Bob Allpress says Nebraska DEQ left his entire farm, including this federally protected Bald Eagle nest, out of its Keystone XL pipeline review

That’s right, the revised route—the one TransCanada told us we could trust to protect our wildlife, public lands and clean water.

National Wildlife Federation has already reported extensively on how tar sands production threatens Canada’s caribou and wolves. But America’s wildlife is also threatened by Keystone XL, as Big Oil’s rush to pad corporate profits bumps up against America’s conservation values.

Nebraska Landowner Sounds the Alarm

Bob Allpress, the Nebraska landowner who raised the red flag in testimony last month, charges that the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality (the state agency tasked with examining the route through Nebraska) failed in their responsibility.

“Even though I contacted the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality several times, nobody from the DEQ ever contacted us nor inspected the route through our farm,” says Bob, who lives in Naper, NE. “If this report is this flawed within two miles of the South Dakota border, the entire report is suspect.”

After the DEQ ignored Allpress, NWF reached out to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, which contacted the U.S. State Department and asked them to shift the route away from this eagle’s nest and impose mitigation measures to protect eagles in the area. It remains to be seen whether the State Department will do.

TransCanada, the company trying to build the Keystone XL pipeline, might find a way around this particular problem—they may decide to re-route the pipeline a few hundred feet around the nest, or just build through the area and assume the eagles will find another home. But the bottom line is that TransCanada and the Nebraska DEQ failed to spot this problem when they had the chance, and it took a landowner and an outcry from conservation groups to even bring this problem to light.

New Route for Keystone XL Pipeline Just as Dangerous?

Bald eagles are back from the brink of extinction, but the tar sands industry has visions of dollar bills clouding their patriotism. (Photo: Art Goldenberg)

How President Obama responds will give us a clear view of his true priorities and determine—perhaps more than any other decision he makes—his conservation legacy.

The decision to move forward with the Keystone XL pipeline is currently up to President Obama and the U.S. State Department, who must review the project and decide whether to allow it to go forward.

Obama rejected the original permit application early in 2012, based mainly on concerns about damage to the Ogallala aquifer and other crucial resources in Nebraska. National Wildlife Federation and our partner groups in Nebraska are deeply troubled by the lack of consideration given so far to climate change and wildlife impacts, and the revised route still poses serious problems for the aquifer.

“Why are we risking our water—the main source of our state’s economy—for a foreign export pipeline?” asks Jane Kleeb of Bold Nebraska.

More Wildlife Species at Risk

In addition to Keystone’s game-changing (or if you believe NASA’s James Hansen, game-ending) effect on global carbon emissions, wildlife is at particular risk from tar sands development, pipeline spills and construction:

• In the event of a spill in Nebraska, the iconic sandhill cranes that migrate in vast numbers through the Platte River valley would be exposed to toxins like benzene. And at every river crossing along Keystone XL’s 2,000 mile route, fish habitat would be destroyed and the riparian system disturbed.
• Until earlier this year, it was official policy in Canada to hunt down and poison gray wolves as a “solution” to caribou habitat loss; a public outcry led by NWF caused the Alberta provincial government enough embarrassment to rethink that practice.
• Whooping cranes and hundreds of other species of migratory birds are seeing their northern nesting grounds bulldozed on an unprecedented scale as the oil industry expands its footprint in the Canadian tar sands region.
• The million-gallon Enbridge pipeline tar sands spill in Michigan killed or poisoned blue herons, muskrats, turtles, and dozens of other species. Yet we still don’t have state or federal laws requiring agencies to consider the unique impacts of tar sands spills, and according to Prof. John Stansbury of the University of Nebraska, “The bottom line is that a thorough and adequate study of the impacts has not been done [to date], and that includes the DEQ report.”

According to Dr. Doug Inkley, senior scientist at the National Wildlife Federation, “Bald eagle recovery is one of America’s great conservation success stories, something we can all be proud of. But oil companies’ priorities are so skewed that they can’t even be troubled to take wildlife into account. This situation is a reminder that the pipeline will affect wildlife from one end to the other.”

