fails to reflect the full environmental impacts of the proposed pipeline. We strongly encourage the State Department to reevaluate the SEIS and its assessment of the proposed pipeline’s impacts on climate change, our natural resources, our economy, and low-income and minority communities.

This is no surprise to anyone who follows this blog (I know you’re out there) and it echoes official comments from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), released yesterday, that cast serious doubt on the State Department’s analysis and the future of the project. EPA concluded that State had failed to meaningfully consider multiple factors, foremost among them the climate impacts and spill risks posed by the 1,700 mile tar sands pipeline.

It’s hard to ignore 50,000 protesters in your front yard — and dozens of members of Congress were obviously paying attention (Photo: Josh Lopez/350.org)

>>>Read the full letter from Congress here

A Million Voices Against KXL

It’s not just agencies and members of Congress who think the tar sands pipeline is a bad idea. Capping off the outpouring of opposition, National Wildlife Federation and other groups just delivered over a million comments from the public, telling the Obama Administration “reject the pipeline!” NWF’s Robyn Carmichael has more — and as she puts it, the comments “came from Americans from all across the country and all walks of life, but they carried one common message: that this risky and unnecessary project puts our wildlife, water, land, and communities in jeopardy.”

Thank you to the tens of thousands of NWF members (and many others) who have spoken up for people and wildlife during this rollercoaster campaign. The public comment period for the environmental review is over, but there will be more opportunities to help so stay tuned!

Your donations make a big difference in our efforts to protect wildlife from habitat loss and the effects of global warming.

To learn more about Keystone XL and how you can help, visit NWF.org/tarsands

The advocacy group SumOfUsis running a campaign to pull the misleading ad off the airwaves,alleging that Enbridge is “deliberately and dramatically misrepresenting the risk of oil supertankers travelling through the 4th most dangerous waterway in the world.”

Enbridge was already having a bit of a rough week, as CEO Patrick Daniel went on the radio to complain that pipeline opponents are “revolutionaries” bent on exploiting the “weak link in the system” (pipelines) to move the country toward renewable fuels.

Though not as well-known in the United States, Enbridge’s Northern Gateway project is the Canadian equivalent of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, and has been attacked by First Nations indigenous groups, conservationists and millions of citizens angry at the oil industry’s heavy-handed approach and pattern of environmental destruction. The project would send tar sands oil to Asia and help expand the reach and influence of Alberta’s tar sands industry, but the province of British Columbia has resisted it so far, with Premier Christy Clark publicly slamming Enbridge for its failures.

An NWF report released earlier this summer details the company’s record of disaster — more than 800 spills over the last 13 years, including a million gallon tar sands spill in Michigan in 2010 and a 50,000 gallon spill in Wisconsin just last month. “Enbridge’s long history of pipeline spills can’t be explained by mistakes or bad luck,” says NWF senior vice president Jeremy Symons. “You can’t make the same mistake eight hundred times, but that’s how many oil spills we have seen from Enbridge pipelines. Contaminated water may be an acceptable cost of doing business to Enbridge, but we can’t afford to turn a blind eye to their irresponsible safety record.”

Tell your member of Congress to stand up for people and wildlife against dangerous tar sands projects!

Read NWF’s report Importing Disaster: The Anatomy of Enbridge’s Once and Future Oil Spills

1. Highlight of the Week: NWF Reminds House, Pipelines Dangerous
2. Quote: Bill McKibben
3. Economic Story of the Week: Plug it In
4. Editorial of the Week: The Risks of the Keystone XL Pipeline
5. Shelter from the Storms
6. Coalition Drops More Than 600,000 Comments Like They’re Hot
7. Butte Goes Off the Grid
8. Happening this Week

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Highlight of the Week

NWF Reminds House, Pipelines Dangerous

Dr. Inkley and Rep. Brown, via NWF

In the wake of yet another tragic oil spill, NWF Senior Scientist Doug Inkley did his best to impress upon a House pipelines subcommittee that oil spills are far too frequent and better pipeline safety legislation is urgently needed.

