In January, Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D, far right, points at a illustration of existing pipeline, while speaking at a news conference about the Keystone XL oil pipeline on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
The Keystone XL pipeline is a hot topic still, as the presidential decision is creeping up. And while some might be angered by President Barack Obama’s delay, citizens in Vermont are taking tar sands oil matters into their own hands.
“Twenty-nine towns approved non-binding resolutions against using an existing pipeline to carry tar sands oil across northern Vermont for export via Portland, Maine,” according to Vermont Public Radio.
The tar sands oil is heavier and more abrasive, which can make possible spills worse, environmentalists say in the article. Extracting this oil “releases three to five times more greenhouse gases than conventional drilling,” the article states.
350Vt.org organizer Andy Simon said the movement is interesting, as none of the towns that the pipeline runs through has a resolution about it on the books.
“They would not be down here if they were not worried about the opposition that’s growing in New England, and in Quebec, to changing the direction of this pipeline and shipping tar sands products through it,” Simon said in a VPR article.
Why should this matter to us?
Well, first, we have the Marcellus Shale, “an underground gas-rich formation extending across Pennsylvania, West Virginia, New York, Ohio and Maryland.” However, there have been many legal battles reported in the news from upstate Pennsylvania, because of possible pollution in well water.
Also, about a little more than a week ago, the State Department released a Keystone XL environmental assessment, and Michael Grunwald from TIME Magazine said that activists fighting the pipeline are right. York Countians even participated in the rally in D.C. almost a month ago.
This hot-button issue isn’t fading away any time soon.