Tell the Obama Administration to reject Keystone XL and protect people and wildlife from dangerous tar sands!

Related Links:

• Learn more about bald eagles >>
• Check up on the Decorah Eagle Cam >>

Santa’s sleigh doesn’t run on oil, it’s powered by Rudolph and his friends! Santa’s reindeer and their cousins, the woodland caribou, are in danger and need your help! Up in Alberta, Canada caribou are being threatened by the tar sands industry and humans rapid expansion into caribou habitat.  This dirty industry is responsible for dangerous projects like Keystone XL pipeline & other pipelines across the country. Alberta’s government reported that  caribou populations are in serious decline and measures need to be taken to save this iconic and important species (I mean, seriously, how can you not save the red-nosed Rudolph?). This comes on the hooves of Alberta’s 5-year wolf-killing program as its main approach to caribou management, which has already seen more than 500 wolves killed.

Why We Should Save Caribou:

1. Dasher
2. Dancer
3. Prancer
4. Vixen
5. Comet
6. Cupid
7. Donner
8. Blitzen
9. Rudolph

While Santa’s making his list and checking it twice, his reindeer are on thin ice. We need to take action now so kids can grow up knowing that their reindeer are protected against the folks, who quite frankly, deserve a lump of coal in their stocking this year! Take action to protect caribou and other wildlife from dangerous tar sands development!

Ft. McMurray, Alberta – Ground Zero for the tar sands industry (photo: Kris Krug)

The existing Jackpine mine is already one of the largest in the area, producing 200,000 barrels of tar sands crude every day — more than three billion gallons every year — and by expanding the mine Shell hopes to add an extra 100,000 barrels per day to that figure (for a total of 300,000 bpd). By any measure the impacts to the region would be devastating: almost 50 square miles of destroyed or disturbed land in the boreal forest, a 128 billion gallon “tailings pond” for the project’s toxic waste, mining-out of eight miles of the Muskeg River. The mining operation alone would produce more carbon dioxide than half a million cars on the road every day, and that’s before you factor in the pollution created when that oil is burned.

Woodland Caribou (Photo: US Fish & Wildlife Service)

Wildlife in peril

In its submission to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA), Shell tried to gloss over the toll that Jackpine would take on wildlife, but its own statistical projections (not to mention common sense) show that animals would be hit hard by the huge operation: Woodland caribou, which are already suffering huge population declines due to industrial development in the boreal forest, would lose about half their habitat in the area (compared to pre-industrial numbers); wood bison would lose almost 40%, and the Canada lynx over 30%. Birds are hit even harder, with the Canada warbler losing over 60% of its habitat, the black-throated green warbler about 44%, and the barred owl 43%. Species like wolverine, moose, beaver, and black bears would find themselves cut off from about a quarter of their land in the mine area.

Canada Lynx (Photo: Juliana Luz)

We know that tar sands mining permanently damages the environment and destroys forests and wetlands with vast infrastructure, open pit mines, and toxic wastewater ponds up to three miles wide. Waterbirds mistake those tailings ponds for natural ponds. They land in the contaminated water and get coated in oil and other toxins. They often drown, die from hypothermia, or suffer from ingestion of toxins.

Tribal groups fight back

The Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, which is already wrestling with Shell over the company’s steamroller approach to development, is challenging the project in court, pointing out the harm that traditional tribal lands will suffer and saying that Shell and the provincial government have ignored their legal obligation to consult with tribes.

“We don’t want to take Shell to court, but we feel our treaty rights need to be addressed,” Eriel Deranger, a communications coordinator for the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, said. “We have repeatedly asked for more meaningful consultation, and don’t believe the government has done its due diligence. We are taking this very seriously.”

For those of us in the US who have seen poorly tar sands pipeline companies treat tribes and other communities, this is a depressingly familiar refrain. But we should also recognize that Shell’s projects are directly linked to our demand for oil, and we can put a stop to mines like Jackpine by shifting to cleaner energy sources and refusing to be the middleman for Canada’s dirty fuel.

