Big Oil, Coal Target NW Communities and Planet

Speak up about Shell's new rail loop proposal to accept 

more oil trains.

Shell Oil has big plans to bring more explosive oil trains to Washington — and if we don’t act quickly, we will not get a say in the matter. 

Shell is proposing to build a new rail loop at its refinery in Anacortes, just a hundred feet from the shore of Puget Sound. If Shell succeeds, six more trains per week would be added carrying dangerous, explosive crude oil through the Pacific Northwest. Each of these trains has 100 tank cars!

Right now, the Department of Ecology and the Skagit County commissioners are deciding how much time to give the public to weigh in on Shell’s proposal. Tell them to give us the longest public comment period possible to weigh in on this proposal that risks our safety, our environment, and our way of life.

Shell has been fighting to avoid any additional public scrutiny of this project from the beginning. Now, it’s doing everything it can to make to make the public comment period for this project short and sweet when the impact is anything but. The public deserves time to weigh in on Shell’s proposal to bring more volatile crude through Washington communities - plain and simple.

Tell decision makers to give the public the longest comment period possible so that our voices can be heard!

Once the comment period for Shell’s proposal is set, you’ll be hearing from us again with next steps and updates.

 

Crow Tribe Inks Partnership to Develop Washington State Coal Port

via Indian Country Today

The Crow Tribe of Montana has inked a partnership with Cloud Peak Energy and SSA Marine for a five percent share of Gateway Pacific Terminal, the coal export terminal proposed in northernwestern Washington State near the Canadian border. 

The tribe's buy-in cost will be decided if and when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers grants approval to the export project, reported billingsgazette.com.

The Crow Tribal Legislature additionally needs to sign off on the agreement made by Crow Tribal Chairman Darren Old Coyote when its members convene in October.

Proponents estimate the terminal could open in five years and ship roughly 48 million metric tons of coal annually to international markets, reported bellinghamherald.com.

Big Oil Knew. Big Oil Lied. And Planet Earth Got Fried.

Published on

Thursday, July 09, 2015

by

Common Dreams

They knew. They lied. And the planet and its people are now paying the ultimate price.

It's no secret that the fossil fuel industry—the set of companies and corporate interests which profit most from the burning of coal, oil, and gas—have been the largest purveyors and funders of climate change denialism in the world.

Now, a new set of documents and a report released by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) answers the age-old question always asked when it comes to crimes of corruption, cover-up, and moral defiance: What did they know and when did they know it?

As it turns out, "The Climate Deception Dossiers" shows that leading oil giants such as ExxonMobil, BP, and Shell—just like tobacco companies who buried and denied the threat of cancer for smokers—knew about the dangers of global warming and the role of carbon and other greenhouse gas emissions long before the public received warning from the broader scientific community. And what's worse, of course, is not only that they knew—but how they have spent the last nearly thirty years actively denying the damage they were causing to the planet and its inhabitants.

Wednesday updates

                              h/t oiltransportationcampaign

Hearing on Inslee plan to charge big polluters draws divided crowd

By Jim Brunner Seattle Times political reporter

OLYMPIA — Gov. Jay Inslee’s sweeping climate-change bill drew hundreds to a packed public hearing Tuesday, putting the divided world view of supporters and opponents on full display throughout the Capitol.

An air of urgency filled environmentalists who sang songs and waved signs at passing lawmakers, and erected a display of a burning planet.....

North Dakota: oil producers aim to cut radioactive waste bills

via Yahoo News

Not the Radioactive waste, mind you, just the cost of dealing with it.

By Ernest Scheyder

WILLISTON, N.D. (Reuters) - North Dakota's oil industry is pushing to change the state's radioactive waste disposal laws as part of a broad effort to conserve cash as oil prices tumble.

The waste, which becomes slightly radioactive as part of the hydraulic fracturing process that churns up isotopes locked underground, must be trucked out of state.

That's because rules prohibit North Dakota landfills from accepting anything but miniscule amounts of radiation.....

Children Given Lifelong Ban on Talking About Fracking

Two Pennsylvanian children will live their lives under a gag order imposed under a $750,000 settlement.

By Suzanne Goldenberg     The Guardian   Alternet      January 26, 2015

Two young children in Pennsylvania were banned from talking about fracking for the rest of their lives under a gag order imposed under a settlement reached by their parents with a leading oil and gas company.

The sweeping gag order was imposed under a $750,000 settlement between the Hallowich family and Range Resources Corp, a leading oil and gas driller. It provoked outrage on Monday among environmental campaigners and free speech advocates.

The settlement, reached in 2011 but unsealed only last week, barred the Hallowichs' son and daughter, who were then aged 10 and seven, from ever discussing fracking or the Marcellus Shale, a leading producer in America's shale gas boom.

The Hallowich family had earlier accused oil and gas companies of destroying their 10-acre farm in Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania and putting their children's health in danger. Their property was adjacent to major industrial operations: four gas wells, gas compressor stations, and a waste water pond, which the Hallowich family said contaminated their water supply and caused burning eyes, sore throats and headaches.

Gag orders – on adults – are typical in settlements reached between oil and gas operators and residents in the heart of shale gas boom in Pennsylvania. But the company lawyer's insistence on extending the lifetime gag order to the Hallowichs' children gave even the judge pause, according to the court documents.

