Designed to carry oil from the tar sands production fields of Canada to oil refineries on the Gulf Coast, the nearest the pipeline comes to Colorado is Nebraska, but activists point out that tar sands oil already comes into Commerce City by pipeline and is then refined by Suncor Energy and sold as gasoline across Colorado at nearly 270 Shell and Phillips 66 stations.
Climatologist Jim Hansen, also traveling with the cross-country No Tar Sands Caravan from Davis, Calif., to Washington, D.C. Aug. 21-26, said it's “essentially game over for the climate" if the XL pipeline wins U.S. State Department approval and allows full exploitation of tar sands reserves in Canada. The extraction process uses huge quantities of water and conventional power and is responsible for enormous amounts of carbon dioxide and other emissions, critics say.
Activists, including actor Danny Glover, plan to travel the nation to spread the word on the folly of expanding tar sands production via the XL pipeline, which has been under increased scrutiny following an ExxonMobil pipeline spill in Montana's Yellowstone River earlier this summer.
In a release regarding the No Tar Sands Caravan Colorado stops, the group drew parallels between tar sands production and efforts in this state to revive oil shale production on the Western Slope. Read the full report here.
Source: by David O. Williams, The Colorado Independent.
