“Now is the time to make justice a reality for all.” – MLK, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr., led the struggle for justice with words and actions. Dr. King said of the oppressor, “Let him know that you are merely seeking justice for him as well as yourself.”
Last Friday, justice was delayed after Juliana v. United States, the Youth climate lawsuit proved its case. U.S. District Court Judge Josephine L. Staton, one of the three judges in a dissenting statement said, “the government has acknowledged the U.S. has reached a tipping point crying out for a concerted response – yet presses ahead toward calamity.” The plan is for the lawsuit to be heard by the Supreme Court. This is not an ordinary lawsuit; it is about carbon emissions increasing every day. Now is the time for justice.
Is the government corrupt?
In a 2017 video “The Paris Accord is a Bad Deal for America,” the White House says, it costs too much, is signed by Obama, and accomplishes little. “If every member nation met all of their commitments, the impact on the climate would be negligible.” This is the same cartoon logic used by the two judges last week: “The climate emergency is real, the government is responsible, but the damages are massive. Let others act!”
Trump is not the only one responsible for the climate, moral and economic crises. The U.S. Congress millionaires investing in pipelines for oil and gas, approving incompetent judges for the Supreme Court, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo covering up the assassination of Iran’s military leader, and the U.S. Attorney General protecting Trump, tells me they all know the climate crisis is here and they are ignoring the law.
During his January 2017 confirmation hearing, Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson told Congress under oath, “ExxonMobil does not get subsidies,” and his claim went unchallenged. Rex may be a moron or a liar. Fact: Congress gives billions as subsidies to the fossil fuels industry to pay back campaign contributions, a quid pro quo.
Pipelines are major sources of emissions
Trump proposed a change to the methane regulations to increase the exports of natural gas, with liquifying stations in the Gulf of Mexico. The docket has not been decided by the so-called Environmental Protection Agency. Unless Trump is removed from office, you know what may happen.
CEQ not EPA
Trump wants to build a network of pipelines to make the 2020 economy look good. Here is the master plan. EPA is out, and a new agency, the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), reporting directly to Trump, is in charge.
GND not DOS
The Sunrise Movement and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez plus other groups are demanding a Green New Deal, not Trump’s Dirty Old Scam. GND is not optional. Bolsonaro (Brazil), Morrison (Australia) and Trump (USA) are in the way. The battle for the future of life is generational, not political. The oldest member of congress is 90, 70 years older than the Sunrise kids.
Pegasus, back from the dead
Pretending old pipelines are like wine, which get better with age, Energy Transfer Partners is testing the ExxonMobil line to use it for the third time. Faulkner County Judge Jim Baker says, “the pipeline would be regulated enough to ensure safety.” The 859-mile pipeline stretches from south Texas to Illinois.
The rupture in 2013 resulting in a catastrophe for Mayflower, Ark., with Canadian tar sands inundating streets and homes is ignored again. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce intervened on behalf of ExxonMobil saying the damages to cancer victims and the environmental destruction from the diluted bitumen and benzene and other carcinogenic gases would stop investors from building pipelines. ExxonMobil got a free pass and no one in Mayflower talks about what really happened.
Rise up, we have a climate emergency
To stop new pipelines, please send comments to Regulations.gov Docket CEQ-2019-0003 “Update to the Regulations Implementing the Procedural Provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act.” Please visit OurChildrensTrust.org for updates on Juliana v. United States.
Please join Sunrise, sunrisemovement.org. There are several hubs in Arkansas.
Dr. Luis Contreras
The proposed changes to NEPA would benefit Energy Transfer, Plains All American, Kinder Morgan, Sunoco and all mid-stream oil and gas companies building pipelines increasing carbon emissions, and ignoring public health, private property and our water, rivers, and land
We are not alone, Pipeline Safety, a non-profit organization is on our side. Here is what they say:
The Pipeline Safety Trust promotes pipeline safety through education and advocacy, increased access to information, and partnerships with residents, safety advocates, government, and industry, resulting in safer communities and a healthier environment.
We see a world in which there are zero pipeline incidents and:
* Communities where residents feel safe from the hazards of energy infrastructure,
* Communities where residents trust their government to protect them from hazards,
* Government authorities that are proactive and innovative in their approaches to accident prevention,
* Energy production, distribution and consumption that promotes sustainable development,
* Energy and utility industries that partner with communities to promote safety and environmental protection,
* Communities that are empowered with information and technical expertise, and
* Communities where residents have a meaningful voice in pipeline decision-making.
Please visit http://pstrust.org
Green New Deal (GND)
https://www.vox.com/videos/2019/6/12/18653754/green-new-deal-video
The government corruption argument goes like this:
1. We are responsible for carbon emissions and pollution
2. The damages are so massive we refuse to act to protect the US economy and our personal investments in Oil & Gas
3. Oil & Gas financial interests trump people and climate
You are on your own — Who cares what the Constitution says about your rights?
