Author Archives: admin

Rally at the Governor’s mansion – tell Hickenlooper not to Frack Colorado for Tar Sands Oil

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On Tuesday, March 26th at noon, people across Colorado are coming together for the “Don’t Frack Colorado for Tar Sands Oil” action in front of the Governor’s Mansion! RSVP here to join us.

Why? Gov. Hickenlooper is traveling to Canada March 26-29, leading a delegation of 20 including representatives from the Canadian Consulate Office, on an “energy-focused mission”, with a stop by the tar sands. (Read more here.)

Unfortunately, that likely means that the Governor plans to promote the use of fracked gases from Colorado to develop tar sands oil. Huge amounts of natural gas and fresh water are used to superheat the tar sands in order to get the oil out. And natural gas condensate is used to viscosify the sludgy tar sands oil so that it will flow in pipelines. As we all know, this is an extremely dirty and carbon-intensive form of energy.

Is this the kind of energy development you hoped our Governor would pursue? Didn’t think so. Please join us next Tuesday to send Gov. Hickenlooper off with a loud and clear message! Colorado wants a clean energy future! Don’t Frack Colorado for Tar Sands Oil!!

Many of you joined us for the #ForwardOnClimate event last month asking President Obama to reject the Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline and take serious action to solve the climate crisis.

Like last month, let’s wear black to form a human oil pipeline. (Wear your black No KXL or #ForwardOnClimate shirt, if you got one!) There may even be another human oil spill! 😉

Don’t Frack Colorado for Tar Sands Oil Action

When: Tuesday, March 26th, 12noon
Where: In front of the Governor’s Mansion, 400 East 8th Avenue, Denver
RSVP Here and spread the word with our Facebook event page.

One Man’s Stand Against the Keystone XL Pipeline – Part 4

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On Nov. 13, 2012, TransCanada started bulldozing Michael Bishop’s property to build the southern leg of the Keystone XL pipeline in Nacogdoches, Texas. Photo courtesy of Tar Sands Blockade

Here is the final installment of the four-part story on Marine veteran Mike Bishop’s legal fight against TransCanada:

“Part IV: America Becomes Sacrifice Zone for Export Pipeline.”

If you haven’t read the first three installments, you can find them here.

If you are moved by the Bishop family’s plight, please contribute to his legal defense at: Land Owners Against Trans Canada Pipeline. Mike and the other courageous landowners in Texas and Oklahoma who are doing battle with TransCanada are fighting for us all.

 

An Evening with Randy Udall – Halliburton & the Mancos Sea: Shales R Us–Or Are They?

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CRES and Golden Earth Days are pleased to present one of the nation’s leading activists in promoting energy sustainability. Randy Udall is co-founder of the Association for the Study of Peak Oil-USA, and former director of the Community Office for Resource Efficiency.

Americans are using 2 million barrels less each day than we were in 2007. The irony is that even as we’ve become less hooked on crude, we’ve become more addicted to drilling. Ten percent of the Lower 48 has been leased by oil companies. That’s more acreage than we plant in corn and wheat. In short, shale plays have given us a staggering amount of new energy. Udall asserts that “Simultaneously, they’ve hijacked our energy future, chained us to a drilling rig, and thrown away the key.”

Thursday, March 21, 7 p.m.
Presentation Followed by a Reception
Jefferson Unitarian Church, 14350 W. 32nd Ave., Golden, CO

Admission FREE.

Please register here, just so we know how much food to prepare.

Current Climate Models Neglect Methane Feedback

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If the Arctic tundra thaws (see the graphic below), climate scientists believe it may represent an irreversible tipping point that sends climate warming out of control.  The methane released would take at least 250 years to first be converted into CO2 and then be pulled into the oceans and plant life where it can be removed by fixation.  Methane is 21 times more powerful a greenhouse gas than CO2.  So, release of one ton of methane is like releasing 21 tons of CO2.  In a reference article here:  (http://www.wunderground.com/resources/climate/melting_permafrost.asp),  it states: “[A]s of 2011, no climate model incorporates the effects of methane released from melting permafrost, suggesting that even the most extreme climate scenarios in the models might not be extreme enough.”  This article also covers methane hydrates that climate scientists say may, as a result of warming oceans, begin to melt and release the methane trapped in more shallow ocean beds such as the Arctic ocean.

Locations where permafrost exists in the Arctic (northern high latitudes). Source: Philippe Rekacewicz, 2005

 

 

Coalition Acts to Protect City of Longmont’s Ban on Dangerous Hydraulic Fracturing

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LONGMONT, CO – Today, a coalition of community, public health, consumer and environmental organizations, including OurLongmont, Food & Water Watch, the Sierra Club,  and Earthworks filed a motion in the Weld County District Court to intervene in the Colorado Oil and Gas Association’s lawsuit that seeks to invalidate Longmont’s ban of the oil and gas practice known as “fracking”. This ban was instituted by the citizens of Longmont in an amendment to the City Charter, Article XVI , the Longmont Public Health, Safety and Wellness Act.

