Another Blow To KeystoneXL Pipeline; Shell Withdraws From Massive Tar Sand Oil Project!

[Think Progress] Keystone XL is not the only deciding factor in the future of tar sands extraction.

 

The outsized debate over the Keystone XL pipeline, which entered a new era yesterday after Obama wielded his veto pen against legislation approving its construction, is not the only element in the debate over whether the greenhouse gas-intensive tar sands get developed. Oil supply, demand, and cost are pulling some major levers too: with oil prices at rock-bottom lows, on Monday Royal Dutch Shell announced it was shelving plans to build a new tar sands mine in northern Alberta — the largest such project to be deferred.

 

Shell withdrew its applications for the Pierre River project, which would have produced 200,000 barrels-per-day (bpd), to focus on maintaining profitability for its existing 255,000-bpd tar sands operations, according to the company.

 

“The Pierre River Mine (PRM) remains a very long term opportunity for us but it’s not currently a priority,” said Lorraine Mitchelmore, Shell Canada President and Executive Vice President of Heavy Oil. “Our current focus is on making our heavy oil business as economically and environmentally competitive as possible.

  

Shell was one of the earliest tar sands producers to cut staff due to low oil prices, laying off around 300 workers at its Albian tar sands project in Alberta starting last month.

 

Instability makes it hard for most companies to do business, and unreliable oil prices are no different. Crude oil prices have fallen more than 50 percent over the last six months, hovering between $50 and $60 per barrel of late. Last August, Mitchelmore said Shell Canada’s tar sands business met profitability markers when crude traded above $70 per barrel.

  

Shell originally halted work on the Pierre River project a year ago, stating the need to re-evaluate the timing as a heated environmental review process was taking longer than anticipated. The project was first proposed in 2007.

 

Tar sands are extremely GHG intensive, and the shelving of the Pierre River project along with two other tar sands endeavors — Total’s Joslyn North and Statoil’s Corner Project — has helped avoid the emissions of 2.8 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide, which is equivalent to stopping the construction of 18 new coal plants with a lifespan of four decades. Tar sands oil produces as much as three times the greenhouse gas emissions of conventionally produced oil. The government of Alberta, where the mines are sited, expects to lose $5.5 billion in revenue this year because of low oil prices.

 

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http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/02/25/3626863/shell-shelves-tar-sands-project/

 

READ: Longtime NYC Reporter’s Epic Takedown Of Rudy Giuliani’s ‘Love’

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s recent accusation that President Obama does not love America prompted a scathing takedown of the Republican politician’s ideas about “love” from one of the journalists who knows him best.

Journalist Wayne Barrett, a former reporter and editor of The Village Voice and the author of “Rudy: An Investigative Biography,” left no embarrassing stone unturned in his epic takedown published by the New York Daily News.

Turning Giuliani’s words against him, Barrett reviewed the ex-mayor’s spotted history with women, his consulting gigs for dictatorships, and his evasion of military service.

 

Take a peek at the op-ed:

 

Ask Regina Peruggi, the second cousin he grew up with and married, who was “offended” when Rudy later engineered an annulment from the priest who was his best man on the grounds, strangely enough, that she was his cousin. Or ask Donna Hanover, the mother of his two children, who found out he wanted a separation when he left Gracie Mansion one morning and announced it at a televised press conference. …

 

Rudy may have forgotten the half-dozen deferments he won ducking the Vietnam War, even getting the federal judge he was clerking for to write a letter creating a special exemption for him. And remember Bernie Kerik? He’s the Giulaini police commissioner, business partner and sidekick whose nomination as homeland security secretary narrowly preceded indictments. He then did his national service in prison.

 

Read the whole thing at the New York Daily News.

 

Twitter @sheriffali

 

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/rudy-giuliani-love-takedown-wayne-barrett

Obama Immigration Policy Halted by Federal Judge in Texas/Legal Scholars predicted Judge Hanen Order would be quickly suspended by The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans

Some legal scholars said any order by Judge Hanen to halt the president’s actions would be quickly suspended by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans.

 

“Federal supremacy with respect to immigration matters makes the states a kind of interloper in disputes between the president and Congress,” said Laurence H. Tribe, a professor of constitutional law at Harvard. “They don’t have any right of their own.”

 

The states’ lawsuit quotes Mr. Obama as saying many times in recent years that he did not have authority to take actions as broad as those he ultimately took. Mr. Tribe said that argument was not likely to pass muster with appeals court judges.

 

“All of that is interesting political rhetoric,” he said, “but it has nothing to do with whether the states have standing and nothing to do with the law.”

 

Judge Hanen, who was appointed in 2002 by President George W. Bush, has excoriated the Obama administration’s immigration policies in several unusually outspoken rulings. The president’s supporters have said that Texas officials, who are leading the states’ lawsuit, were venue shopping when they chose to file in Brownsville.

 

But at a hearing on Jan. 15, Judge Hanen said Brownsville, which sits on the border with Mexico, was an appropriate venue for the suit because its residents see the impact of immigration every day. “Talking to anyone in Brownsville about immigration is like talking to Noah about the flood,” Judge Hanen said.

 

In a lengthy and colorful opinion last August, Judge Hanen departed from the issue at hand to accuse the Obama administration of adopting a deportation policy that “endangers America” and was “an open invitation to the most dangerous criminals in society.”

