People Before Profit blog

Texas oil spill worsens as it travels down coast

Fri, 28 Mar 2014 16:30:00 +0000

The oil spill that occurred in the Houston Ship Channel on Mar. 23 is having quite a devastating ripple effect on the environment. The disaster, which began when a barge and vessel collided and spilled 170,000 gallons of oil, is now traveling west along the coast of Texas due to heavy currents, complicating cleanup efforts and leaving many migrating birds poisoned or dead.

Some of the oil that plagued the channel is breaking up into troublesome patches and headed in different directions - partly toward the Gulf of Mexico, but more recently, in the other direction down the coast, with crude that could show up hundreds of miles from the spill site. Strong winds have worsened matters, causing the oil to spread across a wider distance.

"You literally have to have a flat sea to vaccuum or remove that oil from the water," said Scott Smith, chief scientist of Water Defense, a clean water organization founded by actor and environmental activist Mark Ruffalo. "The wind creates the chop and then you can't get the oil out quickly with these older technologies. Then you take the risk of spreading, like it's doing now."

The Environmental Defense Fund added, "This spill is significant. There have already been reports of oil traveling more broadly [from the channel] into Galveston Bay. Galveston Bay is one of America's greatest estuaries and an important home to Texas seafood providers and recreational fishermen. This spill not only threatens birds and other large animals residing in the bay, but also important seafood species like shrimp, blue crab, menhaden, and oysters. It could also impact populations of popular recreational fish, like red drum and speckled sea trout. Investigation and long-term monitoring within the footprint of this spill is necessary."

The sensitive bird sanctuary nearby, Bolivar Flats, is, as experts feared, already being affected by the aftermath of this spill. Though signs of oil onshore there are being called "minimal," birds have been arriving covered in oil. Those birds only have a 50/50 chance of survival, experts say, because they cannot help but ingest the oil when preening their feathers. Numerous fowl have already died, including 37 in Galveston Bay. Others are particularly at risk, as they are in the midst of migrating season.

Now, a second wildlife refuge is at risk. Matagorda Island, and its surrounding Matagorda Bay, are home to a variety of unique, rare, and endangered birds, as well as deer and alligators, but as of Mar. 26, oil slick was found as close as 15 miles away from the island. Workers are scrambling to put up a protective boom around the sensitive areas of the island coast, but some fear it might be a case of "too little, too late".

"Any impact made by oil there will be very high, because it's a largely undisturbed area," said Jorge Brenner, a marine scientist with the Texas Nature Conservancy. "That makes it a really bad target."

The wellbeing of some oiled birds is out of experts' hands in Texas because they have already flown to other areas. Oil-covered loons and other migratory birds were found Mar. 28 in parts of Minnesota, some with poor health. Dozens of birds within six different species have already required treatment.

Meanwhile, experts expect the oil to continue to spread farther away from Houston Ship Channel. "Our prediction is that oil is going to be caught up in the coastal current and be carried further west," said Doug Helton, incident operations coordinator with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "It is a combination of winds and currents. Particularly, wind speed and wind direction have a big factor on the behavior of the oil. Our predictions on this so far have been pretty accurate."

In other words, the worst may be yet to come.

Photo: A worker sets up an oil absorbent skirt on a beach in Galveston, Texas. Jennifer Reynolds/AP

Today in women's history: Three Mile Island nuclear reactor overheats

Fri, 28 Mar 2014 14:46:00 +0000

From history.com: The most serious nuclear accident in United States history takes place at the Three Mile Island plant near Harrisburg, Pa., March 28, 1979, when one of the reactors overheats. Fortunately, a catastrophic meltdown was averted and there were no deaths or direct injuries from the accident. But the radiation levels went up and Pennsylvania Governor Richard Thornburgh directed that pregnant women and small children be evacuated from the area.

The Three Mile Island plant had begun operations just months earlier on December 28, 1978. Very shortly after operations began, problems arose. It was 3:58 a.m. on March 28 when a pump that directed steam to the plant's electric turbines stopped working, causing a water circulation pump to break down. Without the water, the temperature of the reactor rose dramatically and a relief valve opened to stop the pressure from building to dangerous levels. Unfortunately, the valve then would not close.

The plant operators, with no experience in emergencies, made key errors. Another valve was opened to allow water from the nuclear system into a waste tank. But this water ruptured the tank and radioactive water flooded into the reactor. Even worse, an operator shut off the automatic core-cooling system. The result of all these events and mistakes was that radioactive steam poured out of the plant. Additionally, radioactive water had to be released into the Susquehanna River. However, area authorities were not notified of these events until nearly three hours later.

Even when news of the accident was released, it was downplayed. But within days, radiation levels were elevated over a four-county area. Furthermore, the plant's operators were still trying to get the situation under control. That's when Gov. Thornburgh ordered the evacuation of pregnant women and small children. Finally, on March 31, plant workers were able to address the problems and ended the threat of a meltdown. The area was deemed safe on April 9.

A subsequent investigation and report blamed a combination of human error and faulty design for the accident. In March 1984, the Metropolitan Edison Company pleaded guilty to knowingly using inaccurate test methods at the plant before the incident. The Three Mile Island accident also exposed the lack of an appropriate evacuation plan for the area.

In the years following this accident, there has been an ongoing controversy over whether the increased radiation released at Three Mile Island led to an increase of cancer and infant mortality in the surrounding areas.

Photo: President Jimmy Carter tours the Three Mile Island-2 control room with (l to r) Harold Denton, Governor Dick Thornburgh and James Floyd, supervisor of TMI-2 operations, on April 1. (Wikipedia)

After collision, Texas ship channel awash in oil

Tue, 25 Mar 2014 16:46:00 +0000

TEXAS CITY, Texas - Only a day before the anniversary of the terrible Exxon Valdez oil spill, and a day before the ninth anniversary of the death of 15 in an oil explosion, a collision occurred here Mar. 23 between a barge and a vessel in the Houston Ship Channel.

It sent 170,000 gallons of oil into the body of water that connects the Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico and deals with up to 80 vessels per day. The disaster continues to unfold as the channel blackens and experts rush to determine the cause of the crash.

The U.S. Coast Guard has warned that the oil spilled is a particularly troublesome mixture - a special "bunker fuel oil" called RMG 380, which does not evaporate quickly and which contains volatile chemicals. Officials are closely monitoring air quality for harmful contaminants the oil might release. "This is an extremely serious spill," said Coast Guard Capt. Brian Penoyer. "It is a persistent oil. We need to hit it hard and fast now before it disperses and thins out."

