Bill McKibben Says 'Thank You' and the Government has Tension
"We won. You won," says Bill McKibben in his article which was a response to Obama's decision to postpone the building of the pipeline. McKibben is one of the most well-known environmentalist activists in the nation and has written many books based on environment. He writes that this fight is virtually un-winnable, but the light at the end of the tunnel is in sight. This plea for continued fight against the pipeline is the first place I found an entire article that was dedicated to one person's view point and argument. He gives hope to those who are fighting the pipeline when he stated, "The American people spoke loudly about climate change and the president responded. There have been few even partial victories about global warming in recent years so that makes this an important day." This, to me, is comforting becuase the people rarely get their voices heard loud and clear. Whether the delay of the pipeline becomes permanent or not, our voices have been heard, and McKibben clearly states that.
On the other hand of this fight, the government is starting to turn on each other. There is a an article and 15 minute radio interview where Texas Gov. Rick Perry lays into the decisions that President Obama has made in the past few weeks as well as criticizes the senate and legislature format. The interview is very conservatively structured, which builds tension within the government. Perry makes extremely bold statements that aren't related to the Keystone XL project, but the one statement he did make was disturbing to me. It is as follows:
Those tar sands are going to either go west to China or south to the United States," Perry said, later adding "Buying Canadian crude and bringin' it in to the United States makes abundant good sense. And this president is putting American soldiers' lives in jeopardy with this as well as the security of America.
His statement of putting American soldiers' lives in jeopardy makes absolutely no sense to me and I don't see any relevance the soldiers' overseas has to the pipeline debate in North America. Yes, moving crude oil over to China (which has been an alternate option that was mulled over due to the stocks that that China has invested in the oil) would cause some turbulence, but I do not think that it would cause harm or put our soldiers' in danger.
The disapproval to commence the Keystone XL project cause high amounts of tension within America and I will be anxiously waiting for new updates and movement in the process!