Speak up to protect wildlife and our planet’s future! Tell the White House to say NO to tar sands pipelines like Keystone XL.

For a comprehensive breakdown of the Jackpine Mine’s impacts on land, water, air, and wildlife, check out the Pembina Institute’s white paper here, or visit StopShellNow.com to find out more about how you can get involved.

The following is a guest post from Larry Bartlett from Fairbanks, Alaska—he gives a firsthand account of  traveling in the Western Arctic Reserve (also known as the National Petroleum Reserve or NPR-A), the single largest unit of public land in the nation encompassing 23.5 million acres. This land provides habitat for caribou, grizzlies, polar bears, wolves, and millions of migratory birds—including tens of thousands of ducks and geese highly valued by sportsmen throughout the nation.

When Alaskans are asked about the National Petroleum Reserve (NPR), most have never heard of it, few have visited this region, and still fewer have hunted this barren landscape.  That’s precisely the way I prefer it; wild, uncorrupted, scenic, stark, and extremely remote.

Most notably this region in Northwest Alaska serves two biological purposes:

1. Spring breeding grounds for hundreds of thousands of migratory birds;
2. Calving grounds and summer range for the Western Arctic Herd of caribou (the largest caribou herd in Alaska, numbering over 550,000 animals).

I’ve frequently visited the largest drainage existing within the NPR, the Colville basin, starting around 1998. Surprisingly, not much has changed in this region.  It continues to provide wild and remotely scenic adventures to those who wish to endure its vastness firsthand.

©Dave Shreffler

Pristine Wilderness in the Truest Form

Most visitors begin trips to the northwest region starting in July, since breakup occurs in late June on these northwest rivers.  Mosquitos are intense until mid August, so most of my personal travels occur during this time period to mid-September.

After spring calving season, caribou slowly begin a southwest movement from the Utukok uplands, across the Colville River, and continue southwest over the Continental Divide through river drainages and over broad mountain passes of the Brooks Range. Most caribou hunters pursue opportunities along major tributaries of the upper Colville and Noatak rivers.

A unique region, floaters often find bituminous coal chips washed up on the many gravel beaches of the Colville River and its tributaries.  This region has abundant bituminous deposits close to the surface, and oil seeps can also be seen in this region, giving rise to the question of when, not if, these valuable resources will be tapped and exploited from the NPR.

As far as the “experience” floaters can expect, I’ve enjoyed many types, from hunting pursuits for moose and caribou to archeological finds to char fishing.  It’s a great place to escape human encounters and soak up the wonder of this unexploited landscape.

Many fossils, such as mastodon and mammoth tusks, dinosaur bones, and ancient human remains, can be found jutting out from eroding high cliffs and along the shorelines of many clear-flowing tributaries of the Colville River. This region’s wildlife has experienced flows and ebbs of life and death for hundreds of thousands of years, and it continues to be considered one of the richest sources for scientific importance in all of Alaska. The first known inhabitants of North America are thought to have crossed into Alaska and to the Americas from Siberia across the nearby Bering Land Bridge as early as 15,000 years ago. Peoples in this region often buried their dead in shallow rock-covered graves, since permafrost prevented traditional burial practices.  And these mounds can be located in sporadic locations across the tundra and near the banks of the Colville River, so visitors must travel with bright eyes and wary souls to spot these unique anthropologic treasures.

This region has a bounty of possible adventures; however, there are simply too many unique attributes to list that make up the whole “experience” of travelling to this region of Alaska. It’s a resource worth protecting from crude resource extraction, heavy human use and careless travel. Perhaps this region is best described as Alaska’s Northwest Gem, full of wonder, adventure, and historic importance.