But it may already be too late for that. The day after the spill, "tar balls" were discovered on the shore of Galveston Bay, showing that the oil had quickly spread outward from the channel into neighboring bodies of water.

The vessel, Summer Wind, was a Liberian merchant ship owned by Greece-based Cleopatra Shipping. It was being towed during foggy conditions when the barge, owned by the Houston-based Kirby Inland Marine Corp., collided with it, though it is not yet certain what chain of events led to the collision - that's something that investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board are currently trying to determine.

Other repercussions of the disaster are already being seen, as at least fifty birds were covered in oil and needed emergency treatment. Seven more, meanwhile, died as a result of being poisoned by the spill. More wildlife casualties are likely forthcoming, as thousands of wintering birds remain in the immediate area. Even worse, the site is located just east of the Bolivar Flats Shorebird Sanctuary, a preserved bird refuge that is home to ducks, geese, herons, and other water fowl. It typically attracts 50,000 to 70,000 birds this time of year.

Richard Gibbons, conservation director of Houston Audubon, remarked, "This spill is very, very close to a lot of very, very important places for birds. The timing couldn't be much worse since we're approaching the peak shorebird migration season. We're concerned about all the birds that are oiled. It's something we have to be diligent with."

The threat posed to the sanctuary is only the latest in a string of seemingly unending accidents that have made disaster and even death a part of almost every life in Texas City, which is home to the nation's third-largest oil refinery - a source of danger to both workers at the plant and on the docks, and to the rest of the community.

People on the streets talk about the many disasters over the years there, in terms like "my explosion" in 2005 and "my dad's explosion" in 1947. For Michael Strelnick, who works construction jobs, a clear, mild spring afternoon in 2005 was spoiled when, on Mar. 24, fire storms tore through the BP plant on the edge of town, rocking the street beneath his feet and filling the air he breathed with thick, toxic smoke. Fifteen people were killed, four more than were killed five years later on the Deepwater Horizon.

The Gulf of Mexico has yet to recover from that disaster, the biggest oil spill in U.S. history. In stark contrast to this disturbing fact, the EPA lifted the ban that prevented BP from engaging in new contracts with the federal government, essentially allowing the corporation to resume drilling activities in the Gulf. The EPA has also lifted restrictions on the plant in town that BP eventually sold to Marathon Oil.

"What can you do?" Strelnick said. "If it weren't for the oil business, we'd have absolutely nothing here. It's just sad that we have to live this way. The price we pay for some jobs and money for a local community center chipped in by the oil companies is that we have to live with these continuous disasters."

Workers at the plant that exploded, now owned by Marathon Oil, told the People's World that BP went on a penny pinching campaign prior to the deadly explosion in 2005. The company cut inspections to save $1 million, eliminated "safety calendars" to save $40,000, and eliminated safety shoes for employees to save $75,000, according to the workers.

"Then came the explosion, and 15 people were dead," said Laura McCollum, who does safety inspection work for her union, Local 13-1 of the Steelworkers, which represents oil and chemical workers. She worries that the town could be in store for another death-dealing oil disaster. She explained that, for a while after the 2005 disaster, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration kept sending monthly inspectors and BP grudgingly followed some safety rules. The response now, from Marathon, which purchased the plant from BP, is "the regulators are off our backs and it's time for us to make money.

"People were killed because they were housed in trailers too close to the dangerous facilities. Glass and metal tore through their bodies. And now, today, the workers are housed in tents. That's a problem."

Marathon claims tents are safer because, unlike trailers, they won't kill the workers inside if they fall on top of them. "It's that kind of attitude by management at the world's third largest refinery that had us worried here," she said. "Without a change in that attitude, we could end up with yet another really big Texas City disaster."

Photo: An oil-drenched bird, just one more victim of the oil disasters in Texas City, lies dead on the eastern shore of Galveston Bay. AP

U.S. covered up massive PCB contamination at Okinawa base

Tue, 25 Mar 2014 12:32:00 +0000

A report this month reveals that the U.S. Air Force has covered up massive PCB contamination at its Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan, since the late 1980s. The contamination far exceeded safety levels.

U.S. military officials did not report the contamination to Japanese authorities, and did nothing to alleviate the contamination.

Revelation of the PCB cover-up follows a furor among both U.S. service members and Okinawans over of the unearthing of 83 barrels containing dioxins and other toxic chemicals, including barrels labeled Dow Chemical, the manufacturer of Agent Orange, on land formerly part of the Kadena base that is now the Okinawa City soccer field. And the two issues come on top of already widespread Japanese opposition to the heavy U.S. military presence on Okinawa.

PCBs, polychlorinated biphenyls, are chemical mixtures that were commonly used in electrical equipment, oil, insulation and other products before being banned by the U.S. Environmental Protection Administration in 1979 because of their toxicity. According to the EPA, "PCBs have been demonstrated to cause cancer, as well as a variety of other adverse health effects on the immune system, reproductive system, nervous system, and endocrine system." PCBs in the environment do not go away - they continue to pose health risks for decades, "cycling between air, water, and soil," the EPA says. They can spread over long distances, and can be absorbed into food crops and by small animals and fish.

Soil tests at the contaminated site showed PCB concentrations of 2,290 parts per million (ppm). That is far above the peak level of 750 ppm found at some of the most contaminated toxic Superfund cleanup sites in the U.S.

According to its own documents, the Air Force did not report the contamination at the time because of concerns that it might damage election chances of politicians who supported the U.S. military presence on Okinawa, in upcoming prefectural assembly elections in 1988.

The documents were recently leaked to Japan Times reporter Jon Mitchell, who has extensively covered toxic pollution at U.S. bases in Okinawa.

An internal Air Force action plan dated Dec. 1, 1987 expressed fear that, if the story got out, conservative politicians in Okinawa would feel compelled "at least in appearance, to put pressure on USFJ [U.S. Forces Japan] commanders and demand answers to tough questions about the incident."

Noting that "The potential for soil contamination at sites on other USFJ installations on Okinawa exists," the plan also expressed concern that U.S. and Japanese officials would be "pressured to test soil samples from high-risk sites ... at all USFJ installations."

But the action plan's author, First Lt. Bob Mccarty, a public affairs officer, concluded that transparency would be the best policy for the U.S. He recommended that U.S. officials brief the Okinawa provincial governor and mayors in the affected areas about the contamination.

An accompanying cover memo from McCarty's superior, Lt. Col. Robert Winkelmann, says, "In order to avoid embarrassment and accusations of a 'cover up,' it is critical that we rapidly forward this information to Japanese government officials and try to minimize the 'damage' which will inevitably result."