U.S. Chamber Sides with Exxon In Appeal Over Arkansas Oil Spill
Sep 12, 2016
The Chamber filed a friend-of-the-court brief this week saying the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) revised its pipeline regulations only after the oil spill.
The brief says that allowing the order to stand would make companies “think twice” before investing in future pipelines and adversely affect the national economy. ExxonMobil Pipeline Co wants the court to overturn a $2.6 million fine.
https://www.ualrpublicradio.org/post/exxon-mobil-files-documents-appeal-over-arkansas-oil-spill
You may want to make some calls, the feds don’t have resources to inspect pipelines, they show up after they rupture.
Judge Baker mentioned below should worry. Pipeline corrosion for a 80-year old pipeline, iddle twice after rupture, should be replaced from end to end. Energy Transfer will start pumping … they don’t care.
01/17/2020 – Part of oil pipeline closed since it burst in Central Arkansas in 2013 being tested
“Faulkner County Judge Jim Baker said he had been notified of the company’s intent to test the pipeline. Baker said the Mayflower community was greatly affected by the 2013 spill, but he believed the pipeline would be regulated enough to ensure safety. “You always have that concern,” Baker said. “I don’t think it would open without it being serviceable and sound.”
The 859-mile pipeline stretches from south Texas to Illinois. When the line was in use, it transported crude and refined oil products.
On March 29, 2013, a rupture of the pipeline spilled 5,000 barrels of crude oil into a neighborhood in Mayflower, resulting in $57.5 million in property damage. Exxon owned the pipeline at the time and is still a minority owner. Energy Transfer acquired the pipeline in 2016 through a joint venture with Exxon
.
A spokeswoman for Energy Transfer told the Hot Springs Sentinel-Record that the company is performing integrity tests to ascertain the status of the pipeline and ensuring that it is up to regulations from the Pipeline and Hazard Materials Safety Administration.
The pipeline runs through 13 miles of the Lake Maumelle watershed, which is the largest drinking water reservoir in the state and provides drinking water to about a half-million people, or one in seven Arkansans.
A rupture of the pipeline within the watershed would be catastrophic for the water supply, Central Arkansas Water officials have said. The Mayflower spill missed the Lake Maumelle watershed by 9 miles.
The pipeline also runs through 20 smaller watersheds in communities across Arkansas.”
https://www.nwaonline.com/news/2020/jan/17/part-of-oil-pipeline-that-burst-being-t/
The 2017 oil subsidies story is discussed below
“During former Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson’s confirmation hearing for Secretary of State on Wednesday, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) wanted to know how, if confirmed, the former oil executive would work to fulfill a 2009 G20 pledge to phase out fossil fuel subsidies.
“I’m not aware of anything the fossil fuel industry gets that I would characterize as a subsidy,” Tillerson responded. “Rather it’s simply the application of the tax code broadly, tax code that broadly applies to all industry.”
But environmental groups argue that Tillerson’s statements are misleading at best, noting fossil fuel companies like Exxon receive significant benefits from parts of the tax code that apply only to them — and no other industry.
“Rex Tillerson lied under oath today,” Alex Doukas, a senior campaigner with Oil Change International, told ThinkProgress. “Oil, gas, and coal corporations receive big subsidies in the U.S, and definitions used by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, the International Energy Agency, and the International Monetary Fund would all agree on that point,” he said, adding that “these are hardly radically progressive organizations.”
https://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2017/01/13/rex-tillerson-exxon-and-when-an-oil-subsidy-isnt-really-an-oil-subsidy/#22d3146d2aeb
The Pegasus pipeline is a major threat for Arkansas:
“Pipelines like Pegasus are regulated entirely federally and by a legally prescribed process that appears to have been expertly lobbied. No public comment is required. All that’s necessary is for the pipeline company to conduct and pass the tests that the federal regulatory process requires. The testing process runs pressure-measuring devices through the line and takes readings and makes reports.
The pipeline runs through the north side of the watershed of Greater Little Rock’s water source, Lake Maumelle. It crosses the Little Maumelle River and gets within distant sight of the lake a time or two.
Witnesses of admittedly untrained eye tell me that the pipe, some of it aboveground in the watershed, doesn’t look at all reassuring after all these years. Maybe the worn exterior belies the sturdy interior, though it wasn’t sturdy six years ago under Mayflower.
When the Mayflower-contained disaster happened, Central Arkansas Water officials said that a similar rupture of that magnitude just a few miles south in the Maumelle watershed would have been a full catastrophe. It could have contaminated the main water supply for more than 400,000 customers throughout Greater Little Rock.”
John Brummett
https://www.nwaonline.com/news/2019/nov/20/return-of-the-pipeline-20191120/