In this sensible, measured post, James Hansen speaks out against the Canadian tar sands and encourages readers to protest a pipeline between Canada and Texan refineries. James Hansen isn’t just another concerned environmentalist, but the director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies and a professor at Columbia University. He was the first scientist to warn US congress about climate change. All in all, a pretty powerful opponent that the tar sands spin machine is going to have to work overtime to fight against.
He argues quite successfully that if unconventional fossil fuels like tar sands oil are left in the ground and the use of coal is curbed, it may actually be possible to stabilize climate change. With the extraction of tar sands oil and continued use of coal, this is not a goal that we can collectively realize.
If you want to protest the pipeline project that will mainline 830,000 barrels of tar sands oil a day to Texas refineries, you can read more about the proposed pipeline project here. Public comments will be accepted up until June 6, and they are taken here. They can also be emailed to keystonexl@cardno.com.
