Not doing it for me:
"All sides pressing John Kerry on pipeline; Environmentalists, unions try to sway Keystone decision" by Matt Viser | Globe Staff, May 28, 2013
WASHINGTON — Secretary of State John F. Kerry, who for decades has portrayed himself as one of the nation’s leading environmentalists, is under siege from all sides as he faces one of the most difficult decisions of his career: whether to approve the Keystone pipeline.
Several environmental groups are set to launch campaigns this summer to pressure Kerry into opposing the pipeline. One will publicize his past calls to fight global climate change — statements that they argue would make Kerry look like a hypocrite if he now supports the pipeline.
Pipeline advocates, meanwhile, are gearing up for lobbying efforts of their own, hiring firms whose consultants include several former Kerry aides.
One measure of the intensity of public sentiment: A staggering 1.2 million comments — an unprecedented number — have been submitted by the public as part of the State Department’s review process.
The Keystone pipeline would transport tar sands oil from Canada to refineries along the Gulf Coast.
And if I'm not mistaken, the oil will then be exported to China.
Environmental groups warn that a spill along the route would have a devastating effect on drinking water and that turning the tar sands into usable fuel would result in excessive greenhouse gas emissions.
That would be my main reason for opposition. I think water to drink is important.
Kerry will play the key role in the Obama administration’s decision of whether to approve the pipeline because it would cross into the United States from Canada....
Related: The Kerry Confirmation
He once held shares in the company? It's Al Gore and Occidental all over again.
Kerry has long prided himself on his environmental activism. He was a member of the delegation that went to Rio de Janeiro in 1992 for the first major meeting on international climate change. He met his wife, Teresa, at an Earth Day rally. In 2007, Kerry and his wife wrote a book called “This Moment on Earth: Today’s New Environmentalists and Their Vision for the Future.”
But Kerry now finds himself acting not as a protester or politician — the roles he has filled for most of his career — but as the nation’s chief diplomat, acting on behalf of the White House and attempting to bring conflicting factions together.
For all the difficulty of presenting himself as an honest broker in foreign affairs, Kerry faces an equally daunting challenging trying to please an array of constituencies in the pipeline fight.
For example, while environmentalists’ opposition is a given, trade unions, another Democratic constituency, mostly support it for the construction jobs the pipeline would bring.
“It’s going to put thousands of our members back to work who need the work,” said Tom Owens, spokesman for the building and construction trades department of the AFL-CIO.
Environmentalists are not buying such a tradeoff. Michael Brune, Sierra Club executive director, said Kerry is in a far different position than when he was a senator making speeches or seeking votes.
“Now he has an ability, by himself with the president, to make his mark on the highest-profile climate issue in the country today,” Brune said.
Brune said his organization is planning to target Kerry over the coming weeks through petitions, protests, demonstrations, and social media. “Everything that you can think of in a normal pressure campaign,” he said.
The State Department in March released a draft of an Environmental Impact Statement, saying there were no significant environmental reasons to block the pipeline, which some viewed as an indication the department looked favorably on the project.
See: Piping You This Post
After that report is completed, another one will begin — with contributions from eight federal agencies. The second report, called National Interest Determination, will probably take at least three months.
Then why is this the front-page lead of the day?
Once it is finished, both reports will be given to Kerry, and it will be up to him to make a final recommendation....
The State Department declined to discuss Kerry’s specific views on the pipeline but insisted he considers addressing climate change a top priority in his tenure....
Then why has he spent the last four months jetting around the globe and belching out global-warming gases?
"A rare Memorial Day weekend snowfall left guests stranded at a Berkshire Mountains lodge. The Berkshire Eagle reported that Mount Greylock State Reservation reopened Monday morning after a weekend snowfall left slick roads leading to the summit. Peter Dudek, a manager at Bascom Lodge at the summit, said some hikers and staff sought refuge during the inclement weather. He estimated the snowfall to be a few inches, with snow drifts up to six inches. He says it was enough for people to be snowed in at the lodge. The National Weather Service said 7½ inches of snow also fell in parts of northern Vermont by early Sunday morning."
Yeah, then there is that. Snowfall in their fart-misting faces on the unofficial eve of summer. Please stop it with the global-warming garbage after "a summer season that felt more like winter on Saturday and Sunday" that was good for bu$ine$$, huh?
Pipeline advocates are also starting to target Kerry. In mid-March, about six weeks after Kerry was confirmed as secretary of state, the province of Alberta hired new consultants — some with ties to Kerry — to help them ensure the project wins approval.
They enlisted Boston-based communications and strategy firm Rasky Baerlein to “reach out and engage the US administration and key Senate and congressional committees,” according to federal records. Among those registered to lobby for the firm are Graham Shalgian, who worked on Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign; and Joe Baerlein, who has known Kerry for decades. They declined to comment.