Continue reading →

One Man’s Stand Against the Keystone XL Pipeline

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On Nov. 13, 2012, TransCanada started bulldozing Michael Bishop’s property to build the southern leg of the Keystone XL pipeline in Nacogdoches, Texas. Photo courtesy of Tar Sands Blockade

This is an extremely powerful firsthand account of a United States Marine in Texas who refuses to back down from the illegitimate Keystone XL pipeline that is destroying his land (the progression of photos in the articles is heartbreaking). I challenge anyone to read this series and not be outraged by TransCanada’s corporate thuggery:

Part I: One Man’s Stand Against the Keystone XL Pipeline

Part II: U.S. Marine Battles TransCanada in Court over Eminent Domain for Keystone XL

Part III: Calling for Reinforcements from Behind Enemy Lines in the Fight Against Keystone XL

“Part IV: America Becomes Sacrifice Zone for Export Pipeline.”

I received this from Mike on Friday: “I just woke up to what I thought was an earthquake but it was the pipe laying machines rumbling in front of my door down the creek, to lay more pipe… it is only 120 feet from my house…” Then this on Saturday: “I wish I had a tape recorder so you could hear the noise they are making today. The noise is deafening.”  PLEASE ASK YOURSELF HOW YOU WOULD FEEL IF TRANSCANADA WAS DOING THIS TO YOU AND YOUR FAMILY.

Mike has been financing his courageous legal fight against Keystone XL out of pocket, but is in the process of setting up a legal defense fund. If you feel moved by the Bishop family’s plight, I hope you will contribute to his family’s defense. I will send more details on that, along with Part IV of his four-part series, soon…

Tom Weis
Climate Crisis Solutions
(303) 378-1364

Cascading Climate Change Tipping Points Could Send the Planet into a Hellish Spin

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In its 2012 World Energy Outlook, the International Energy Agency gives a flip of the coin, 50-50 chance of stopping short of 2 Celsius warming above pre-industrial levels, if, and it’s a big if, we keep 2/3 of all fossil fuels in the ground: http://www.worldenergyoutlook.org/

Here’s reasonably well-argued scenario of what happens if we lose the flip of the coin.

“If we cross the ‘tipping point’ of Amazonian collapse and soil carbon release that lies somewhere above two degrees, then another 250 ppm of CO2 would pour into the atmosphere, yielding another 1.5C (2.7F) of warming and taking us straight into the four-degree world. Once we arrive there, the accelerated release of carbon and methane from thawing Siberian permafrost will send even more greenhouse gas into the atmosphere, driving yet more warming, and perhaps pushing us on into the five-degree world. At this level of warming, Š organic methane hydrate release becomes a serious possibility, catapulting us into the ultimate mass extinction apocalypse of six degrees. The lesson is as clear as it is daunting: If we are to be confident about saving humanity and the planet from the worst mass extinction of all time, worse even than that at the end of the Permian, we must stop at two degrees.”

Mark Lynas. Six Degrees. 2008. National Geographic Society by arrangement with HarperCollins. P.276

Diverse Coalition of Coloradans Across State Speak Out Against Fracking

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Protect Our Colorado coalition and What the Frack?! Arapahoe deliver over 14,000 signatures to Governor’s office and state legislature calling for a moratorium on fracking

Denver, Colo.— Today Protect Our Colorado, a coalition of more than 30 business, solar, farming, faith, consumer, environmental, grassroots and social justice organizations across the state, and What the Frack?! Arapahoe will deliver more than 14,000 petitions to the Governor’s office and leaders in the state legislature from Coloradans opposed to the dangerous drilling technique.  The organizations are calling upon the Governor and state legislature to implement an immediate moratorium on fracking. Continue reading →

Pro-fracking petition in Ft. Collins with fake signatures embarrasses Colorado Gas & Oil Association

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By John Upton  coloradoan.com

The oil and gas industry’s amateur attempt to mislead Fort Collins lawmakers.

Outlawing fracking in Fort Collins makes local business owners sad. At least, that’s what liars working for the Colorado Oil and Gas Association tried to tell local lawmakers. Continue reading →

Local residents turn out to protest Colorado BLM’s controversial ‘lease first, plan later’ approach

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http://checksandbalancesproject.org/2013/02/14/local-residents-turn-out-to-protest-colorado-blms-controversial-lease-first-plan-later-approach/

Wednesday, South Park and the North Fork Valley residents and business owners turned out to protest BLM’s controversial ‘lease first, plan later’ approach to oil and gas drilling at the Colorado BLM Resource Advisory Council (RAC) meetings. The public’s testimony focused on the need for BLM to finish critical planning and studies before they lease lands, in order to protect water supplies, local economies and wildlife.