Pipe Dreams and Nightmares of the Keystone XL Pipeline

This past Wednesday msnbc host Ed Schultz of 'The Ed Show,' had a segment regarding the Keystone XL Pipeline and brought in two guests to speak on the issue; Joe Romm a scientist at climateprogress.org and Josh Fox the director/producer of 'Gasland' 1 and 2.

Surprisingly, Ed agreed with the process of the Keystone XL Pipeline which seemed to shock many of his viewers that tweet into the show. Ed's views were valid as he used factual paperwork from the U.S. State Department to prove his claims of fewer oil spills, and less carbon released into the environment by using the pipeline verses the railways we currently use. 

However, both guests on the show were in total disagreement of Ed's views and offered rebuttal to his claim in which Joe Romm stated that we need to, "Leave most of the carbon, the dirty pools of carbon unused in the ground if we're going to avoid catastrophic global warming. And as a progressive and a father I think it's immoral for us to say hey, we're going to keep doing what we're doing and destroy a liveable climate for our children and grandchildren."

[....] "Once you build a pipeline you are stuck with it, you are making a long term commitment, I mean it's like you're a drug user and you're hooking up an IV line and the drugs are just going to keep coming and coming and coming, I think at some point we have to say we're going to end this addiction."

Ed proceeded on with his claim that America is an oil and gas country and have been for a long time, and that we can't just stop using these resources tomorrow as it's going to take a long time to convert. 

And this is where the interview seemed to take a turn for the worse as Josh Fox offered his rebuttal to Ed stating, "I agree with Joe that this is a moral issue, this is about President Obama's moral leadership on climate. We heard in the inaugural address that climate was a priority and stopping the Keystone XL Pipeline is an extraordinarily important thing for this president to do. 

But what you're doing and I don't know if you understand this; you're quoting a state department report which is corrupt and was created by a company, a contractor for the state department that actually has vast financial ties to the oil and gas industry itself, so the veracity of this report is very much in suspicion and right now it is a way of encapsulating exactly what's wrong with the government process on this. 

We have oil and gas infiltrating every single regulatory process at every level of state and local federal government; you're right this oil is dirty and it will come from the tar sands if you had seen what's going on with the tar sands, where they scrap the entire surface off of the earth contaminating lakes, contaminating rivers, contaminating streams of the indigenous people that are in Alberta, and if you understand that James Hansen said that this was "game over" for the planet if we unleash the amount of carbon from the tar sands, you have to understand the moral part of this, but when you look at the government part of this -- it means that you're endorsing on your show a report that is actually from the oil and gas industry, people who are in the business with the oil and gas industry, and not some impartial state department report as you claim."

As you can imagine Ed didn't necessarily take kindly to Mr. Fox calling out the falsehoods of his report, while making him feel as if he were steering the American people in the wrong direction. Ed's attitude was obvious as he proceeded on with his show and to the dismay of Mr. Fox, who looked as if he felt sorry for Ed that he didn't quite "get" what he was saying.

It's understandable why Ed felt as if he were being attacked but I didn't see it that way. Mr. Fox is absolutely correct in his intuition about the false reporting, and it only makes sense because of where it came from. Republicans have been the main driving force behind pushing for the Keystone XL Pipeline, the same republicans that caused government shutdowns, allowed long term unemployment benefits to expire for millions of Americans, while declaring war on women, students, children, and the elderly. 

These same republicans that bet against America using their "corrupt" and "immoral" policies to do it; why would it be far-fetched to think that these same people would try to protect us now regarding the Keystone XL Pipeline?

The same GOP that are factually richer than most Americans, and can choose to live abroad should America falter from whatever catastrophic events that could take place; why would we think that this pipeline was somehow created with our best interests at heart? 

I understand that there are those who love to constantly take from mother earth as she is rich with natural resources however, we must morally and correctly judge what is best for our earth and not simply what is best for our pockets. Yes, oil equals money to the few oil typhoons that remain hidden from sight but it also means exploitation of our country's land and people, putting both at risk to foreign entities and synthetic matters in which most people understand how important it is to keep the dirtiest pools of carbon in the ground and not above it.

And let's not forget the huge explosion that recently occurred in Canada, during it's pipeline implementation that left thousands without heat during some of the coldest days last month.

The director of 'Gasland' said it best as he ended his conversation with Ed, "It's about the source of the carbon, it's about transitioning our society, and it's about Barack Obama's moral leadership on an issue that he pledged change and we voted for him based on that pledge of change."

I can only hope that Ed and the president, will look a little bit deeper into this matter.

2014 LA