“Montana’s people, fish, and wildlife didn’t deserve this oil spill in the Yellowstone River, but they do deserve a better response from ExxonMobil and the federal government,” Dr. Inkley testified in a hearing that included testimony from Exxon and the government’s chief pipeline safety official.

Rep. Corrine Brown, ranking Democrat on the House Transportation Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials, later invited Dr. Inkley to work with the committee in shaping good reform legislation.

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Quote:

Bill McKibben (via Energy Action Coalition)

“If you dig up huge amounts of carbon, huge amounts of ancient biology, hundreds of millions of years worth of ancient biology, and flush it into the atmosphere in a matter of decades, then it stands to reason that we’re going to have enormous effects, and now we can see those effects all around us.”

- Bill McKibben, founder 350.org.

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Economic Story of the Week

Plug it In

Converted Prius Plug-In Hybrids, via felixkramer/flickr

Our transportation sector is 95 percent dependent on oil, putting us at the mercy of unpredictable gas price spikes and the whims of foreign dictators who control the vast reserves of oil that are the source of our addiction. As more and more consumers from developing countries such as China and India enter the global marketplace and demand the same luxuries we are privileged to, reserves will only be strained further. How will we cope with increasing demand but dwindling reserves? More drilling is NOT the answer.

The people of Montana are learning all too well the consequences of our rush to drill without giving safety considerations a second thought. Hauntingly similar to the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, on June 30th, an Exxon Mobil pipeline ruptured and spewed thousands of gallons of oil into the Yellowstone River. The extent of the damage is still unknown.

Cheap oil is tapped out and what is left is in ever more dangerous sites and requires more destructive methods to extract. It is time we take control of our energy future and demand from our leaders real solutions to the energy crisis. The tools to cut our dependence on oil are already available. Increased fuel efficiency, electric vehicles and investment in mass transit, not only sever our reliance on oil, but save Americans money and create jobs at home.

Learn more with NWF’s new factsheet resource, “Taking Control: Real Solutions to Rising Gas Prices.”

More on this story:

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Editorial of the Week

The Risks of the Keystone XL Pipeline

(LA Times)

TransCanada has a poor record when it comes to spills. Its first pipeline, Keystone I, has already sprung more than a dozen leaks in its first year of operation. The State Department is promising to make a decision on Keystone XL before the end of the year, and the House Energy and Commerce Committee is pushing for approval by Nov. 1, but there is no rush. The environmental risks should be thoroughly studied and mitigation measures must be put in place.

The objections to Keystone XL stem at least in part from widespread concern over the production of oil from tar sands, which ravages the landscape, pollutes rivers and emits high concentrations of greenhouse gases. The best way to solve the tar sands problem is for the world to agree on a practical scheme for putting a price on carbon emissions. (More…)

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Shelter from the Storms

flooding, via Wimmera/Flickr

With hurricane season well underway and the remnants of severe floods still troubling many river communities in the country’s midsection, it is difficult to ignore the risks out-of-control waters pose to all Americans. Recently, the House of Representatives voted to reform the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), advancing measures that will better protect people, property and the environment. H.R. 1309, the Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2011, removes incentives for risky developments in flood prone and environmentally sensitive areas, applies market-based rates to flood insurance to further mitigate risk and provides technical and financial assistance to help lessen damage and protect natural features.

“Reforming the NFIP is certainly a step in the right direction. It will help put the program on firmer financial footing, and it will better protect people by using the best science to map flood zones,” said Joshua Saks, senior legislative representative for water resources campaigns at the National Wildlife Federation.

With climate change causing more intense storms, sea level rise and flooding all across the country, this reform measure could not be timelier. We look forward to working with the House, Senate and Administration to see a comprehensive reform bill signed into law this year.

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Coalition Drops More Than 600,000 Comments Like They’re Hot

via dharma comm/flickr

A coalition of more than 50 health, environmental and associated organizations held a major public event to hand over more than 600,000 public comments to the Environmental Protection Agency. These comments, collected all over the country, express concern over the impacts of mercury pollution generated by coal fired power plants and support for the EPA’s proposed safeguards.

