Obama & Keystone XL

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By Earl Hatley

I was [s]orry I could not be in Cushing [on Thursday] as I had planned…

I don’t hate our President. In fact I defended him by chastising the fact that our Governor and other elected officials choose not to meet his plane. Last time Air Force 1 landed a tinker was for Kennedy and Nixon if my memory serves well. I think our officials met those arrivals. I am Chair of the Craig County Democrats, I will fight for Obama’s second term without hesitation.

That said, the pipeline project being debated is bad for our country and does not serve the Nation’s best interest. I have written extensively why this is on more posts than I can remember, so I won’t do that now unless you want me too.

Thing is, I stand for the First Nations in Canada who’s traditional lands are being destroyed to dig up the sand layer below. A precious boreal forest, the Amazon of the northern hemisphere, is being destroyed, people are dying from cancer and other diseases they never had there before and don’t exist other communities, or at the same rate of population. Several tribes in the lower 48 are also formally against it, and are being ignored by TransCanada.

Three tribes along the route here in Oklahoma have resolutions against this pipeline and all say they stand with their relatives in Canada who are suffering so much. As a member of Cherokee Nation I would think you could understand why I am doing all I can to stop the destruction by stopping the pipeline that will enable BP, Shell, Exxon/Mobile and more who are digging up the forests, and shipping shipping the tar to their own refineries in Houston. Much of the oil will either be sold directly to China (their largest customer) or will be exported as products.

The US is a net exporter of oil products, contrary to what we are told on the news. We export more oil products, amountiing to more oil than we import. Is it worth crimes in Canada, in order to have a pipeline here, to sell products elsewhere? Do you support taking the tops off of mountains in southeast, Alabama to Virginia?? Tars sands extraction is even worse. Making more people sick.

So, I like Obama and support him, I just disagree with the pipeline. By the way, I don’t hate anyone, nor do the people I organize with. They are also Obama supporters against the pipeline. No one hates him except the Tea Party crowed, who , unlike us were allowed to line the sidewalks of the motocade . Democrats who support Obama but not the pipeline and the Indian peoples that came there to speak were put in a park in a cage 6 miles away from our President. By doing this, you, he, whomever, saw hate from the Republican Tea Party not from our people, Most of whom are on my Facebook for you to read. You won’t find hatred here, you find frustration, determination and organization.

Earl Hatley, M.A. is a tribal consultant, Grand Riverkeeper and President of Local Environmental Action Demanded.  He resides at Vinita, Oklahoma.

Note:  No part of this was written by Fannie Bates.  If you see the name Fannie Bates anywhere on this article, it is a clerical error.

To learn more about Earl Hatley:  http://www.leadagency.org/EHBio.pdf

 

 

Cushing’s Little White Lie

Community Voices, Culture, Opinion, Politics, Uncategorized , , , , , 12 Comments

Cushing, Oklahoma looks like a lovely little town with an affluent past.  It is, some would say, one of the key oil centers of the United States.  The people of Cushing have thrived for generations due to the wealth brought in by oil.  But have all of the people of Cushing thrived, or just the Caucasian ones?

If you go to Cushing to see President Obama Thursday morning, be sure to ride through the old Black community and see how it looks.  It is a symbol of what Cushing did to the Blacks who lived there.  Many of the Black folks have died of cancer and the ones still living there seem to be plagued with mysterious illnesses.
 
The Caucasians forced all the Blacks to live in the Northwest area next the refinery.  They released the chemicals through the creek that ran right down the middle of the Black community.  The chemicals turned the houses brown. Eventually, all the houses were torn down and the land was taken, piece by piece. Somebody seems to have worked diligently to hide the evidence of the crime against humanity that happened in Cushing.
 
There are two superfund sites in the town of 8,000.
 
