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Keystone Pipeline protesters storm California Chevron facility

August 5, 2013

chevPolice arrested more than 200 demonstrators Saturday who trespassed on Chevron Corporation property in Northern California to protest the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline. [Huffington Post]

The protest marked the one-year anniversary of a Chevron refinery fire that generated a cloud of smoke over the city of Richmond and hospitalized more than 15,000 people with respiratory complaints. Richmond sued Chevron on Friday over the damage caused by the pipeline rupture and subsequent fire.

The proposed Keystone Pipeline would transfer oil from Alberta, Canada and the Midwestern U.S. to Gulf Coast refineries in Texas. Several lawsuits and a project application denial by President Barack Obama have stalled construction of the pipeline.

More than 1,000 Keystone XL protesters marched through the streets of Richmond Saturday before some entered the Chevron facility. The protesters chanted, “Hey hey, ho ho, fossil fuels have got to go.”

Those arrested for trespassing included three demonstrators in wheelchairs and anti-Keystone activist Bill McKibben. In 2011, McKibben spoke in San Luis Obispo about his opposition to the pipeline and the importance of “green journalism.”

Most of the people arrested were reportedly cited and released.

 


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Oil is a dirty business.


In the early 1900’s a prospector named Edward Doheny found black-gold in the bog that was Long Beach. The skyline was all oil derricks, roads awash with crude. Doheny became a millionaire, dominated local politics and was being considered as a Vice Presidential running mate for Warren G. Harding.


These same players were subsequently enmeshed in the “Teapot Dome” Scandal , which involved the then U.S. Secretary of the Navy accepting bribes to favor one oil company over another.


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Californians have more to fear from the Wine Industry/Big Ag using up all the water, clear cutting the Redwood forests, and draining California rivers for frost control for grapes, yet they are out protesting oil and oil fracking. You have to laugh, or you’ll be crying that our precious resources are being destroyed while these idiots are seemingly unaware of the problems.


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Same old pseudo, environmental relics who protest ANY and ALL piratical approaches to dealing with the future of this country.What a shame.


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Sometimes I think it is all they know. Often surrounded by like-minded people, they are quite opposed to anything that is uncomfortable to them. It happens.


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I’d rather get my oil fro Canada than the Middle East, and the construction and follow-up jobs would be great. No fewer cars will travel our roads if this project is stopped.


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And how did the protesters get to the protest in the first place? That’s right, they drove their cars!


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Your logical fallacy is: False Analogy: The fallacy of incorrectly comparing one thing to another in order to draw a false conclusion.


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So… they are not protesting fossil fuels… and/or they do not use said fossil fuels on a daily basis? Since they have ZERO proposals in this protest other than “Hey hey, ho ho, fossil fuels have got to go” – then I fail to see how shelworth’s comment is a false analogy.


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Before we even get to the cliche arguments of energy vs. environment, people need to consider that vast government subsidies and use of eminent domain that this project entails. The oil industry continues to distort the energy market and this unlevel playing field will keep us in their grips forever. Building this pipeline would be like opening a whole new record (music) store chain…. a desperate attempt to maintain control of a market that is probably on its way out. Similarly, I do not think the government should be dumping money into “clean” energy companies. Let them all play on a level field and THAT is how innovation has an opportunity to rise to the top (as opposed to whoever has the most political connections and existing capital). I guarantee you this pipeline would never be built and most roofs would be sporting solar panels.


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That and it makes the Saudi’s nervous. Whenever there is more competition to their oil fields (abiotic oil?), they get really nervous. See all the anti-fracking funding, et. Al.


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