These recommendations apparently were ignored.

Dr. Masami Kawamura, director of environment policy and justice at the Citizens Network for Biodiversity in Okinawa, said the PCB contamination was actually first revealed by a Japanese nongovernmental organization in 1992. In an email response to an inquiry from this reporter, Dr. Kawamura said she was "overwhelmed" by the extent of the PCB contamination. She said she felt "strong resentment" toward the U.S. (and the Japanese government) for covering up this "significant information for our health, safety and environment," for "their political reasons."

Okinawans have had long-standing concerns about contamination stemming from U.S. military bases.

A few examples:

In the 1990s, in Onna, a village in central Okinawa, "high levels of mercury, cadmium and PCBs have hampered plans to redevelop former U.S. military land" that was returned Japan in 1995.

In 2008, in Yomitan village, "levels of arsenic 120 times over the legal limit were found on former U.S.-controlled land."

In 2013, traces of PCBs nearly nine times higher than normal were discovered in wild mongoose tested near the U.S. Futenma Air Station and Makiminato Service Area (Camp Kinser).

And the town of Chatan, which borders the Kadena Air Base, "has recently been forced to postpone plans to widen roads onto former (U.S.) military land due to the discovery of dangerous levels of lead."

The report of the 25-year-long PCB contamination cover-up is likely to "increase Okinawan people's concerns" over base contamination and their right to be informed, Dr. Kawamura said.

"To get the truth," Okinawa City has been overseeing the Japanese government's investigation and cross-checking test findings, she said. "We should hold the governments of Japan and the U.S. accountable and insist on more transparency."

They should acknowledge their responsibility in the PCB contamination, Dr. Kawamura said, even "though more than 25 years has passed" since the contamination was first discovered.

Photo: Entrance to the U.S. Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, Japan. Alan Berning CC

Dioxins unearthed at U.S. base in Okinawa stir furor

Mon, 24 Mar 2014 12:38:00 +0000

Eighty-three barrels labeled for toxic chemicals - some clearly marked "Dow Chemical" - have recently been discovered buried in land that was formerly part of the U.S. Air Force Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan. The site is now the Okinawa City soccer field and also borders playing fields of two schools for children of U.S. military personnel on the base: Bob Hope Primary School and Amelia Earhart Intermediate School. Tests have revealed dioxin, herbicide and arsenic in the surrounding soil. U.S. service members and their families as well as Okinawans have been shaken by the news.

Dow Chemical Co., based in Midland, Mich., was the manufacturer of the deadly defoliant Agent Orange massively used by the U.S. in Vietnam in the 1960s and '70s during the Vietnam War. Dioxin is a key ingredient of Agent Orange. It is linked to high rates of cancers and other diseases among U.S. veterans and Vietnamese survivors of the war, and birth defects among their children. Dioxin dissipates in sunlight but can remain toxic for decades when buried in the ground.

Retired U.S. Air Force Major Ronald Thomas told The Japan Times in January that in the late 1960s when he lived on the Kadena base he regularly transported empty barrels to land near where the schools now stand. At that time the land was used as an unofficial dump site.

"They were 55-gallon and, on occasion, 30-gallon drums. You could smell the chemicals and a few were stenciled with 'Defoliant' in white with 'Property KAB Special Services,' " Thomas said.

Some of the drums were buried, and others were burned or sold to local Okinawan residents, Thomas said.

Thomas said he was not sure if the barrels contained Agent Orange. Other U.S. veterans insist that Agent Orange was sprayed, stored and buried on Okinawa during the Vietnam War. The Pentagon has continually denied this, and the Veterans Administration has denied a number of compensation claims from veterans who linked their illnesses to exposure to Agent Orange on Okinawa. However in October last year the VA awarded compensation to a retired Marine truck driver suffering from prostate cancer who said his illness was triggered by his transport and handling of Agent Orange on Okinawa between 1967 and 1968. His claim was initially rejected like others, but he appealed. The judge who ruled on his appeal found his claims "highly credible." A few other similar claims have also won compensation.

Thomas said he contacted both Kadena base officials and the U.S. military newspaper Stars and Stripes with his story and urged them to take action. Neither followed up, he said.

"They don't want to open that Pandora's box up. It's better for the (base authorities) and the Japanese government to say there is no problem," Thomas said.

He may have been referring to concerns by U.S. officials and Japan's right-wing government that the issue could add to the already widespread Japanese opposition to the heavy U.S. military presence in Okinawa. The U.S. has 32 bases on Okinawa Island, occupying approximately 20 percent of the island's area. There has been a long history of complaints and mass demonstrations over endangerment of the local population by U.S. military aircraft, base operations including environmental damage, and abuses including rapes by U.S. troops. A heated struggle is going on over U.S. plans to relocate its Futenma Air Base from one part of Okinawa to another, with residents fiercely opposing the move and calling for getting the base off Okinawa.

The Air Force is telling U.S. military personnel and their families at Kadena that there is no threat to their safety. But these assurances are being met with skepticism.

A service member formerly stationed at Kadena noted that the site where barrels were unearthed is about 100 yards from base housing, and is an area where military people often walked their dogs.

"In our small organization of otherwise healthy young people, an unbelievable rate of cancers exists. Multiple breast cancers, brain cancer, brain tumors," said the service member, who did not want his name used.

"Many children living on the air base have developed childhood cancers, tumors, and other diseases," he said.

On Jan. 28, the Kadena commander held a meeting with military parents to assure them that their children's schools at the base were safe from dioxin contamination. The meeting came as a growing number of parents affiliated with the base expressed anger that they had not been notified of the problem promptly, and said their children's serious illnesses may have been caused by dioxin exposure, or voiced fears about the likelihood of future illnesses. A Facebook group called "Bob Hope/AEIS - Protect Our Kids" currently has more than 830 members.

The Japan Times reported in January, "More than 10 parents whose children developed serious illnesses while living on Okinawa bases have expressed fears that contamination at the two schools may be to blame. Many of the sicknesses from which they are suffering include those known to be caused by dioxin exposure - birth defects, autoimmune disorders and childhood cancers."

Telisha Simmons, who lived on Okinawa between 2011 and 2012, told the Times: "I am disgusted that this information has been kept from us. Not even after my daughter was diagnosed with bone tumors and my son with a brain cyst were we informed."

Simmons said her family's doctors could not explain her children's illnesses. Her son attended Bob Hope Primary School and often played on its fields.

"He went out in all weather conditions and at times was wet, muddy and dirty when getting home. It makes me sick that this has been kept hush-hush," she said."