The Alberta government also hired the well-connected Washington firm Mehlman Vogel Castagnetti to lobby US officials. David Castagnetti, a principal at the firm, is a longtime Kerry supporter who was the chief liaison to Congress during Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign. He did not return a call seeking comment.
Cal Dallas, Alberta’s minister of international and intergovernmental relations, said in a telephone interview that he would not discount “the potential value” of hiring former Kerry aides. But he added that Kerry has “clearly demonstrated an ability to strip away the rhetoric and the lobby positioning and look at the science, look at the facts, in key decisions that he’s been involved in.”
That's all I'm asking, too.
In 2009, Kerry crafted the Senate’s most ambitious response to threats of climate change, legislation that would have established a cap-and-trade system on US emissions of greenhouse gases. The legislation failed, despite several compromises that Kerry made to big energy companies, concessions that spurred criticism from environmental groups.
Some phases of the Keystone project, which was first proposed in 2005 by a company called TransCanada, exist or have been underway. The most controversial portion — called Keystone XL — would connect Alberta to Steele City, Neb.
There are efforts in Congress to speed the pipeline approval. The House last Wednesday voted, 241 to 175, in a largely symbolic measure to demonstrate support for the pipeline.
Senate majority leader Harry Reid is likely to stifle any effort to bring similar legislation to a vote, even though several Democrats support the pipeline.
Kerry voted against legislation in March 2012 that would have made it easier to build the Keystone pipeline by eliminating the need for a federal permit to cross the US-Canadian border. But he never mentioned the pipeline during Senate debates, according to a Globe review of the congressional record. The measure was four votes shy of the 60 needed for approval.
Last month, testifying before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Kerry declined to discuss his view about the pipeline.
“I am staying as far away from that as I can now so that when the appropriate time comes to me, I am not getting information from any place I shouldn’t be,” Kerry said.
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At least we can rely on renewable $olar, right?
"PowerOptions entering the solar energy market; Systems expected to provide energy, savings" by Sarah Shemkus | Globe Correspondent, May 28, 2013
The state’s largest power-buying consortium is entering the solar energy market, starting with four local colleges and schools that will add solar arrays to their properties.
Sounds good, right?
PowerOptions of Boston, which uses the buying power of the consortium to negotiate electricity and natural gas prices for nonprofit and public organizations, will partner with SunEdison, a Missouri-based solar services company. SunEdison, which will build the solar arrays over the summer, will own and maintain the installations and sell the power to the schools and colleges.
Endicott College in Beverly, Bristol Community College in Fall River, Tri-County Regional Vocational Technical High School in Franklin, and Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School in Sudbury will each sign contracts to buy the solar-generated electricity for the next 20 years.
“If we are going to be advocating responsibility when it comes to the environment, we have to walk the talk,” said Richard Wylie, president of Endicott College, which will host a 943-kilowatt array on its campus. “This is a statement that there are effective ways to maintain stable costs and to be environmentally appropriate.”
PowerOptions decided to go into the green energy business after hearing from customers that they were interested in buying power from renewable sources, but were overwhelmed by the choices and the number of companies offering programs, said chief executive Cynthia Arcate.
People say that until they find out it is more expensive.
“Things were sort of like the Wild West in Massachusetts,” Arcate said. “There were lots of solar developers knocking on doors making all sorts of proposals.”
So PowerOptions got involved, vetting proposals from solar companies, choosing SunEdison as the vendor, managing legal questions, and settling on prices. The resulting contracts fix prices at or below today’s market rate for utility-delivered power for 20 years. Utility rates average 14.38 cents per kilowatt hour in Massachusetts, according to the US Energy Department.
If the cost of conventional power goes up, institutions participating in the solar program could save millions, according to PowerOptions estimates.
“The green energy is nice, but I’ll be honest with you, the [projected] $1.8 million savings over the 20 years is even nicer,” said Stephen Dockray, superintendent-director of Tri-County Regional Vocational Technical High School, where a planned 1.3-megawatt system will provide about 85 percent of the school’s electricity.
When the 20-year contracts expire, the schools will have the option of renewing the agreement, buying the system from SunEdison, or having the equipment removed, said Stephen Raeder, the solar company’s director of sales.
Sounds great, doesn't it?
The benefits of the new installations are more than financial, said Sarah Creighton, director of campus sustainability at Endicott. The highly visible solar array, which will provide about 7 percent of the campus’s energy needs, will act as a symbol of the college’s dedication to the environment, she said.
I'm tired of $ymbolism and illu$ion over reality. What is becoming widely-known, though not in my agenda-pushing paper, is that renewables -- as well intentioned as they are -- simply do not provide the bang per unit that technological and industrial societies need. Seven percent means they will still be using plenty of oil and gas.
“The students were very articulate about wanting to see renewable energy,” she said. “We have done a great deal of energy efficiency over the past five years, but it is hard for students to see that.”
Maybe it's the inculcating and indoctrinating fart mist.
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Related: Oil falls; investors await jobs data
Not going away anytime $oon.
