (0.00 / 0)

The merits or demerits of the project have nothing to do with who owns it.

"I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually."- James A. Baldwin

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by: Timothy @ Thu Dec 16, 2010 at 03:38:56 AM UTC

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It is very foreign (0.00 / 0)

1. Heck Republicans run screaming from socialist Canadian health care.  

Plus

2. Canadians believe in good government.

3. Even Stelmach is ticked off from lack of support from Harper over the Canadian Tar Sands.  

Canada is a different and much more different than the traditional ideas of Americans.

Dudley Dooright they ain't.

Alberta has powerful connections to Texas.

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by: TexMex @ Thu Dec 16, 2010 at 11:00:31 AM UTC

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plus (0.00 / 0)

the water required to remove the oil from the sand is alot.

And leave filthy tailings that kill birds by the hundreds just for landing in the water.
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com...

http://edmonton.ctv.ca/servlet...

http://edmonton.ctv.ca/servlet...

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by: TexMex @ Thu Dec 16, 2010 at 11:13:19 AM UTC

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Tar sands are bad business (3.00 / 1)

Oil from tar sand takes too much energy to produce/transport and is too dirty to burn.   Inefficient and polluting at all points of the production and energy creationg process.

We need to be devoting all of our money and energy towards creating and improving clean energy alternatives.   It will save our environment, economy, and foreign policy all at the same time.

Austin Adams (President of Texas Environmental Democrats)

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by: austintx @ Thu Dec 16, 2010 at 17:26:14 PM UTC

The Canadians are coming, the Canadians are coming... (0.00 / 0)

It's sad when the Sierra Club resorts to xenophobic hyperbole. TransCanada has been here for some time. In Houston and Boston. As for being foreign, it's multi-national. Most of the oil companies with the exception of Valero are multi-national now. The natural gas companies are becoming multi-national as well. The Democrats as well as the Republicans have long supported the laws that allowed them to be created out of American companies for the sole purpose of avoiding  American taxes. Some foreign companies decided the new laws along the way were good for them. Trans-Canada is no different from Royal Dutch Shell. You can call it Shell. It's Royal Dutch Shell. BP bought Amoco. So it's sort of kind of an American oil company.

You cannot stop the pipeline. It will go in. The Obama Administration could have stopped it. It didn't. So much for the hopey, changey thingy.

This is the usual cat-and-mouse game with regard to eminent domain. At some point the attorneys will enter the picture to negotiate a higher price. And keep some of the higher price. A lot of the higher price.  

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by: Baby Snooks @ Thu Dec 16, 2010 at 21:06:44 PM UTC

Why is it that none of these meetings are in central (0.00 / 0)

or south central Texas? Except for Houston they're all in the north and northeast. The crap it leaves will end up in a river that will eventually take it through half the state.

As long as corporations are people and money is speech, then democracy is a farce.

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by: Blue_in_Guadalupe @ Thu Dec 16, 2010 at 23:21:54 PM UTC

Why? (0.00 / 0)

States only have control over the permitting for the construction of pipelines. They do not approve the pipelines. The federal government approves them. In this case, the State Department approves the pipeline. Hillary has said it is approved. So barring a lawsuit by EPA which is not likely to happen it is approved.

The pipeline will go through north and northeast and southeast Texas. So that is where the public hearings about the construction of the pipeline are being held.  In the end, again, the decision has been made.

Maybe you can contact Arthur Schechter and he can "pull some strings" with Hillary.  Good luck.  

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by: Baby Snooks @ Fri Dec 17, 2010 at 07:44:59 AM UTC

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Open for Business? (0.00 / 0)

I thought this was what Texans voted for.  This is what you can expect from your Republican government...pro-business all the way.  Been that way for years.

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by: rgembry @ Fri Dec 17, 2010 at 12:23:44 PM UTC

Might have swung some votes... (0.00 / 0)

I don't recall Bill White making an issue of this during the campaign. Wonder why.  

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by: Baby Snooks @ Fri Dec 17, 2010 at 14:27:17 PM UTC

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News coverage of public meetings (0.00 / 0)

Thank you to our volunteers who helped organize yesterday's Front Lines Tour in Houston and the public meeting in Lufkin. Here's some of the initial news coverage of our Texas Tar Sands Tour, and we look forward to more great meetings today in Nacogdoches, Tyler and Mt. Pleasant.