A frequently-asked-questions sheet distributed by military officials conceded, "The majority of the barrels are severally (sic) deformed and rusted. A few of the barrels still retain the overall shape of a barrel, but appear to have multiple holes from rusting."

But Kadena Commander Brig. Gen. James Hecker assured his audience of about 100 U.S. service members and their families that there were no indications the base was polluted.

According to the Citizens Network for Biodiversity in Okinawa, an Okinawan nongovernmental organization, an initial investigation by the city of Okinawa found that the residues in the barrels and the surrounding soil and groundwater included dioxin compounds and the toxic chemicals 2,4,5-T and PCB, with small amounts of arsenic in the soil. The city report recommended further investigations to determine the range/area, depth and degree of contamination.

Professor Katsuhisa Honda, a Japanese dioxin contamination expert, said the case needed to be considered an issue of "multiple contamination."

On Feb. 24, the Air Force released results from Feb. 1 tests of "on-base" soil at the two schools at Kadena. According to the Air Force these tests "confirmed" that the soil at the school fields "is fully compliant" with Japanese government environmental standards "and does not pose a health risk to staff and students." The report also concluded that personnel on the base were "unlikely" to be affected by toxic chemicals from the barrels unearthed in the "off-base" soccer field. "No further surveillance is required," the report said.

However Dr. Masami Kawamura, director of environment policy and justice at the Citizens Network for Biodiversity in Okinawa, disagrees with the Air Force's conclusions.

"it is impossible at the moment for anyone to declare the safety, because the investigation has not been finished and the range and depth of contamination has not yet been decided," she said via email this week. Japanese authorities have not completed their own testing. Some of their results are expected in April.

"It seems that Kadena Air Force tried to play down the seriousness of the dioxin contamination," Dr. Kawamura said. This is illustrated by a U.S. Air Force "fact sheet" on dioxins and dioxin-like substances dated Feb. 14, 2014, which includes this Alice-in-Wonderland-like statement: "There is no environmental standard to compare levels of residue on a drum (barrel) to; therefore, it did not exceed any environmental standards."

An American who was stationed at Kadena called the Air Force report "suspect." He noted that the planned shift in U.S. military strategy to focus on the Pacific/Asia region, known as the "pivot to Asia," will make U.S. bases on Okinawa "extremely valuable real estate."

"A political furor over U.S.-controlled toxic chemicals puts U.S. regional presence at risk," he said. "Given Okinawa's geopolitical importance, any U.S.-produced report minimizing the impact of Vietnam-era toxins in the ground on Okinawa is suspect, and does not align with anecdotal evidence, or public opinion - both Okinawan and American alike."

The service member who did not want his name used, and who is himself experiencing unusual symptoms including a suspicious lump, said he feels members of the military, who often joined up for idealistic reasons, "have been manipulated by a system that is so focused on geopolitical position that it is willing to risk the lives and health of military families."

"Back in my idealist days," he said, "I signed up for risking my life. I did not sign up to watch wives and family members of my military friends get sick, lose breasts, develop tumors, and die."

"If this isn't exploitation, I don't know what is."

In 2012 the U.S. agreed to reduce its military footprint on Okinawa, turning some base land over to Japan. The Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement exempts the U.S. from any responsibility to restore returned land to its former state or to pay money for doing so. Japan must pay for pollution removal and other such costs. In addition, the U.S. is not required to allow Japanese officials access to its installations to conduct environmental tests.

Perhaps it is not coincidental that in December 2013, as the furor over the dioxin-laced barrels grew, the Pentagon announced the start of U.S.-Japanese talks on adding environmental provisions to the SOFA with the aim of "further strengthening bilateral cooperation in this field by recognizing the importance of the environmentally friendly operations of U.S. Forces in Japan." The announcement noted the "importance of environmental protection and its contribution to managing risk to human health and safety." Some commentators view this with skepticism, believing it an attempt to deflect the anti-base movement in Japan.

Okinawan activists have been pressing their local government for years to investigate reports of the presence of Agent Orange. They say local and national government officials simply passed along U.S. denials that the toxic chemicals were ever stored on Okinawa.

But the revelations of the 83 barrels at the soccer field adjoining Kadena have changed the picture. The news shocked Okinawans who have regularly seen children playing in the contaminated field, Dr. Kawamura noted. It has raised Okinawans' awareness of their right to be informed of the real facts, she said, and increased pressure on Japanese officials to "get the truth," she said.

Environmental pollution from U.S. bases in Japan, including toxic contamination, is not a new or isolated issue. Next month, Okinawa Prefecture will open a new division dedicated to investigating environmental pollution on former U.S. base land scheduled for return to civilian usage.

That would include six U.S. military facilities and areas south of Kadena Air Base that are slated to be returned to Japan.

Photo: A Japanese worker brushes away dirt from one of the barrels unearthed at the Okinawa City soccer field last summer. Okinawa City photo.

Fracking encroaches on Pennsylvania forests

Fri, 21 Mar 2014 16:23:00 +0000

Five activists were arrested Mar. 20 in Pennsylvania's Tiadaghton State Park for protesting fracking operations there. Blocking the only access point to a wellpad, they chained themselves to barrels of concrete, preventing workers from entering the site. The activists, who are members of environmental group Marcellus Shale EarthFirst!, are among the many demanding that oil/gas corporation Anadarko cease its interference with the sensitive ecosystems of the Keystone State.

The sudden increased drilling in the state is due to a recent executive order issued by Republican Gov. Tom Corbett to open Pennsylvania's remaining public lands to such projects. This includes state forests that were previously spared from fracking back in 2010, when then-Gov. Rendell declared a moratorium on any new drilling leases for such places. That moratorium was based on a study by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, which determined that no remaining public lands could be tampered with for oil or gas operations without causing "significant surface disruptions." Corbett's current move to subject state forests to fracking disregards this study and seeks to run roughshod over environmental safety.

Thus, the response came swiftly from concerned activists, who descended on Tiadaghton. Retired school teacher Michael Badges-Canning, who was among the protesters, remarked, "The public lands of Pennsylvania belong to all Pennsylvanians. It is my obligation as a resident of the Commonwealth and a grandparent to protect our wild heritage, our pristine waters, and the natural beauty for my grandchildren."

Marcellus Shale EarthFirst! member Danielle Dietterick said, "As a lifelong resident of Pennsylvania, I feel a moral responsibility to protect my home from the malicious onslaught of an industry with a track record of environmental degradation and human rights violations. Our governor's complicity proves that he is an industry pawn who can ignore the words of our state constitution and the desires of those whom he is supposed to represent."

