Top Obama Environmental Official Departs “Frustrated” Over Pipeline, Inaction On Climate

[Fire Walk With Me]

Tar Sands Blockade ?@KXLBlockade

Head of EPA resigns as "a matter of conscience" as Keystone XL pushed by Obama admin http://www.buzzfeed.com/rubycramer/top-obama-environmental-official-departs-frustrat … #NoKXL
Retweeted by uppity

http://www.buzzfeed.com/rubycramer/top-obama-environmental-official-departs-frustrat

President Obama's chief environmental official departed in part over her opposition to a controversial plan to pipe oil from Canadian tar sands to Texas refineries, two sources familiar with the situation told BuzzFeed Thursday.

Environmental Protection Administration Administrator Lisa Jackson, who had served as New Jersey's top environmental official, had been handed a far less ambitious agenda on issues surrounding climate change after opposition from states reliant on burning coal for electricity proved a damaging political issue for Democrats in 2010. The pipeline project, bitterly opposed by environmental activists, was one of environmentalists' largest disappointments.

Jackson "left as a matter of conscience," said Jeff Tittel, the director of New Jersey's Sierra Club chapter and a longtime friend of Jackson's. The EPA Administrator "has too much principle to support [the pipeline], between the climate impacts of it and the water quality impacts of it."

President Obama initially delayed Keystone's progress, but this March authorized the construction of its Southern portion over howls from his former allies in the movement to stop carbon emissions.

(More at the link.)

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. So, she left over frustrations regarding the Keystone mess?

That speaks volumes to me about how much a conservationist Obama is.

As in, he isn't.

So now there's one less influential person to push Obama away from this awful idea, that is rapidly becoming reality.

God damn it.

[daleanime]

2. I know....

wish she had stopped to consider her replacement. I doubt that who ever it is will fight as hard as she did.

[Pretzel_Warrior]

3. What the frack? Hopefully

She has done some good by raising the issue anew with her public resignation and can do more on the outside than inside to fight this.

[tavalon]

4. Yeah, that's the hard thing

but as someone who had to leave something because I couldn't take being near it anymore, I have sympathy. Frustration and sympathy.

[ChisolmTrailDem]

7. President Obama has stated repeatedly that he

intends to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. However, if I'm to understand the issue, the pipeline will be moving crude from Canada to Houston where it will be refined and those refined products are to be exported to other countries. Nothing about it increases our domestic production but it does mean mega-profits for Big Oil.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

8. That is exactly what it is intended to do. n/t

[awoke_in_2003]

13. Indeed. nt

[Egalitarian Thug]

5. There are no pieces for dead Americans and fouled water on the hyper-dimensional chessboard. n/t

[AgingAmerican]

6. Obama ignores climate change

He has replace the phrases, 'global warming,' and, 'climate change,' with the words, "clean energy".

I fear this inaction will become his biggest legacy.

[Oilwellian]

9. True colors are shining through now

The next four years will be extremely tedious.

[sabrina 1]

10. I just heard today that Obama intends 'to get the pipeline done' as part

of his agenda for his second term. I didn't believe it. But if Lisa Jackson felt compelled to resign as a 'matter of conscience' over this among other issues, then that seems to suggest that what I heard today is true.

She must have felt that there was nothing she could do to stop it, and I don't blame her for quitting, because this will be a huge issue for millions of Americans and I cannot blame her for not wanting to have her name attached to it in any way. Had she stayed, she would have been unable to speak out against it. It seems clear that this administration didn't want to hear her views so she really had not choice.

Kudos to her for doing the right thing. People should do this consistently when elected officials decide to work against the interests of the American people.

[Raine]

11. The first time I voted for Obama I had hopes he would be an eviromental president. The last time I

voted for him I knew he wouldn't be but I basically had no other choice, the alternative was worse.

[sabrina 1]

12. I wonder if it is possible anymore for a real environmentalist to make to the

WH, or if they did, is it possible for them to implement policies THEY believe are for the good of the planet? I get the feeling that there is no way anyone can make it to the WH unless they have made it clear they are willing to do the bidding of those who are actually running the country now?

When Obama went back on his campaign position on offshore drilling without even an 'I'm sorry' to those who put so much trust in him, I was shocked. Mostly by his slamming of environmentalists in his statements about that decision. I remember him saying that he was now in possession of up-to-date information on how progress had made and there was no chance of an Oil Rig causing the kind of damage caused by the Exxon Valdez. He basically insulted every Democrat who fought to keep that ban in place by claiming they were living in the past and did not know what he knew now.

And 18 days later tragically, he was proven wrong, and they were proven right. 11 men died when that oil rig did exactly what he said would not happen according to the 'brilliant' advisers he supposedly had. But he never apologized to the people he insulted and who were right.

[octoberlib]

14. Here's an article refuting all the claims on why the pipeline is good for us

Keystone pipeline claims just don't add up

ANALYSIS: Proponents of the Keystone oil pipeline argue the $7 billion project will create hundreds of thousands of jobs, give the economy a shot in the arm, lower gasoline prices and wean the U.S. from foreign imports.

Too bad the claims don’t hold up.

House Speaker John Boehner renewed his attack on the White House this week for postponing approval of the project pending a State Department review of the environmental impact of the proposed 1,661-mile pipeline, which would cross six Midwest states to deliver Canadian crude to the Gulf Coast. Republicans have intensified their attacks on Democratic President Barack Obama's energy policies in recent days, blaming them for higher pump prices that could hurt his re-election prospects in the Nov. 6 face-off against the eventual GOP nominee. But critics argue that Keystone will raise the price of oil consumed in the U.S., not lower it. That's because the current glut of oil created by the bottleneck at the Cushing hub would allow Canadian producers to reprice their oil at the global benchmark, which is now about $15 a barrel higher. The total increase would amount to some $2 billion to $4 billion a year, according to the company's own estimates presented in its application to Canadian authorities.

"Oil companies don’t benefit by reducing the price that we pay at the pump," said Jeremy Symons, a spokesman for the National Wildlife Federation. "The reason they're willing to invest so much money to build in a pipeline all the way across America is to maximize their profit. And that means we're all going to pay more."

TransCanada also argues that the six states crossed by the pipeline's route "are expected to receive an additional $5.2 billion in property taxes during the estimated operating life of the pipeline."

But that analysis fails to account for the likely damage caused by oil spills along the pipeline route. In the past five years, more than half a million barrels of oil and other hazardous liquids have been spilled from U.S. pipelines, killing 76 people and causing some $2.4 billion in property damage, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/keystone-pipeline-claims-just-dont-add-260756

[Resonance_Chamber]

15. Her Boss undermines her department and is not really all that into protecting the environment

because the Oil Barons want the pipeline yet she is still supposed to stay because her replacement may agree with the boss?

I applaud her courage of conviction.

She needs to drop the dime on the shenanigans going down with Keystone, dump all the proof on the internet, let the people know what is really going on.

[Kolesar]

16. the decision had less to do with the Obama administration's environmental record, ...

Other sources close to Jackson say the decision had less to do with the Obama administration's environmental record, and was more a personal choice.
"She had always planned to do one term," said one close Jackson friend. "She has two boys heading for college soon."

---------

I know that you are all unhappy, but the President only had a decision to stop the pipeline from coming in from Canada.

What leverage did the President have to stop the southern section of the pipeline?

I will be surprised if anybody answers me. On to the next shiny distraction

[Fire Walk With Me]

17. If the President of the United States of American is powerless to stop this pipeline

1. He and the position of President are revealed as useless
2. It would then be up to the people.