KRIV FOX 26 - Houston

Proposed Pipeline Sparks Health Concerns
Thursday, December 16

The refining of tar sands oil would dramatically increase air pollution in the east end, according to Kate Colarulli with the Sierra Club.

"It increases the chances of cancers, birth defects and lung problems," Colarulli says.

East side resident Reynaldo Ramirez says his neighborhood doesn't need any more sources of pollution.

"The only reason I stay here is because this little house is paid for and I don't have to making monthly notes," Ramirez says.

Ramirez says he's lived in his house about two blocks from Valero for 43 years.

KTRE ABC 9 - Lufkin

Sierra Club rallies with East Texans, hoping to stop major pipeline
Thursday, December 16

Thursday, the Sierra Club met with these landowners and other concerned citizens, discussing claims that health concerns are in play in addition to water and air quality, as well as land rights.

The group is requesting that TransCanada and the U.S. State Department study the project more closely to find answers to their questions.

"Tell us what impacts would this have on Texas water if it were to spill? What impacts would it have on Texan air if it were to be refined in Houston? Just give us some basic information," said Director of the National Tarsands Program, Kate Colarulli.

KLTV ABC 7 - Tyler

Pipeline concerns East Texans
Wednesday, December 15

It's a project that worries land owners like Eleanor Fairchild, 79.  

"I was having such anxiety attacks that I actually went to the doctor to make sure I was healthy enough to fight this thing," Fairchild said.

Fairchild has owned a Wood County farm for more than 20 years. Like other East Texas residents, she's concerned about the TransCanada pipeline that will pump oil through the middle of her property.

"I did not know what tar sands [oil] was. I went to the meeting of the state department and got this information on how they mined it, how contaminated it was, and the pressure it would be under," Fairchild said.

Fairchild's fears are backed up by a recent report by the Natural Resources Defense Council. The report said that DilBit, which is the primary product being pumped through the pipe, poses an elevated risk to public safety, not only due to higher risks of a spill or rupture, but also because DilBit spills pose increased hazards to the environment and public safety.

"I think, what's going to happen to our water? If it gets out," Fairchild said.

With five natural springs on her farm, Fairchild's primary concern is that the pipe, which is only 1/2 inch thick, will corrode and oil will leak into her water supply.

KETK NBC 56 - Tyler

Pipeline meetings scheduled in Tyler, Nacogdoches
Thursday, December 16

East Texans are invited to attend public meetings regarding the TransCanada Keystone XL Pipeline.

The oil company is using eminent domain to seize private land for a tar sands oil pipeline that spans from Canada to the gulf coast.  That planned pipeline is scheduled to go through 15 Texas counties including Lamar, Delta, Hopkins, Franklin, Wood, Smith, Rusk, Cherokee, Nacogdoches, Angelina, Polk, Hardin, Jefferson, Liberty, and Harris counties.

The Sierra Club is hosting the meetings in order to educate Texas citizens and help landowners protect themselves from threats of eminent domain.

Nacogdoches Daily Tribune:

Sierra Club sets STOP meeting
Wednesday, December 15

The Sierra Club has publicly stated that it considers tar sands oil "the dirtiest fossil fuel in the world, with 11 times more sulfur and nickel, six times more nitrogen, and five times more lead than conventional oil."

The Club has come out as a strong public voice against the pipeline, which is proposed to cross 15 counties in Texas including Lamar, Delta, Hopkins, Franklin, Wood, Smith, Rusk, Cherokee, Nacogdoches, Angelina, Polk, Hardin, Jefferson, Liberty, and Harris counties.

According to club spokesmen, the pipeline will traverse 16 large rivers in the state that feed 21 lakes and municipal reservoirs "pumping thousands of barrels a day of highly caustic tar sands at high pressure and heat through Texas farms, rivers, and aquifers."

The Sierra Club and East Texas activists have established a hotline for landowners claiming abuse from the proposed pipeline company representatives in regard to eminent domain. An answering machine picks up the hotline calls, and allows callers to leave their complaints anonymously or provide their contact information. The complaint hotline for the Keystone XL pipeline is 1-866-363-4648.