Corbett has touted fracking as a jobs creator, but that claim may be exaggerated, according to the Keystone Research Center, whose board members include members of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees and the United Steelworkers. Corbett claims as many as 200,000 jobs could be created, but as of now there are only 30,000 jobs linked to Marcellus Shale proper. Moreover, an analysis by the Allentown Morning Call indicates that job growth in the fracking industry has fallen by 29 percent since 2010.

Anadarko, the company behind this particular operation, is a Texas-based corporation that is in the top three percent worldwide for environmental safety violations, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection's Oil and Gas compliance report. Anadarko has been cited with nearly 250 such violations over the past five years alone. The company has a messy history of water pollution and has been at the receiving end of several lawsuits for incidents it has caused.

Adam Kron, lead author of a report by the Environmental Integrity Project on the safety record of Anadarko, stated, "Anadarko has the dubious distinction of being Pennsylvania's seventh-worst oil and gas company when it comes to keeping its pollutants out of rivers and streams. The Commonwealth's own data demonstrates this fact."

The Tiadaghton protesters managed to suspend operations for six hours before five were arrested and the rest dispersed. And while that may not be a victory, it sends a clear message. Demonstrator Matt Smith said, "We locked down, disrupting and stopping drilling activities for six hours. This was to let the public know and to let the corporation know that there's a growing ground swell of resistance and opposition to shale gas drilling in Pennsylvania."

Photo: Tom Jefferson/MarcellusShaleEarthFirst.org

Loss of life in Harlem the price paid for crumbling infrastructure

Wed, 19 Mar 2014 12:04:00 +0000

NEW YORK - On Mar. 12, the East Harlem area of Manhattan was rocked by an explosion caused by a gas leak, collapsing two buildings and leaving eight dead. It's no coincidence that the buildings were served by a 127 year-old gas main, and those in the labor movement are feeling the unfortunate burden of vindication. They have long warned about the outdated gas pipes that wend their way beneath the streets of major cities, an example of the crippled and outdated infrastructure that is becoming a growing problem throughout the country.

According to a statement by the United Steelworkers, the problem of archaic, leaking pipes is a multi-faceted one: "A congressional report showed that in 2011, gas distribution companies leaked enough cubic feet of natural gas into the atmosphere to supply the state of Maine for almost a year. Companies have little incentive to fix the pipes given that they can pass on the cost of the leaked gas to consumers. From 2000-2011, that cost was at least $20 billion. The gas was never used or accounted for."

Advocates of repair note that new pipelines installed would be far superior to those already servicing cities - most of which are made of cast-iron and date back to a time before the widespread use of cars and lightbulbs. Brigham McCown, consultant and former administrator of the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, explained, "People used what they had at the time. By and large in most American cities, that's a cast iron-type product. It becomes brittle, it becomes harder, and it's more difficult to get a seal," which helps contribute to gas leakage.

Consider the fact that Con Edison, the giant utility company that oversees the gas mains in most of New York City, has 60 percent of its pipelines made of cast iron or unprotected steel, with a large portion of those dating back more than half a century. The company has also experienced a high leakage rate, with 83 gas leaks for every 100 miles of main in 2012. Con Edison claims it plans to continually upgrade its gas mains to those made of modern material, planning to replace 65 miles of main per year, at an annual cost of $110 million. But at that pace, it would still take the utility more than 35 years to replace all the cast iron gas mains in New York City, according to federal data. It's anyone's guess how many more explosions like the one in East Harlem could occur during that time.

And New York isn't alone in its problems. Carl Wood, national director of regulatory affairs with the Utility Workers Union of America, and former California public utilities commissioner, spoke with the People's World on the issue. He remarked, "There have been other high profile gas incidents around the country, like the gas pipeline explosion in San Bruno, California, and the one in Allentown, Pennsylvania." And this is due to more than just ancient infrastructure, he added. "Dealing with this requires renewing and maintaining a skilled work force. But the big barrier to that is this industry culture that has devalued safety, even for workers." Gas mains aren't getting properly fixed, he said, in part because "that costs money and requires staff. Companies are reluctant to spend money on that.

"And there's another dimension to this: When pipelines leak, methane is released. That's an extremely potent greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change."

According to the USW's statement, methane is "at least 21 times more potent than carbon dioxide." This makes it an environmental matter as well as a safety and labor issue.

"This is an issue that just cries out for major investment in renewing the infrastructure; you could rebuild it by starting a major jobs program," said Wood. "And most of those would be good union jobs! But right now, the problem is this all comes down to money. Most of the gas lines in the U.S. are owned and controlled by privately owned gas utilities. Very few are publically owned. To start generating jobs, we need to create special federal and state programs to upgrade and repair gas systems throughout the country."

The USW concluded, "Fixing our natural gas pipeline can be a powerful jobs program through installing, operating, maintaining, and fabricating pipelines. Steelworkers do much of this work already. These jobs can be supported and more can be created."

Photo: Workers stand beside the recently cleared basement of buildings leveled by an explosion on Mar. 12. AP

Chicago residents fight to shut down petcoke operations

Tue, 18 Mar 2014 16:43:00 +0000

They say truth is stranger than fiction. So don't be surprised that the Koch Brothers, BP, and a web of multinationals have been hedging bets and kicking up dust on an industrial corridor of working-class neighborhoods off the Calumet River, between Chicago and Indiana.

BP has been buying up land and completing work on a massive facility to refine crude oil from the Alberta, Canada tar sands, the dirtiest form of oil there is. BP's bets hedge on an Obama approval for Keystone XL that will transport the crude oil to refineries here and on the Gulf Coast.

BP has already added equipment to triple its refinement of tar sands crude from 700,000 tons to 2.2 million tons per year according to documents it filed to obtain construction permits. The company hopes to raise that level to 11 million tons per year.

The refining of tar sands oil produces massive amounts of petcoke or petroleum coke, a black powdery substance. The Koch Brothers are purchasing petcoke from BP and other refineries to sell to buyers in India, Mexico and China as a cheap fuel source. The petcoke from the BP Refinery and another in Joliet is being stored in huge mounds along the Calumet River by KCBX Terminals, a subsidiary of Koch Industries, awaiting shipment.

Petcoke has been linked to respiratory health problems, cancer, and general filth. These efforts have met resistance from every angle. Concerned citizens like Tom Shepherd and Peggy Salazar of the Southeast Environmental Task Force in the Hegewisch neighborhood are busy rallying the community, shedding light and giving "toxic tours" of the area.