 When you come into Cushing,  look to your North. You will see an empty field.  That is where the refinery was located and the Black communty was right next to it. They have all those piplelines there.  I wonder how many Blacks you will find working at the refineries…
 
They have taken the land from most of the Blacks.  If someone dies, they watch the house.  If the grass doesn’t get cut,  the city cuts it, puts a lien on the land, goes in and tears the house down and charges the family $8,000 and $10,000 for tearing it down.  If the family doesn’t pay, they take the land. Then they turn around and sell it to Caucasians for little or nothing.
 
 The Black folks in Cushing have called the White House and asked for an investigation. No reponse, to date.  They wonder if their story will ever be told.  Or maybe it has been told.  Have you seen “The Lorax”?

Letter to County Commissioners re: Keystone XL

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Dear Commissioner,

Scattered out across Montana, North and South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas, there are dozens of huge lime green TransCanada trucks, headed our way.   Loaded with pipe and heavy equipment, they weigh over 200,000 pounds each.  They are taking their time as they meander across the country, cutting through Indian reservations and county roads in order to avoid costly weigh stations.  Some are heading for the six Oklahoma counties where the most toxic and dangerous pipeline on earth will be installed.  Some will go straight through to Texas.

TransCanada has gone to great lengths to avoid any potential liability for the havoc they intend to wreak on our counties, our state and our region.

Why didn’t they just run their pipeline across their on country?  Because the people of Canada understood how toxic this tarsand oil really is, and they knew TransCanada’s poor safety record.  The Canadian people said “No”, so they decided to bring their pipeline right down through the middle of Indian country.

You’ve probably been told that TransCanada is going to pay a lot of ad valorem taxes.  The amount of taxes they will pay will be small in comparison to the damage they will do to our roads and bridges,  not to mention our underground water.

You have probably been told that this is just another pipeline.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Tarsand oil is too sluggish to move smoothly through the pipe on it own, so it will be heated.  There has never, in the history of our planet, been a pipeline that big carrying hot oil laced with benzine and arsenic.

I urge you to look at the easements TransCanada pressured your friends and neighbors into signing.  Unless your friends are very wealthy and spent a great deal of money on attorneys, the easements leave TransCanada blame free.  When that pipeline leaks (and it will leak sooner or later) your county, your state and your constituents will be left holding the bag.

Perhaps you think you are off the hook because the pipeline does not come through your county.  That doesn’t mean that TransCanada’s Trojan trucks won’t cut through your county, tearing up your roads and bridges.

I urge you to strictly enforce all existing weight limits on county roads and bridges, and to decrease those limits where appropriate to keep TransCanada’s truck from doing permanent and irreparable damage to our roads and bridges.

I am attaching a link to a brief video where three Texas landowners talk about how TransCanada trespassed on their land and pressured them into signing easements they didn’t want to sign:

Click on the title:  “Texas Landowners Fight Keystone XL Pipeline”

The third speaker on this video is a pipefitter/mechanic/welder named Mike Hawthorne.  Mike explains:

It’s a dangerous pipeline.  This is a tarsand under high pressure and high temperatures, and I know what sandblasting does to metal.  It’s gonna eat is up, and it’s gonna eat it up pretty fast.

This pipeline can leak 1.7 million gallons of tarsand oil per day without triggering any alert system.  Eventually, it will leak into our Arbuckle-Simpson Aquifer.

Thank you for your careful consideration of this important matter.

Sincerely,

(Your name goes here)

Address

Phone

 

 

 

Virtual Art Contest Is Announced

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The Coalition against Keystone XL Pipeline has announced a visual art contest with cash prizes totally $350.00.  Entries will be submitted digitally.  All types of visual art are accepted including, but not limited to, photographs, cartoons, quilts, paintings and sculptures.  The purpose of the art contest is to draw attention to the harmful effects of the Keystone XL pipeline.  Construction of the pipeline is scheduled to begin in Oklahoma and Texas on or about June 1.

Deadline for submission of entries is 11:59 p.m. on Monday, April 30, 2012.  Grand prize:  $200.00.  The grand prize winner will be determined by a panel of judges.