Texarkanna Gazette:

Sierra Club hosts pipeline meeting
Thursday, December 16

The Sierra Club is hosting a public meeting regarding the Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline. The free informational meeting is at 4 p.m. Friday at Catfish King, 1708 S. Jefferson, Mount Pleasant, Texas. The club wants to educate the public on the pipeline and eminent domain proceedings that TransCanada, a foreign oil company, is using against Texas landowners.

KYTX CBS 19 - Tyler:

Amid safety concerns, tar sands pipeline project to be built
Tuesday, December 14

A new report from the National Resources Defense Council is just the latest of several that say TransCanada is significantly underestimating the chances of spills or leaks in the pipeline.

We've also learned TransCanada will be using the same kind of 3 foot wide pipe as they'll be using in Wood County. That NRDC report, as well as others, say the pipe's walls, which are less than half an inch thick, are not strong enough to withstand the more corrosive tar sands and prevent a potential blow-out.

Right now, we're in the middle of a comment period where organizations like the EPA are weighing in with their opinions. This spring, TransCanada will have a chance to modify its safety plans before turning in a final plan for approval. So, there's a chance they could put more thorough precautions in place.

We tried, for a second day in a row, to get TransCanada to address the safety report. They replied that they had never heard of it. After we sent them a copy, they said they weren't ready to address the allegations.

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by: Texas Sierra Club @ Fri Dec 17, 2010 at 17:19:14 PM UTC

Texas: Dumping Ground for All Things Dirty (0.00 / 0)

None of it's good. We have no choice but to get moving on changing our dependence on fossil fuels. It's clearly the gigantic elephant in every room. Obviously, with big oil and big gas running the country...it's our national addiction.  

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by: Elsbeth @ Fri Dec 17, 2010 at 19:33:36 PM UTC

Additional local news coverage (0.00 / 0)

Thank you to all of our fellow Texans for taking time out of your day to attend the tar sands public meetings. It won't be easy to defeat the multi-billion dollar TransCanada pipeline, but with enough grassroots support, we can urge our elected officials to take action and defend Texas air, land and water.

Check out the additional news coverage after yesterday's meetings in Nacogdoches, Tyler and Mt. Pleasant:

Tyler Morning Telegraph

Keystone Concerns: Sierra Club, ETexans Express Worry Over Pipeline's Plans
Saturday, December 18

The conversation surrounding the TransCanada Keystone XL pipeline heated up Friday afternoon during a Sierra Club Texas meeting.

More than 40 East Texas residents from counties including Wood, Cherokee and Smith attended the meeting. It is a part of a regional tour of the environmental policy group to rally opposition against the project.

Kate Colarulli, Sierra Club's national "dirty fuels" specialist, said the U.S. State Department is weighing the positives and negatives of allowing construction of the final leg of the pipeline. She said, because of the toxicity and corrosive nature of "tar sands" crude and the lack of reliable information to establish standards and emergency procedures to mitigate leaks, the state department should not allow the project to continue.

"The negatives far outweigh the positives," she said. "There are just too many questions that have not been answered about this pipeline, the crude and the products (TransCanada) is diluting it with."

KETK NBC 56 - Tyler

East Texans voice concerns about Keystone Pipeline
Friday, December 17

The proposed TransCanada Keystone Pipeline will be making its way through parts of East Texas, affecting 15 area counties.

It's goal is to bring oil from Canada to refineries in the Gulf, but some residents are concerned.

Friday, a group of East Texans met in Tyler to voice their concerns about the pipeline and to learn more about how it might affect the area.

In the past, residents worried about the company's use of 'eminent domain', meaning, landowners would be forced to sell their property to the pipeline. But now, they say their main concern is the sand and oil mixture running through the pipeline.

Nacogdoches Daily Tribune:

TransCanada Pipeline foes warn of its potential dangers
Saturday, December 18

Tar sands oil is a solid and is so thick it needs to be diluted before it can be pumped through a pipeline, Colarulli said.

"If this were to spill, it would have much more serious impacts than what happened in the Gulf with the BP spill," she said. "The scary thing is that because this is a new type of oil, which doesn't really exist in the U.S. right now, the federal government doesn't have any regulations for what to do with it. They don't know how thick the pipe needs to be, or how often we need to monitor for corrosion."