An outpouring of anger by residents has resulted in Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the Department of Public Health (CDPH) issuing new guidelines that require that facilities that store petcoke, coal, and other forms of coke to fully enclose their storage piles and provide the City with monthly reports on implementation of the regulations.

Emanuel has also introduced an ordinance in City Council that would halt further expansion of the petcoke operations. Residents say the ordinance doesn't go far enough. They want the petcoke removed entirely.

"But it's a step in the right direction," says Shepherd.

Attorney General Lisa Madigan and lawmakers in the state legislature are also proposing regulations that would completely enclose the petcoke operations.

Shepherd, who gave us a toxic tour of the site noted that it had once been "a major cog in the steel trade."

John D. Rockefeller established a refining operation known as Standard Oil of Indiana and the area became a stronghold for industrial commerce - as it's strategically situated in "the hub" of our nation's rails. "You can ship anything anywhere from this hub including tar sands oil," says Tom.

Neighborhoods in Whiting, Indiana and East Chicago and the historic Marktown, once home to steel and other manufacturing workers, remain inhabited and lie now in the shadow of the BP refinery which emits sulfurous fumes into the air. Then you travel northwest on the Chicago side to find the piles of petcoke that arrive there by the trainload from the BP refinery. The piles of petcoke are the source of even greater wealth for the already super-wealthy Koch brothers.

Residents endure airborne petcoke on a daily basis and on occasion ominous black clouds of the stuff, far away from BP boardrooms, endanger everyone around - from the chilren and their parents to the family pets.

"We have dust storms off those piles," said Rolanda Watson-Clark, a registered nurse and member of National Nurses United. "The kids can't go out and play in the parks and the ash is imbedded in their food and lungs. In December our clinic had to be evacuated because of the plumes of smoke."

Proponents of the expansion of the Keystone XL pipeline claim it will produce jobs and make America less dependent on foreign oil, but opponents challenge those assertions. Nevertheless, Republicans and even many Democrats have voiced support for the expansion.

They should speak with Marie Aguilar who lives in the area adjacent to the petcoke piles. Aguilar says she can't open her windows and every time she washes her windows throughout the summer its black - black dirt.

"Through the windows on top of my tables is black dirt and it's effecting us healthwise." She has a lot of friends and neighbors with cancer. "I have three grandkids and they all have asthma," says Aguilar.

Another resident told us within two hours of washing his car it is covered with a film of petcoke.

On March 14, U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Il., and 27 other House Democrats called on Secretary of State John Kerry to reject expansion of the pipeline as it "does not make our nation more secure." They said the Keystone XL Pipeline would, "unlock huge reserves of carbon that scientists have warned need to stay in the ground if we are to avoid climate change that could prove irreversible."

Kerry is due to make recommendations to President Obama regarding the pipeline's impact on national security and the environment.

Shepherd and Salazar and the Southeast Environmental Task Force are part of a growing coalition on Chicago's Southeast side of concerned citizens who are becoming seasoned environmental activists. Other groups include Steelworkers Organization of Active Retirees, Environmental Justice Alliance of the Greater Southside, and regional partners like the Natural Resource Defense Council, Respiratory Health Association and the Sierra Club.

Rep. Schakowsky praised the grassroots movement. In Detroit a similar movement shut down the Koch Brothers' petcoke operation and grassroots organizers across the nation are working with First Nations in Canada to resist the Keystone XL pipeline on every front. They are standing in solidarity and asking you to contact your senators and representatives to go on record and say "no" to the Keystone XL pipeline. Time is running out, they say.

Photo: Mountains of petcoke in the Windy City. David Bender/PW

Ohio “Frackgate” raises concerns about regulators

Mon, 17 Mar 2014 15:26:00 +0000

A Freedom of Information Act request in February by the Ohio chapter of the Sierra Club began a series of events raising concerns over the relationship of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) and the oil and gas industry in Ohio which it is supposed to regulate.

The FOI request was prompted by Gov. John Kasich's failure to follow through on a 2011 law permitting fracking, a controversial form of drilling for natural gas, in Ohio's state parks.

At that time polls showed 70 percent of the public was not in favor of the bill. During the public testimony session 39 people testified against the bill with only one testifying in favor of it. That person was the then-director of the ODNR.

Since the law was passed, however, there has been very little action on fracking in the parks. The law calls for the governor to appoint a commission to oversee drilling on public lands, but those appointments have yet to be made. The Sierra Club wanted to find out why this was the case.

The FOI request uncovered a 2012 memo from officials at the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and Kasich administration officials calling for strategies to promote fracking in Ohio state parks. Included in the memo were lists of allies and opponents, strategies to discredit citizen groups that were concerned about the dangers of fracking, and plans for public relations efforts to convince the public to support fracking in the parks.

Listed among the allies were the giant oil engineering firm Halliburton, the Chamber of Commerce, some media outlets, as well the Ohio Oil and Gas Association, a lobbying group.

Among the opponents listed were the Ohio Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council and Ohio legislators Rep. Nickie Antonio, D- Lakewood, and Rep. Robert Hagan, D-Youngstown.

In response to being named in the memo Reps. Antonio and Hagan held a press conference calling for an investigation into what Hagan termed "Frackgate." The outcry over the memo prompted Kasich to announce he had abandoned plans to frack in the state parks because he believed the "regulatory structure is not yet mature enough." It is unclear what motivated him to take this stand. There is no evidence that plans to engage in a PR program to promote fracking in the parks were carried out and the industry is not pressuring the governor to act according to the law.

"It is what it is, said Tom Steward, vice president of the Ohio Oil and Gas Association. "At this time, it is not a ripe issue. That is an issue for the governor."

On Mar. 4 Food and Water Watch and other environmental groups sent a request to the Ohio Speaker of the House, Rep. Bill Batchelder, calling for an investigation into the "collusion" between the Kasich Administration and the oil and gas industry in Ohio. Explaining why this request was made, Alison Auciello, Ohio organizer for Food and Water Watch said, "The specific naming of organizations and legislators as opposition groups raises questions about how seriously the ODNR and the administration are taking their duties to protect Ohio residents over the interests of the oil and gas industry."

Photo: Environmental activists demonstrating against Ohio Gov. Kasich. Anne Caruso/PW

Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly showed the author as Rick Nagin. The author is Anne Caruso.

Neil deGrasse Tyson takes us on brilliant “Cosmos” voyage

Fri, 14 Mar 2014 16:26:00 +0000

Last Sunday FOX TV premiered the opening episode of Neil deGrasse Tyson's new "Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey" series. The original "Cosmos," subtitled "A Personal Voyage," was hosted by Carl Sagan, the well known astrophysicist/cosmologist, in 1980. Both the original "Cosmos" and the new series were co-written and co-produced by Carl Sagan's wife Ann Druyan. Sagan's dream was to bring science and the thirst for knowledge to the public, taking science out of the dark and cold classroom and bring it into a new focus and light. He wanted to present science on a level that everyone could understand and enjoy, to show the beauty and wonder that our universe holds.

