The main purpose of this ongoing blog will be to track planetary extreme or record temperatures related to climate change. Any reports I see of ETs will be listed below the main topic of the day. I’ll refer to extreme or record temperatures as ETs (not extraterrestrials).😉
Main Topic: Celebrating The End Of Keystone
Dear Diary. Is it really the time to pop the champagne? Apparently the last nail was put in the coffin of the Keystone XL Pipeline last week when the developers pulled money from the project. Environmentalist do have one good reason to celebrate, but those who will loose money and opportunity from the scuttling of Keystone need prospects from Biden’s green jobs plan to recoup economic losses. Speaking of that, Biden’s infrastructure plan is now stuck in Congress unfortunately.
There might be enough pressure coming from those sinking with the scuttled Keystone ship to resurrect the thing via a change of administrations in 2024. Should that occur it probably will be game over for the climate because it will be demonstrated that the human race can’t absorb any pain from transforming our energy sector from petroleum brown to renewable green. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, though, this week. Here is more from CNN:
https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/09/energy/keystone-pipeline-canceled/index.html
Developer pulls the plug on Keystone XL oil pipeline
By Matt Egan, CNN Business
Updated 5:53 PM ET, Thu June 10, 2021
(CNN)The developer of the Keystone XL pipeline announced Wednesday it is pulling the plug on the controversial project after the Biden administration revoked its permit in January.
TC Energy, the Canadian company behind the project, said it decided to terminate the project after a comprehensive review of its options and consulting with the government of Alberta, Canada. The company said it would coordinate with regulators, stakeholders and Indigenous groups to ensure a safe exit from the project.
The cancellation ends more than a decade of controversy over the pipeline and marks a big win for environmentalists who argued the project threatened the environment and would only worsen the climate crisis.
The project aimed to carry oil from the tar sands of Canada into the United States, and it has been a political football for years.
Related:
Biden administration to suspend oil and gas drilling leases in Arctic refuge, undoing a Trump-era decision
On his first day in the White House, President Joe Biden revoked the permit his predecessor granted to Keystone XL, and also moved to re-enter the United States in the Paris climate agreement. TC Energy warned at the time that the decision by Biden would “directly lead to the layoff of thousands of union workers.
“The end of Keystone XL will add to the pressure on Biden from environmentalists to terminate other projects, including Line 3 and the Dakota Access pipeline.
“The cancellation of Keystone XL is a reminder that this project was never needed and never in the public interest, and that it is time for the fossil fuel era to rapidly come to a close,” David Turnbull, strategic communications director with Oil Change International, said in a statement.
The American Petroleum Institute, the oil and gas industry’s largest trade group, expressed disappointment over the news.
Related:
What happened to two small South Dakota towns after Biden revoked the Keystone XL Pipeline permit
“It’s unfortunate that political obstructionism led to the termination of the Keystone XL Pipeline,” said Robin Rorick, vice president of midstream and industry operations at the API. “This is a blow to U.S. energy security and a blow to the thousands of good-paying union jobs this project would have supported.”
Marty Durbin, president of the Chamber of Commerce’s Global Energy Institute, said the decision to terminate the project was understandable given the administration’s decision, but that ultimately “the American people will lose the most by not having access to affordable and reliable energy that would have been safely and efficiently transported by the pipeline.”
Environmental groups, however, cheered the news.
“The termination of this zombie pipeline sets precedent for President Biden and polluters to stop Line 3, Dakota Access, and all fossil fuel projects,” Kendall Mackey, campaign manager of 350.org’s Keep It in the Ground campaign, said in a statement.
Activists gave much of the credit for the termination of the Keystone XL pipeline to members of Indigenous communities who worked for years to see this goal to fruition.
“After more than 10 years of organizing we have finally defeated an oil giant, Keystone XL is dead!” the nonprofit Indigenous Environmental Network said in a statement. “We stood hand-in-hand to protect the next seven generations of life, the water and our communities from this dirty tar sands pipeline.”
Very much related:
Here is one of the latest “ET” reports:
Here is more climate and weather news from Friday:
(As usual, this will be a fluid post in which more information gets added during the day as it crosses my radar, crediting all who have put it on-line. Items will be archived on this site for posterity. In most instances click on the pictures of each tweet to see each article. The most noteworthy items will be listed first.)
Now here are some of today’s articles and notes on the horrid COVID-19 pandemic:
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Guy Walton “The Climate Guy”