May 232012
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THE FUTURE OF AMERICAN ENERGY IS NOT A PRETTY SIGHT.
(Business Insider)
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With projects like the infamous Keystone XL pipeline from Canada through the heartland of America inexorably marching towards approval, the next chapter of America’s addiction to fossil fuels appears to be Canadian oil sands. The massive tar sands deposits in Alberta is home to perhaps the dirtiest energy source in the world, from how they are extracted to how oil is eventually derived from vast open pits. Most Americans, including lawmakers clamoring for Keystone, have likely never seen the reality of oil sands operation. One reporter for Business Insider wanted to change that, providing remarkable photos — under threat from oil companies — from the heart of Alberta’s 54,000 square mile tar sands region.
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ECONOMIC EXPERTS: MORE AUSTERITY MEANS SLOWER GROWTH.
(The Guardian)
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As European leaders continue to meet amidst the political upheaval that has stunned Europe in the last month, debate is raging between those that want to continue with strict austerity programs imposed on countries like Greece and those, including new leaders like France’s Francois Hollande, that see austerity as a failed policy and believe growth can only be achieved through increased spending and restoring cuts to benefits and social programs. The continent’s leading economic think tank is on the side of those fighting austerity, releasing a study predicting economic catastrophe if cuts are sustained. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has forecast as much as a 2 percent contraction in Europe’s overall economy if the debt crisis and austerity cutbacks are allowed to get worse. Cuts have already led to a double-dip recession in the United Kingdom under PM David Cameron’s austerity policy, and the pain could spread without a more balanced approach to the debt debacle.
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POLITICIANS GET THEIR HANDS ON FORECLOSURE SETTLEMENT FUNDS BEFORE DISTRESSED HOMEOWNERS, WHICH CAN NEVER BE A GOOD THING...
(Pro Publica)
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Almost all of the 50 states and the federal government reached an agreement last year with some the nations largest banks on penalties for the rampant mortgage and foreclosure abuse perpetrated by those banks or entities they subsequently purchased. The fraud and abuse caused potentially millions of homeowners significant financial distress and, in many cases, cos them their home. The penalty for the documented abuse was to include $2.5 billion paid directly to the states for distribution to affected homeowners. Only politics got in the way as lawmakers in some states stuck their hands in this billion-dollar cookie jar. A report shows nearly $1 billion of the bank penalty funds has been used by states for purposes other than reimbursing homeowners, ranging from plugging gaps in higher education funding to paying down state deficits. The Republican governor of Georgia diverted all of the $99 million allocated to victims of mortgage abuse to a fund designed to lure businesses to the state, seemingly failing to understand the purpose of the money by claiming “the best way to prevent foreclosures…is to create jobs here in our state.”
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“DIRTY JOBS”: OBAMA ADMINISTRATION POLICIES GIVE MORE JOBS (AND GOVERNMENT SUBSIDIES) TO THE COAL INDUSTRY
(West Virginia Gazette)
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New data shows that the number of jobs related to coal mining in West Virginia — the state with the majority of America’s coal operations — is experiencing a steady rise since President Obama took office in 2009. Coal jobs were up 7 percent in 2011 alone, and are at their highest levels in years. This contrasts sharply with the unchecked hostility directed at the federal government and the Obama administration in particular from coal corporations and their political allies in the state. West Virginia is awash in coal interests, and the state’s lawmakers are intent on keeping the coal industry appeased through massive infusions of taxpayer dollars, including at least $60,000 to create an industry-led “Coal Forum” to run advertisements and hold public meetings designed to challenge the scientifically proven destruction of sourcing and burning the dirtiest fossil fuel. While coal jobs are up, the industry itself is poised for a steady decline, not because of regulations but due to competition from cheaper natural gas and the increasing difficulty in extracting coal. Despite the environmental and economic realities facing coal, the Obama administration has sought to court industry support by including coal as part of its fossil fuel-heavy “all of the above” energy policy and by reducing previously implemented regulations aimed at safeguarding local communities from massive coal operations.
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NO KEYSTONE XL! EVER!!!!
Fascinating pictures and commentary of an area little understood. Its really a miracle how modern technology is able to find ingenious new ways of providing efficient energy sources for the needs of a growing world.
Of course, any other comments on this particular subject will consist of angry screeds about Global Warming and Greedy Oil Companies. From commenters who drive cars, live comfortably in heated/air-conditioned houses, and would scream bloody murder if any of it were taken away for even a day. Or, who would never for a second tolerate the price of gas and the utilities bill if we had to subsist on anything remotely resembling “sustainable fuels,” like wind and solar.
Oh, and who will forever be quiet as churchmice about all the birds who get killed by windmills.
Seeing the tar sands like this should make anyone oppose keystone.
The Earth can only handle so much damage……. then it’s” sorry time’s up folks.”
Nothing about the Keystone Pipe line makes any sense. Why pipe this crud 1,700 miles across the heartland to refine it in Texas?
Refine it in Canada and let them suffer the byproducts of this filthy fuel.