The event was held at Norman B. Leventhal Park across the street from the regional EPA office and included a broad spectrum of speakers, including EPA Region 1 Administrator Curt Spalding. It’s not too late to submit your own comments, click here to tell the EPA how you feel about mercury poisoning our water and our wildlife.

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Butte Goes Off the Grid

Solar Panels in Butte, Great Valley Center

Butte College recently became the first college in the U.S. to go completely “grid positive,” meaning it generates more electricity (from its on-campus solar array) than it uses.

Located on a 928-acre wildlife refuge, the Oroville, CA, school boasts a long track record of leadership on sustainability and efficiency. Butte won NWF’s 2008 ‘Chill Out’ grand prize for its carbon neutrality and energy usage goals, Sustainability Studies certificate program and recycling initiatives and was later featured in the Campus Report Card, a project by NWF and Princeton Survey Research Associates International to review trends and new developments in environmental performance and sustainability on college campuses. Butte was recognized for high marks in energy efficiency, recycling and ground management.

To learn more about Butte’s sustainability work, visit http://www.butte.edu/sustainability/
Statement from Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom

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Happening this Week

Wednesday, July 20

Examination of USDA Energy and Forestry Programs, Agriculture, 10 AM, 1300 Longworth
Hearing on Yellowstone spill, Environment and Public Works, 10 AM, 406 Dirksen
Hearing on Gulf spill, Commerce, Science and Transportation, 2:30 PM, 253 Russell

Thursday, July 21

Markup of drilling bills, Energy and Natural Resource, 10 AM, 366 Dirksen
Cool Roofs for Cooler Summers, EESI, 2 – 3:30PM, SVC 212/210 Capitol Visitor Center

Coming Soon: Wednesday, July 27

More Fight, Less Fuel: The Defense Department’s Deployment of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, 2:00 – 3:30 PM, SVC 212/210 Capitol Visitor Cent

Back to topFor more global warming news on Wildlife Promise click here.

Santa Barbara Oil Blowout, 1969, photo by USGS

Historically, environmental disasters have tended to prompt introspection, learning and some level of commitment to do a better job in the future.

When an oil blowout blackened the waters near Santa Barbara in 1969, the nation galvanized in its support for protecting our coasts and oceans, and a grassroots movement leading to the first Earth Day was begun.

Later that year, the burning Cuyahoga River led us to question our widespread practice of simply dumping pollution into rivers and streams, a process that led to the Clean Water Act and the modern architecture of environmental law.

The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill shocked and horrified us, and our political leaders responded by demanding better oil spill prevention and response, double-hulled tankers, better surveillance and more oversight.

One year after the largest oil spill disaster in our history, however, the loudest cries from our elected leaders are not for a sober assessment of our energy options, or even for improvements in oil drilling safety or emergency preparedness.  Instead, we see a mad rush for decreased regulation and taking even more risks in the hopeless pursuit of drilling our way to energy security.

The Deepwater Horizon disaster led to...ever-riskier offshore drilling?

Despite extensive evidence of ecological damage in the Gulf and no evidence of any improved ability to prevent and respond to oil spills, drilling has simply resumed apace. Worse, pressure has only increased to push into other frontier areas like the Arctic Ocean, a sensitive and productive environment where the oil industry has not demonstrated an ability to clean up an oil spill.

Congress has made no move to implement the recommendations of the National Commission on the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. The U.S. House of Representatives will likely pass legislation to speed up offshore drilling and reduce or eliminate the environmental safeguards.

It’s beyond ironic that our national response to the Deepwater Horizon tragedy has largely been to drill more, faster, riskier, and with less concern for the environment. It’s desperate, and it’s doomed to fail us.

TAKE ACTION! Urge Congress to mark the oil spill anniversary by passing legislation that dedicates BP’s fines from the spill toward restoring the Gulf.