Why would a top cosmologist who worked everything from Voyager I to Mars missions care so much about making science more visible to the public? Sagan understood that humans do indeed want to know more, that we want to reach for a better understanding of the world around us. He understood that lack of access to higher education makes learning about subjects like physics and cosmology out of bounds for the average person, that generally only people with Ph.D.s could grasp these subjects.

So Carl and Ann decided to make a television show that would open people's minds to the wonders of science, to show humans where we have been in our development of sciences and where we are headed. Sagan was deeply troubled with the direction he saw the world going in during the 1980s. He saw the potential nuclear destruction of the Cold War, he saw the warning signs of climate change, and the lack of funding for public education. These thing worried him. He talked often in "Cosmos" about where humanity is going and where we need to go.

One day Sagan spent time with a young man who was influenced by Carl's work. The young man also had a dream of studying and understanding the cosmos. This young man was Neil deGrasse Tyson, who would grow up to become an astrophysicist like Sagan and take over where Sagan left off, bringing the wonders of the universe to the public. Tyson is the director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History in New York and a very popular commentator on science, appearing frequently on TV. He hosted "NOVA ScienceNow" on PBS from 2006-2011.

Last Sunday's premiere "Cosmos" episode took viewers on a voyage in an upgraded ship of imagination. It brought the planets and their moons into the homes of the viewers with artistic brilliance. This "Cosmos" deals with the things that Carl Sagan touched on in the original show, bringing facts up to date and bringing them to life with new technology - just as Sagan would have wanted.

One of the new features of this "Cosmos" is the use of animation to teach science history. I'm hoping that this show will try to be less Eurocentric about science history, that it will branch out and talk about non-European scientists and their contributions to how we view science today.

My favorite part of this first episode was when Tyson talked about his connection with Carl Sagan, and his love for science, how Carl's interest in this young person helped him become the scientist he is today. I grew up with Carl Sagan and the first "Cosmos." it opened the doors to science for me; it taught me that learning and wanting to learn more about the universe is an amazing thing. I hope that the new generation of viewers, and the older generation of viewers, are inspired to learn. To continue the cosmic voyage that Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan started in the 1980s and see where Neil deGrasse Tyson can take us during this time in Earth history. This new "Cosmos" if done right has the power to bring us the next Carl Sagan or Neil deGrasse Tyson.

Take the "Cosmos" trip on Sundays, FOX, 9 p.m. Eastern Time, 8 p.m. Central, and on Mondays, National Geographic, 10 p.m. Eastern, 9 p.m. Central. 1 hour. If you missed the premiere episode, "Standing Up in the Milky Way," catch it here.

Photo: Dec. 31 on the cosmic calendar.

Scientists warn California could experience megadrought

Tue, 11 Mar 2014 15:55:00 +0000

Since last year, California has been plagued by drought, with Los Angeles in particular having its driest year on record in 2013. Angelenos only saw reprieve in early March, when heavy rainfall finally arrived there. Now, scientists are warning that an even more dire situation is on the way for the Golden State: a megadrought that could last for decades, affecting everything from wildlife to agriculture.

And although the storm system that brought precipitation to LA is going to help combat the drought in the short-term, weather officials don't believe it will have a lasting effect. The drought, of course, is a product of climate change, and it stands to reason that the two will worsen simultaneously.

Lisa Sloan, professor of Earth sciences at UC Santa Cruz, and author of a report on the issue, explained that the California drought is largely owed to the global warming-induced melting of Arctic ice. Jacob Sewall, a graduate student who co-published the report, remarked, "Where the sea ice is reduced, heat transfer from the ocean warms the atmosphere, resulting in a rising column of relatively warm air." Sloan added, "And this will only get worse, with Arctic sea ice diminishing quickly. In fact, I think the actual situation in the next few decades could be even more dire than our study suggested."

Climate change blogger and founding editor of Climate Progress Joseph Romm said that droughts in the western U.S. on the whole will increase in intensity and frequency as weather patterns change. He explained, "Precipitation patterns are expected to shift, expanding the dry subtropics. What precipitation there is will come in extreme deluges, resulting in runoff rather than drought alleviation. Warming causes greater evaporation and, once the ground is dry, the sun's energy goes into baking the soil, leading to a further increase in air temperature."

Lynn Ingram, a paleoclimatologist from the University of California Berkeley, said that megadroughts - those lasting for more than 100 years - have occurred in the past and could return. "If we go back several thousand years," she said, "we've seen that droughts can last over a decade - and in some cases, over a century. We can expect that this will happen again. California should be prepared for an eventual dry period" of that magnitude.

Should this happen, it would create an increasingly desperate set of circumstances for Californians, who live in one of the largest agricultural regions in the world. The effects such a drought would have on crops would be disastrous. As a result, the cost of fruits and vegetables alone would soar, thus making it an economic issue as well.

Celeste Cantu, general manager for the Santa Ana Watershed Project Authority, said California should start preparing for this now. "There will be cataclysmic impacts. We would need to import water" to some 4.5 million southern Californians, especially ranchers and farmers.

According to paleoclimatologist Edward Cook, "the current drought" in the southwestern U.S. overall "could be classified as a megadrought - 13 years running." He pointed out that two prior megadroughts have occurred in the Sierra Nevada of California, each last between 100 and 200 years. If the worst-case scenario comes to fruition, the state's current dry period could last just as long. "There's no indication it'll be getting any better in the near term," he concluded.

Photo: A sign above a dried-up riverbed in California's Central Valley, which is prime agricultural land. Courtesy of EcoWatch and Center for American Progress.

Is Los Angeles poised to ban fracking?

Fri, 07 Mar 2014 14:48:00 +0000

Last year, environmental peril seemed imminent as legislation was passed greenlighting fracking in California. On Feb. 20 this year, state senators Holly Mitchell, D.-Los Angeles, and Mark Leno, D.-San Francisco, took the first step toward undoing some of that damage. They introduced the bill SB 1132, which if passed would impose a moratorium on the natural gas drilling practice in LA.

Specifically, it would halt all forms of "extreme well stimulation," including fracking, and require that an independent multi-agency study be conducted exploring the economic, environmental, and health impacts of such drilling operations. The senators face an uphill battle in the midst of California Gov. Jerry Brown's push for not only continuing, but expanding fracking operations throughout the state. Brown's stance is seen as particularly frustrating given his prior pro-environment record.