TransCanada recently built a sister pipeline in the Great Plains, referred to as Keystone 1, which was built using the same steel being proposed for the XL pipeline. In the six months the pipe has been operational, it has leaked six times, and it had to be dug up in 10 places because of company concerns with defects from the steel, Colarulli said.

"East Texas is water rich, and you guys have aquifers underneath your land here that feed 60 counties with water," she said. "The aquifer under the ground is in sandy soil, so that means there is a lot of room for chemicals to move in the soil. If there were a pipeline leak, it's possible it could get pretty far and contaminate your aquifer before TransCanada could catch it."

KYTX CBS 19 - Tyler:

Area Residents Discuss Pipeline Safety Concerns
Friday, December 17

What to do about TransCanada's proposed tar sands oil pipeline? That's the question area residents asked at a meeting in Lufkin Thursday night and again in Tyler Friday afternoon.

Some East Texas residents share a common story when it comes to how TransCanada goes about getting the land rights it needs to build the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. Wood County land owner Alvin Blazek said their message was simple.

"Yes we're coming through regardless of what you want to do," Blazek said.

Blazek says he sold TransCanada the rights to run the Keystone XL pipeline under his land after being threatened with eminent domain condemnation.

"I thought it was crude oil and I thought it was safe," Blazek said."

Blazek says TransCanada hid some important facts.

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by: Texas Sierra Club @ Sat Dec 18, 2010 at 17:45:28 PM UTC

How do tar sands compare to coal? (0.00 / 0)

Tar sands oil is a lot dirtier than regular oil, or natural gas, or renewable sources of energy like wind and solar. But our demand for energy is a lot bigger than all of those sources put together, and the gap is filled with really dirty energy sources like coal.

When talking about energy sources, it's almost never a question of "is it clean". It's a comparison -- is it cleaner than the likely alternative, and in this case the likely alternative is coal.

I don't have the data one way or the other, but I'm betting that somebody on this blog does. So please tell us:

Environmentally, how do tar sands compare with coal?  

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by: LSadun @ Sat Dec 18, 2010 at 22:37:02 PM UTC

They're both "dirty oil" (0.00 / 0)

http://www.nrdc.org/energy/dir...

There probably is little difference in terms of potential environmental impact. Liquid coal, tar sands oil and shale oil all destroy the environment during the extraction process and then further pollute the environment during the refining process. There is no "lesser of the three evils."

http://switchboard.nrdc.org/bl...

Hillary Clinton makes the decison. And already has made the decision. And TransCanada has obviously been informed of the decision as indicated by its stating that it will pursue its right of condemnation to obtain the right-of-way through eminent domain.

Only the EPA can stop it by making the permitting process difficult and by imposing conditions that make it less profitable for TransCanada and other companies that are in the process of moving from crude oil to the "synthetic" oil. Bottom line for TransCanada is that with crude oil above $50 a barrel the "dirty oil" becomes profitable and even moreso with a pipeline system in place.

The tar sands oil will be refined in Port Arthur at the Valero refinery. Boycotts sometimes work. When people put cause before convenience. Valero might think twice if suddenly no one is buying their gasoline.

These "town hall" meetings generate publicity but little else unless local government officials convey the concerns of the community to the EPA in Washington.

The reality of the "dirty fuels" is that despite the denials by the oil and gas industry, depletion is a reality. Once crude oil begins to deplete, all that will be left is the "dirty oil." And depletion is just around the corner. The main obstacle to renewable energy and cleaner fuels such as ethanol is that the oil and gas industry cannot make the profits it does with oil whether it is crude oil or "dirty oil" and that Hillary Clinton would so blatantly "rubber stamp" this underscores how the oil and gas industry has bought Washington.

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by: Baby Snooks @ Sun Dec 19, 2010 at 02:00:30 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

I was on last Thursday's "Toxic Tour" (3.00 / 1)

Here's my post:

http://brainsandeggs.blogspot....

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by: PDiddie @ Mon Dec 20, 2010 at 22:54:39 PM UTC

Great write-up (0.00 / 0)

Thanks for coming to the tour. Your post is comprehensive and well-researched. Thanks for taking the time to spotlight this issue!

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by: Ian @ Tue Dec 21, 2010 at 19:40:42 PM UTC

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