Currently, the Bureau of Land Management is finalizing a management plan to determine which lands and waters will be protected and which will be leased for oil and gas development in the Western Arctic Reserve. Thanks to widespread support for conservation, they have identified a preferred plan called ‘Alternative B2′. This plan will preserve wildlife habitat for caribou, grizzly and polar bears, and millions of migratory birds in the Western Arctic. 

Although this is a major step forward — we’re not over the finish line yet. It is important the management plan be finalized to permanently protect wildlife habitat in the Reserve.

Please “like” and “share” our image on Facebook, to thank Interior Secretary Salazar and urge him to stand strong against pressure to open more of the Reserve to oil and gas development.

Caribou at the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska

 
Photo by Flickr member tomblandford
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CALGARY – A huge pipeline spill has released 22,000 barrels of oil and water into muskeg in the far northwest of Alberta.

The spill ranks among the largest in North America in recent years, a period that has seen a series of high-profile accidents that have undermined the energy industry’s safety record. The Enbridge Inc. pipeline rupture that leaked oil near Michigan’s Kalamazoo River, for example, spilled an estimated 19,500 barrels.

Disaster response crews are working round the clock to contain the damage, but the oil has already covered more than 25 acres of muskeg — or peat bogs — near Rainbow Lake. 22,000 barrels contains almost a million gallons, threatening a wild ecosystem that is already under pressure from the industry..

Similar to the shoddy oversight that magnified the damage caused by Enbridge’s Kalamazoo spill, this one went unnoticed by the company (Pace Oil & Gas Ltd.) for hours. It was only thanks to random luck that a different company spotted the rupture during a plane flight over the area, and alerted Pace Ltd..

The Canadian government has been poisoning gray wolves to make room for oil and gas development (photo: flickr/Sakarri)

Big Oil and Wildlife Don’t Mix

Industrial development in Alberta has already caused the destruction of much of the boreal forest, leading to a rapid decline in woodland caribou populations and a mind-bogglingly irresponsible campaign to poison and shoot hundreds of gray wolves. Meanwhile, the government has done everything in its power to encourage this reckless approach — becoming the world’s biggest cheerleader for tar sands oil and giving Canada’s green reputation two black eyes.

As Alberta’s oil industry tries to muscle its way through the United States with dangerous projects like Keystone XL and the Trailbreaker pipeline in New England, it’s worth asking “do they actually know what they’re doing?” From all the evidence (including at least 12 spills from the original “Keystone 1″ pipeline) it’s becoming clear that accidents happen with alarming frequency. But hey, when you stand to make more than a trillion dollars from shipping your product overseas, what does it matter if you leak a few thousand barrels here or there?

Wildlife and much more is on the line in this fight, and you can help.  Tell Congress to stand up for wildlife, and say NO to Keystone XL and tar sands.

From coast to coast, New England to British Columbia, oil giants like Enbridge Inc. are trying to ship Canadian tar sands oil to overseas markets. Gray wolves, caribou, and hundreds of other species are at risk from the tar sands industry, but you can help: Tell Congress to SAY NO to these dangerous and polluting projects. And if you want to reach out directly to Canadian officials, the end of the essay includes links to important action items.

You can check out more of Franke’s work at www.frankejames.com. Reprinted with permission.

Hey Mister Prime Minister, What Are You Afraid Of?

By Franke James

Map in detail

Link to secret report

Tell Canada’s Prime Minister Harper what you think

Click here to send an email to Prime Minister Harper about your concerns

Visual Essay Credits

“Hey Mister Prime Minister, What are You Afraid Of?” © 2012 Franke James

Writing and illustration by Franke James (see additional photo credits below).

Transcript: Features quotes from Franke James’ March 3, 2012 interview with Joe Oliver, Federal Minister of Natural Resources.

Franke James is an award-winning artist whose illustrated essays on environmental and social issues have been reviewed and showcased around the world. In November 2011, James’ art show “Banned on the Hill” appeared in Ottawa, around the corner from Parliament Hill. The crowd-funded billboard show protested the silencing of environmental voices by the Harper Government. James is the author of the illustrated book, Bothered by My Green Conscience, and a member of the Writers Union of Canada, PEN Canada and CARFAC. She has a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Victoria and lives in Toronto. For more information see: http://www.frankejames.com. Franke on Twitter: http://twitter.com/frankejames

More background and support information (links, research papers and news reports) for What Is Harper Afraid Of?

