tar sands

  • Alberta election shocker likely good for the environment

    Ralph Maughan

    New Democrats clear away over 40 years of Conservative rule- Alberta has never really elected a clearly left wing party, but did so yesterday with a vengeance.  Populist yes in the past, e.g, the Social Credit Party, but not a left-wing party. Voters gave the left wing New Democrats (NDP) a large parliamentary majority (53…

  • Gas prices at rock bottom. Approve Keystone for ideological reasons?

    Ralph Maughan

    First priority for new Congress is Keystone pipeline. Why? Here in Pocatello, Idaho, today gas prices fell to $1.99 a gallon. They have been dropping for over a hundred days in a row. In January a year ago, prices were over $3.75 a gallon. Meanwhile, the new Republican congress is about to get underway. Their…

  • Falling oil prices to benefit wildlife?

    Ralph Maughan

    Will the new, low petroleum prices cut the legs off tar sands and oil shale? Almost every American now sees that the price of oil has plummeted. Driving by a gas station makes seeing it easy. Gasoline is below $3 a gallon, often well below. In fact crude oil prices are down by 40% since…

  • Use of scenic U.S. 12 for megaloads across north central Idaho likely dead

    Ralph Maughan

    Orofino, Idaho. The Clearwater National Forest has denied  the use of U.S. Highway 12 along the famed Lochsa River for the transport of megaloads bound for what some call the “tar sands hell” of south central Alberta. While the bulk of this battle was successfully fought a couple years ago by opponents  of the transport…

  • GOP, oil companies pressure to approve Keystone XL pipeline (update 2)

    Ralph Maughan

    Leaks and spills of Canadian oil are happening now at a critical time- Back in 1989, all the political gears and levers were greased with money and Astroturf public opinion to approve leasing the National Arctic Wildlilfe Refuge for Oil Drilling.  Today we seem to be at a similar juncture. In 1989 the political players…

  • Alberta’s tar sand pits create deer, wolves and decimate mountain caribou

    Ralph Maughan

    Oh, the many effects of extracting the world’s dirtiest oil! Despite the huge PR offensive by big oil, Alberta, and Canada’s right wing government, it is hard to overwhelm the public into thinking digging big holes to get out the bitumen is a great idea. Scientists, bloggers, conservation groups, and even segments of the Democratic…

  • Keystone pipeline said to be just an oil highway across the United States to foreign lands

    Ralph Maughan

    Democratic critics say pipeline will not increase U.S. oil supplies- Right now the U.S. Senate is considering a Republican effort to fast-track the Keystone XL crude oil pipeline.  Democrats will filibuster. Republicans are not likely to get the 60 votes to beat the filibuster. The pipeline is becoming a defining issue between the two parties,…

  • Obama sends plans for Keystone XL pipeline back to square one (Updated)

    Ralph Maughan

    The “99%” beats international oil lobby for the time being! The #Occupy movement — Americans figuring out they they are being pushed, stolen from, and disrespected by the top 1% is beginning to score victories, and today a big one came, although it is not yet permanent. It could evaporate after the 2012 election, but…

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‎”At some point we must draw a line across the ground of our home and our being, drive a spear into the land and say to the bulldozers, earthmovers, government and corporations, “thus far and no further.” If we do not, we shall later feel, instead of pride, the regret of Thoreau, that good but overly-bookish man, who wrote, near the end of his life, “If I repent of anything it is likely to be my good behaviour.”

Edward Abbey

“The continued existence of wildlife and wilderness is important to the quality of life of humans.”

Jim Fowler

“Our forests offer much more than just beautiful landscapes and wildlife. Each one has a different story to tell.”

Raveena Tandon

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