The family gag order was a condition of the settlement. The couple told the court they agreed because they wanted to move to a new home away from the gas fields, and to raise their children in a safer environment. "We need to get the children out of there for their health and safety," the children's mother, Stephanie Hallowich, told the court.....   more here

Obama Admin Muzzles Climate Science/ Hood River Passes CBR Resolution

Obama Administration Muzzling Its Climate Scientists

Yves Smith and Steve Horn     Naked Capitalism     11 Dec 2014   

The fact that Team Obama is gagging its climate scientists should come as no surprise. First, the Administration is obsesses with secrecy and image-management, as its extremely aggressive posture on classifying records and prosecuting leakers attests. Second, Administration climate policy is founded on a Big Lie. As Gaius Publius has written at length, its greenhouse gas measures exclude methane, the most potent greenhouse gas. That omission favors fracking, which fails the "clean green" test when you factor in methane releases. And that's before you factor in contamination of water supplies.... read more here

 

Hood River City Council passes resolution opposing coal, oil transport

By Kirby Neumann-Rea    December 9, 2014  Hood River News

Citing threats to public safety and the Gorge economy, Hood River City Council passed a resolution Monday calling for a ban on coal and oil transports through the Gorge.

Councilor Kate McBride drafted the resolution, with input from the Columbia Gorge Climate Action Network, which had several members present at Monday’s meeting.

“The city supports economic growth that does not jeopardize the City of Hood River’s commitment to fight the serious impacts of climate change,” states the first “Be It Resolved” of the detailed, five-page resolution.

The resolution notes that “because the rail alignment runs through our downtown area, the impact of existing and proposed oil trains is potentially catastrophic in terms of loss of life and devastation of the City of Hood River community, environment and economy.” .... read more here

Officials air concerns about oil trains at Washougal meeting- and other news

Sonar image of bubbles rising from the seafloor off the Washington coast. Credit: B. Philip / Univ. of Washington

Officials air concerns about oil trains at Washougal meeting

Little cities can do to stop plans, Guard admits to BNSF

 

By Justin Runquist, The Columbian       December 9, 2014

In a humbling moment Tuesday night, Washougal Mayor Sean Guard turned to three representatives of BNSF Railway and admitted the city has little power to halt the rise of trains carrying volatile crude oil through Washougal.

"Obviously, we don't get the choice to stop you," Guard said. "We don't really get the choice of what you've got moving on those (tracks) or the times that they come through."

Guard and several members of the Washougal City Council hosted the BNSF representatives for a discussion Tuesday night at Washougal High School regarding a slew of concerns about safety and traffic impacts from the influx of oil trains through the region.....

.... Washougal Councilor Paul Greenlee is uneasy with the idea of more trains traveling so close to the city's water supply, in some spots less than 100 feet away.

"I don't care what your emergency response is," Greenlee said. "If you dump a train on top of that — and if you'll excuse my French — we are well and truly screwed."

Oil train disasters, though infrequent, are devastating, Greenlee said.

Among the top concerns is how long additional trains could hold up traffic at the major intersections. Guard asked what the city can do to mitigate the impact of trains running through the city. On two occasions, he's experienced getting stuck at an intersection for about 15 minutes while waiting for a train to pass.

The issue was also a major concern for Ridgefield Mayor Ron Onslow, who noted that stalling trains pose a serious threat to emergency responders trying to access the city's floating home community on Lake River.....  read more here

ND Industrial Commission to decide on oil conditioning standards

BISMARCK – Oil companies are urging North Dakota regulators to scale back proposed standards for treating crude oil to make it safer for shipment, warning the rules could increase natural gas flaring and emissions, damage equipment and add costs that could threaten some operations. By: Mike Nowatzki, Forum News Service
- See more at: http://www.prairiebizmag.com/event/article/id/21974/#sthash.SY9upb2U.dpuf

Warmer Pacific Ocean could release millions of tons of seafloor methane 

December 9, 2014        Science Daily    by Hannah Hickey.

Off the West Coast of the United States, methane gas is trapped in frozen layers below the seafloor. New research from the University of Washington shows that water at intermediate depths is warming enough to cause these carbon deposits to melt, releasing methane into the sediments and surrounding water.

 

Researchers found that water off the coast of Washington is gradually warming at a depth of 500 meters, about a third of a mile down. That is the same depth where methane transforms from a solid to a gas. The research suggests that ocean warming could be triggering the release of a powerful greenhouse gas....   read more here

ND Industrial Commission to decide on oil conditioning standards

By: Mike Nowatzki, Forum NewsService     12/09/14 

BISMARCK – Oil companies are urging North Dakota regulators to scale back proposed standards for treating crude oil to make it safer for shipment, warning the rules could increase natural gas flaring and emissions, damage equipment and add costs that could threaten some operations..... 

{Ed note: the proposed standards are inadequate, but still being fought strongly by the industry:  The Big Difference Between Oil "Conditioning" and "Stabilization"  }

 

Railroad to pay $625,000 in 2008 derailment that caused oil spill in Mississippi River

by: RYAN J. FOLEY,  Star Tribune    December 10, 2014

IOWA CITY, Iowa — A railroad company has agreed to pay $625,000 to settle allegations that it failed to adequately clean up a 2008 oil spill that damaged the shoreline and aquatic life in the Mississippi River between Iowa and Wisconsin.....

.... Wally Taylor, a Cedar Rapids environmental attorney, said he would consider filing a comment on behalf of the Sierra Club.

"It sounds like it's not nearly enough," he said of the settlement. "I suspect the company probably resisted pretty strongly but that the government didn't want to really take them to court. They were probably playing cat and mouse for six years."   read article here

Climate Deal or Not, Fight Against Global Warming Has Begun

NPR audio  12/05/14