 

The case involved a Salvadoran immigrant with a long criminal record whom Judge Hanen had earlier sent to prison for five years. Instead of deporting the man after he served his sentence, an immigration judge in Los Angeles ordered him released, a decision Judge Hanen found “incredible.” Citing no specific evidence, he surmised that the administration had adopted a broader policy of releasing such criminals. [New York Times]

 

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Open Link For New York Times Full Article

 

http://nyti.ms/17k9ehS

 

Barbara Bush After Claiming “We Had Enough Bush In The White House,” You Now Wants Jeb Bush To Be President. Mrs. Bush, Haven’t You Any Shame Or Conscience? America And The American People Have Suffered And Is Still Suffering From The Bush Regimes!

Neil Bush Plundered the Silverado Savings And Loan Association costing the Taxpayers 2.1 Billion Dollars, subsequent to Ronald Reagan’s Deregulation for which the total cost was 1.5 Trillion Dollars to the Taxpayers.

 

Jeb Bush borrowed Millions of Dollars from Florida Savings and Loan Association that was never repaid and in addition, Jeb was a big benefactor from the Scammed Education Reform. Recently he was tied together with Governor Rick Scott and the Koch Brothers Florida Toxic Pipeline Scandal.

 

George W Bush took the country into two unpaid wars with a total cost today of 6.1 Trillion Dollars. His illegal invasion of Iraq cost in excess of 4,500 American lives; in excess of over 30,000 severely wounded and 50,000 plus with serious mental disorder. George plundered the Budget Surplus of 2.5 Trillion Dollars and gave two unpaid Tax Cuts to the Rich costing 1.2 Trillion Dollars. George took Office with a National Debt of 5.4 Trillion Dollars and a Budget Surplus. At the end of his disastrous 8 years he left an Annual Deficit of 1.4 Trillion Dollars; 10.4 Trillion National Debts and some 7.1 Trillion in War and Tax Cut Bills. He bankrupted the country; violated International Law by carrying out Torture and left America and the world, Upside-Down.

 

Despite the progress President Obama has made it is going to be decades before we recover from George’s decimation of America and the World. Between your son George and Dick Cheney they stole and or squandered trillions of dollars; wrecked the Housing Market and collapsed Employment to the tune of 10.2%. And now you want the American people to trust another one of your Sons?

 

I think it is fair to say that you and your three sons are unequivocally bankrupt of morals and shame.

 

Twitter @sheriffali  

“The Ukraine Cease-Fire Will Fall Apart Because There Are Three Charlatans That Are Chameleons In The Midst With Self Interest; Vladimir Putin, Francois Hollande And Angela Merkel.

Vladimir Putin wants the Ukrainian Eastern Land Border to buttress Crimea’s waterfront with Ukraine; Francois Hollande built two Air Craft Carries for Russia at a total cost exceeding 1.6 Billion US Dollars. France hasn’t been able to deliver the First Carrier that has been completed since the end of last year due to the ongoing Sanctions against Russia; and, Angela Merkel has always been in a conspiracy with Putin dating back prior to Putin annexing Crimea.

 

The Only true protector Ukraine has is the United States and that is fact because we want nothing from Ukraine, except for the Ukrainian people to be a Democratic Country having the freedom to live out their God given lives. [Sheriff Ali]”

 

“MINSK, Belarus — A new cease-fire and an overall compact to end the war in eastern Ukraine was announced here on Thursday by the leaders of France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine after marathon overnight bargaining that threatened to derail the attempt. Even as the agreement was announced, it appeared fragile, with officials on all sides saying that there was more work to be done.

 

The cease-fire is scheduled to take effect at midnight on Saturday, but the fact that the leaders used three separate news conferences to announce the accord suggested a lack of unity. Still, after such a concentrated effort, all the leaders chose to accent the idea that there was at least a chance that the yearlong war could be quieted.

 

The negotiations “consisted of a long night and a long morning, but we have arrived at an accord on a cease-fire and a global end to the conflict,” President François Hollande of France said. “It is a relief for Europe.”

 

Mr. Hollande said a broader agreement on ending the war would ultimately hinge on border control and the resolution of questions like the withdrawal of heavy weapons. [New York Times]

 

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Open New York Times Link For Full NYT Article.

http://nyti.ms/1F0X6RN

 

 

 

John Boehner Is Setting A Dangerous Precedence For Future Presidents And Should Be Arrested Subsequent to Benjamin Netanyahu’s Address To Congress.

Republicans and their uninformed, ignorant, brainwashed Obama Haters, blindly supports John Boehner attempt to embarrass President Obama by inviting Benjamin Netanyahu to address Congress without the authorization or consultation of the White House, and in that regard they somehow feel they have accomplished some sort of victory for which they fail to see the consequences.

 

John Boehner literally Violated The Logan Act that was Signed into Law by Founding Father John Adams in 1799. The United States Supreme Court has consistently upheld the Logan Act to this day. Failure to prosecute John Boehner’s criminal act would result in far greater consequences for all future Presidents, than Boehner’s adolescence against the sitting President. The Logan Act was put in place for the specific purpose of preventing the illegal action taken by John Boehner.

 

Benjamin Netanyahu’s egregiousness in conspiring with John Boehner and the Republicans isn’t only an affront to the United States, it is an insult to the decent people of Israel for their Prime Minister to participate in such machination.

 

Both John Boehner and Benjamin Netanyahu have chosen this course of action for purely political and selfish reasons, without any consideration for the damage it can bring to their respective countries.

 

Twitter @sheriffali