Last week, a group of five dedicated folks from all across the country made the trek to Washington, DC to answer just those questions. They were making the case to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) that what happens in the Arctic affects wildlife across the country.

Watch this short video to hear their powerful stories:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Encompassing 23.5 million acres, the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska is the largest single unit of public land in the nation and provides habitat for caribou, grizzlies, polar bears, wolves, and millions of migratory birds–including tens of thousands of ducks and geese highly valued by sportsmen throughout the nation.

For the first time ever, BLM is considering a new management plan for the Reserve to determine which of these lands and waters will be developed for oil and gas leasing, and which will be protected. This planning process provides a unique opportunity to ensure that future development in the Reserve is properly balanced with conservation of the area’s exceptional wildlife habitat, particularly the four Special Areas with outstanding wildlife values in the Reserve.

A big thanks to Ray McCormick of the Indiana Wildlife Federation, James Tyson of the Colorado Wildlife Federation, Debra Lee of the Conservation Federation of Missouri, Joe Wilkinson of the Iowa Wildlife Federation and Joel Gay of the New Mexico Wildlife Federation for helping show the Bureau of Land Management that there is widespread public support for a balanced and responsible decision in the Reserve.

The BLM has just announced they are extending the public comment period deadline to June 15! If you haven’t spoken up yet, you still have a chance to join tens of thousands of wildlife advocates across the country that have already taken action.

Help protect Alaska’s caribou by urging the BLM to protect crucial habitat in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.

Tundra Swan in flight (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)

Tens of thousands of ducks and geese prized by sportsman, including Northern Pintails, Snow Geese, Greater White-fronted geese, Tundra Swans, Long-Tailed Ducks and more depend on the Reserve for nesting, feeding and molting each summer before heading south once again.  And the Reserve’s two major caribou herds, including the largest in Alaska, provide a vital subsistence resource for Native Alaskans as well as recreational hunting opportunities for sportsmen.

BLM’s draft management plan identifies an “Alternative B” that does the best job of protecting critical wildlife habitat in the Reserve – let BLM know you support that alternative.

Tell the Bureau of Land Management to Preserve the Best Places in the Reserve!

Lend your voice to the thousands of sportsmen, birders, subsistence users and others weighing in to ensure that the spectacular wildlife of the Reserve is protected for generations to come.

"Windmills Not Oil Spills," read the sign of this young opponent to the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. Image from Bold Nebraska.

“Americans don’t want our transportation jobs and investments stuck in gridlock because Speaker Boehner insists on pushing oil industry handouts,” says Jeremy Symons, senior vice president for National Wildlife Federation. “The Senate has already voted down the oil lobby’s plan to rush the Keystone pipeline, but Speaker Boehner is willing to put jobs at risk once again by hijacking the transportation bill.”

As in past votes, it’s done under the guise of gas price relief and to stimulate job growth. Independent observers have noted those job and price claims are inflated at best:

• Gas Prices: The Washington Post said the claim that prices “would” go down was wrong.  In fact, the industry has admitted prices would actually rise in many states if Keystone XL is built. See our media memo that lays out the oil industry scheme.
• Jobs: The claims of more jobs come from industry purchased assessments.  Once again, the Washington Post fact checker didn’t find that very credible. Cornell University’s Global Labor Institute has said the net effect could even be job losses when you consider the devastating effects of spills on sectors like agriculture and ranching.

Take Action

What Keystone XL does do is deepen our addiction to dirty fuels like tar sands.  The Canadian heavy crude it will carry is projected to harm species like wolves and caribou. We don’t have to let that happen. We can urge Congress to protect wildlife and reject Keystone XL.  Make your voice heard!