Nacogdoches County S.T.O.P.
- by: NacSTOP.org
- recipient: Secretary of State Clinton
Construction of the TransCanada Keystone XL pipeline promotes the continued destruction of Alberta's boreal forest and the First Nations people downstream, and will cause contamination of streams and aquifers along its 2000-mile course and increased air pollution when its tar sands are refined at the Texas Gulf coast. The land acquisition already underway with the threat of eminent domain strips landowners of their right to say NO to this project. Since the Presidential Permit required for approval of this bi-national venture has yet to be signed off on by the U.S. State Department, we need to send a strong message to Secretary of State Clinton that this project is not in the national interest.
We the undersigned petition you to deny approval of the TransCanada Keystone XL pipeline. We feel that this proposed project is not in our national interest.
Tar sands development is one of the most destructive energy projects in the world. To get one barrel of tar sands crude from surface mining, the boreal forest is clearcut, tons of earth are removed, several barrels of water are used and giant tailings ponds are left behind. Another extraction method involves burning large amounts of natural gas to heat subsurface deposits and allow them to be sucked to the surface, where further upgrading is required before the crude can be sent via pipeline to refineries where it is made into fuels like gasoline. Destruction of thousands of acres of forest ecosystem along with poisoning of waters downstream to access this toxic bitumen have resulted in tremendous rates of rare cancers in the First Nations populations.
If the propsed pipeline is approved the resulting tar sands slurry will be funneled from Alberta, through America's heartland, through East Texas near the communities of Sacul and Douglass in Nacogdoches County, to refineries at the Texas gulf coast. Already the Texas Railroad Commission has given TransCanada the go ahead to begin condemnation proceedings against those Texas landowners who have sought to deny damage to their land, but whose property is in the path of TransCanada's proposed 36-inch pipeline. Thanks to the Railroad Commission's actions Texans are now seeing a foreign company threatening the use of eminent domain to wrest away the property of fellow Texans. This in spite of the fact that the pipeline has yet to be approved by the U.S. State Department. And again, this is despite the fact that many flaws exist in the draft environmental impact statement for the proposed project.
There are additional questions and concerns regarding the safety of the pipeline itself, the toxic tarsands oil that would flow through it, and the reduced air quality resulting from refining this bituminous crude. Questions, too, regarding jobs and energy independence. How thick are the walls of this higher-than-average-pressure pipeline compared to conventional-pressure crude oil pipelines? How will heating this acidic, tar sand crude affect the lifespan of those same pipes? Where are TransCanada's emergency response plans? What happens if the earth along the Mount Enterprise fault zone shifts in southern Rusk County? When leaks occur the tar sands oil will not float on water like conventional oil, but instead will sink, harming any aquatic life it comes into contact with, and seeping down into the very aquifers that east Texans depend on for their drinking water. Where will the increased carcincinogenic and heat trapping emissions from the refining of this toxic tarsands oil end up? In the very air that we in east Texas breath. How many new jobs will this bring to east Texas, and how permanent will they be? How many of those same jobs will already be filled from outside east Texas? And in the long run, can this truly make us energy independent when it perpetuates our dependence on fossil fuels?
The Keystone XL project is not the panacea of independence, safety, cheap gasoline, and job creation that certain corporations and investors might have us believe. We believe that it is in the national interest that the Presidential Permit for the TransCanada Keystone XL pipeline is denied.
Thank you for your time and consideration of our request.
Sign PetitionSign PetitionTar sands development is one of the most destructive energy projects in the world. To get one barrel of tar sands crude from surface mining, the boreal forest is clearcut, tons of earth are removed, several barrels of water are used and giant tailings ponds are left behind. Another extraction method involves burning large amounts of natural gas to heat subsurface deposits and allow them to be sucked to the surface, where further upgrading is required before the crude can be sent via pipeline to refineries where it is made into fuels like gasoline. Destruction of thousands of acres of forest ecosystem along with poisoning of waters downstream to access this toxic bitumen have resulted in tremendous rates of rare cancers in the First Nations populations.
If the propsed pipeline is approved the resulting tar sands slurry will be funneled from Alberta, through America's heartland, through East Texas near the communities of Sacul and Douglass in Nacogdoches County, to refineries at the Texas gulf coast. Already the Texas Railroad Commission has given TransCanada the go ahead to begin condemnation proceedings against those Texas landowners who have sought to deny damage to their land, but whose property is in the path of TransCanada's proposed 36-inch pipeline. Thanks to the Railroad Commission's actions Texans are now seeing a foreign company threatening the use of eminent domain to wrest away the property of fellow Texans. This in spite of the fact that the pipeline has yet to be approved by the U.S. State Department. And again, this is despite the fact that many flaws exist in the draft environmental impact statement for the proposed project.
There are additional questions and concerns regarding the safety of the pipeline itself, the toxic tarsands oil that would flow through it, and the reduced air quality resulting from refining this bituminous crude. Questions, too, regarding jobs and energy independence. How thick are the walls of this higher-than-average-pressure pipeline compared to conventional-pressure crude oil pipelines? How will heating this acidic, tar sand crude affect the lifespan of those same pipes? Where are TransCanada's emergency response plans? What happens if the earth along the Mount Enterprise fault zone shifts in southern Rusk County? When leaks occur the tar sands oil will not float on water like conventional oil, but instead will sink, harming any aquatic life it comes into contact with, and seeping down into the very aquifers that east Texans depend on for their drinking water. Where will the increased carcincinogenic and heat trapping emissions from the refining of this toxic tarsands oil end up? In the very air that we in east Texas breath. How many new jobs will this bring to east Texas, and how permanent will they be? How many of those same jobs will already be filled from outside east Texas? And in the long run, can this truly make us energy independent when it perpetuates our dependence on fossil fuels?
The Keystone XL project is not the panacea of independence, safety, cheap gasoline, and job creation that certain corporations and investors might have us believe. We believe that it is in the national interest that the Presidential Permit for the TransCanada Keystone XL pipeline is denied.
Thank you for your time and consideration of our request.
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