Last year, a previous fracking moratorium bill failed to pass through the legislature due to intense lobbying by the Western States Petroleum Association, which is the most powerful corporate lobbying organization in southern California, and also by various oil corporations. But the senators are not prepared to let those companies sicken the population of Los Angeles.

"There are a million Angelenos that live within a five-mile radius of the largest urban oil field in the country," Mitchell remarked, referencing the 1,000-acre Inglewood Oil Field. "In my district, vulnerable neighborhoods lie adjacent to drilling operations whose practices go largely unregulated. Complaints that residents are exposed to hazardous chemicals and toxic pollutants that cause all kinds of health symptoms have been ignored. When industrial operations like fracking disproportionately impact minority communities, environmental justice has been breached and needs to be restored. SB 1132 will do that."

The senators noted that of the 750 chemicals used in fracking, at least 29 of them have been confirmed to be very harmful to human health. These include hydrofluoric acid and benzene, which have been linked to cancer, respiratory issues and developmental and neurological problems. Yet many drilling operations risk leaking these contaminants into public drinking water.

Leno said, "We are currently allowing fracking operations to expand in California despite the potential consequences on our water supply, including the potential for drinking contaminated water and the generation of billions of barrels of polluted water."

The Center for Biological Diversity issued a statement in agreement with this assessment, noting, "Senate Bill SB 1132 seeks to safeguard California's water supply from overuse and contamination from fracking as the state struggles with a devastating drought. A fracking halt is what's needed, and what a majority of Californians support. The water used to frack wells is so contaminated that it must be removed from the hydrological cycle. Fracking chemicals can get into and pollute rivers, streams, and aquifers. And fracking pollution contributes to climate change, which is worsening droughts in many areas."

Among the affected Angelenos speaking out against this pollution is Los Angeles resident Michelle Kennedy, who believes her son's asthma has worsened due to the oil and gas wells pumping in her neighborhood. She noted she often detects an awful smell in the air while walking to her car, and was recently disturbed to hear that fracking chemicals were being used less than a mile from her home.

The Center for Biological Diversity's Hollin Kretzmann said, "Every Californian deserves to know that oil and gas companies are pumping dangerous chemicals into our air and water, but disclosure alone won't protect our hearts and lungs. The best way to shield ourselves from this pollution is to halt fracking. We need Gov. Brown and other state lawmakers to put public health ahead of petroleum industry profits and shut these dirty operations down."

Photo: CaliforniansAgainstFracking.org

Hundreds arrested at White House in XL pipeline protest

Wed, 05 Mar 2014 14:37:00 +0000

WASHINGTON - In a dramatic sign of growing opposition to construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, 398 students were arrested March 2 after they chained themselves to the White House fence.

A network of students called XL Dissent organized the protest, part of a groundswell of calls upon President Obama to block approval of the pipeline, which will carry millions of gallons of crude oil from the tar sands region in Alberta, Canada, to refineries in the United States.

"Obama was the first president I voted for, and I want real climate action and a rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline," Nick Stracco, a senior at Tulane University and one of the organizers of the protest, told the Huffington Post. "The people that voted him into office have made it absolutely clear what we want, and that's to reject Keystone XL."

Over 1,000 students from some 80 campuses and 42 states gathered at Georgetown University and marched on the White House. The students, many dressed in mock hazmat suits, first stopped at the home of Secretary of State John Kerry, where they unfurled a giant black tarp to symbolize an oil spill.

The State Department has issued a finding claiming that building the Keystone XL pipeline won't have a significant environmental impact. The State Department study was necessary because the pipeline crosses international borders and is required for federal approval. Kerry must sign off on the study.

Once at the White House, students again unfurled a giant tarp and lay down on it to symbolize an oil spill. Students then tied themselves to the fence with plastic handcuffs and were arrested.

"The youth really understand the traditional methods of creating change are not sufficient, so we needed to escalate," Aly Johnson-Kurts told Politico. Johnson was one of those arrested.

"They say we are too young to make a difference, but we are proving them wrong, right here, right now," Earthguardians Youth Director Xiuhtezcatl Martinez told the cheering crowd.

This was said to be the largest student civil disobedience action at the White House in a generation. Over 1,200 people of all ages were arrested in a similar protest organized by the environmental group 350.org at the White House in August 2011.

"An entire movement has thrown itself into in this Keystone fight, from local frontline groups to big national green organizations," 350.org co-founder Bill McKibben wrote in an email to Huffington Post. "But this weekend shows the power and bravery of some of the most crucial elements: young people, and activists who understand the centrality of environmental justice."

The Keystone XL pipeline is a project of TransCanada. Once constructed it will transport 830,000 barrels of tar sands crude oil, described as the "dirtiest oil," to its refining destination in the Gulf Coast.

The pipeline would double the amount of tar sands crude oil entering the U.S.

Environmentalists are warning that burning this dirty oil will increase greenhouse gas emissions exponentially at a time when they must be reduced to stem the climate crisis.

They also warn of vast ecological decimation due to extraction from the tar sands and massive oil spills over delicate aquifers and waterways.

In one of the largest spills in U.S. history, one million gallons of oil gushed into Talmadge Creek and Kalamazoo River in Michigan in 2010 and it still hasn't been fully cleaned up.

Activists from the Michigan Coalition Against Tar Sands also participated. Three activists were arrested last year trying to block construction of the pipeline by Enbridge Inc., which will also carry tar sands crude oil through the state. They face two to three years in jail if convicted.

Battles have also erupted in Detroit and Chicago over petcoke dumping. Petcoke is a byproduct of the refining process, which many believe is contributing to increases in cancer rates and other health issues.

Also participating in the demonstration were activists from the Indigenous community including Jasmine Thomas from Saik'uz First Nation in British Columbia.

Over 50 First Nation communities that will be impacted along the route of the pipeline are offering some of the fiercest resistance to construction.

"Even President Obama has admitted the jobs created are temporary and very few," American University student Deirdre Shelly said in an interview on Democracy Now!

"There's no reason why those jobs have to be in dirty and expensive oil. America is ready for a clean, green economy and we can begin by saying no to this dirty pipeline," said Shelly.

In another protest, nine students were arrested when they sat in at the State Department building in San Francisco on March 3. XL Dissent organizers vowed the protests and acts of civil disobedience would continue.

Website 350.org has signed up over 70,000 people to commit civil disobedience against the pipeline. Many more actions are expected over the next few months.

Photo: AP