2nd Place: $150.00 – This is a people’s choice award.  All entrants that are accepted for publication will be posted on our website and the public will be able to vote on a winner.

Winners will be announced on Sunday, June 3.

Instructions for downloading the art to the website are coming soon.

There is no fee for entering the contest.   You can enter as many times as you wish.  There is no residency requirement.  Entries will be accepted from anywhere in the world.

All entries will be displayed on our website .  Entrants agreed to have their submissions posted on our website.  Entrants must be 18 years of age by April 30, 2012.

TransCanada is a Canadian company using imminent domain to force people in six states to give up their land so they can build the Keystone XL pipeline. They have already cut deals to sell the oil to China, Europe and South America once it reaches the refineries on the Gulf.  The Coalition avers that if TransCanada gets by with this, it will set a precedent. Any foreign corporation will be able to waltz in here and bully us around, forcibly taking our land for their businesses.

Pricey Harrison wrote in the Charlotte Observer:

The safety record for TransCanada, the oil giant pushing Keystone XL, is full of glaring problems. In June of 2010, the company started operating the Keystone 1 pipeline. One year later, it had spilled 14 times, including a rupture in North Dakota that oozed out 21,000 gallons of sticky crude. That same year, an Enbridge tar sands pipeline in Michigan burst apart, spewing more than a million gallons of toxic crude into the Kalamazoo River, costing millions of dollars to clean up and poisoning more than 40 miles of downstream waters.

The counties the Keystone XL pipeline will cross in Oklahoma include Lincoln, Seminole, Coal, Atoka, Bryan, Hughes, Okfuskee and Creek.

For more information, contact Fannie Bates at Facebook.

Read more about TransCanada’s safety record here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/03/04/3066455/should-keystone-xl-pipeline-be.html#storylink=cpy and Coalition Against Keystone XL Pipeline (Facebook).
 
All decisions will be final.  This contest is sponsored by Coalition Against Keystone XL Pipeline. 
Contact:
Fannie Bates, MPH
P. O. Box 1421
Oklahoma City, OK 73101

Is Fallin Sleeping through Oklahoma’s Fracking Earthquakes?

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Why isn’t the Governor or the legislature talking about all the earthquakes we have been having around Oklahoma lately?  Does Governor Fallin realize that this is not normal for Oklahoma?  Or we just going to stand around and let big business totally destroy our state before we do anything about it?

Bill Bryan states:

“…while Ohio has studied the problem and adopted new rules to prevent any more induced quakes, what has Oklahoma done? Sad to say, I’m not aware of a single state leader who has uttered a peep. I hope someone will correct me if I’m wrong. “

The question seems to be, “Who are they loyal to, the people who elect them or the corporations that pad their pockets?”

Attorney James Harris also wonders what is going on.

All I know is, I’ve lived in Oklahoma 35 years now, and those two earthquakes last summer were the first ones I’ve ever felt. This simply didn’t happen around here before fracking.

Johnnie Beth Matthews remembers another earthquake in Oklahoma City, over fifty years ago.

We had one when I was in high school at Southeast. It was in the 50′s when we had a cold war going on. We thought Tinker Field had been bombed. I saw the huge glass windows wave, we were lucky they didn’t shatter. This was before safety glass was manufactured. We are on a very old fault line. I didn’t know Arkansas had extinct volcanoes that are becoming active and sending up flumes.  Our governess has confirmed the rumor about her. She is not one of us. Oil is keeping our economy booming. I’ve seen it over and over again. Look at the phallic symbol downtown and the Chesapeake take over on Western and 63rd.

Our governor and legislature are reminding me of the people in Dr. Seuss’ Whoville, going about their everyday lives totally oblivious to the fact that their tiny planet was experiencing intense climate changes and “earthquakes”.  It seems that as long as people can go to Walmart and fill their baskets with cheap plastic products from China, they are content no matter what is going on around them.