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Energy Secretary Steven Chu is a scientist and a scholar. He surely knows the effects of production of tar sands oil on climate change. He knows that it takes a massive amount of energy to do the strip mining necessary to extract tar sands oil. He knows about the potential for environmental damage from a 1,700-mile pipeline to distribute that tar sands oil from the source in Alberta, Canada to refineries in Texas. He’s a smart man.
He happens to work for an Administration that supports the tar sands pipeline, however. He’s a cabinet secretary and a team player. So he has to say things like this:
Chu, in a sit-down interview on Tuesday with the television program energyNOW!, did not say directly whether he supports approving the project, but touted its potential benefits.
Canada is a more stable supplier of oil than many other countries, Chu said.
“It’s certainly true that having Canada as a supplier of our oil is much more comforting than to have other countries supply our oil,” Chu said.
Chu also argued that technologies used to extract Canadian oil sands are “improving dramatically.”
“[T]he companies that are extracting these tar sands are making great strides in improving the environmental impact of the extraction of this oil and will continue to do so, and they should be encouraged and pressed to do so,” Chu said.
When you don’t really have a scientific argument (and the “great strides” companies are making on reducing the environmental impact of tar sands extraction still put them far above traditional oil drilling, which isn’t exactly clean), you have to go with the political argument. And so you get scientist Steven Chu saying that Canada’s a friendlier oil supplier than, say, Venezuela or Iran. Except the oil Canada will produce won’t go directly to the United States, but to the global market. It will be refined in Texas and sold wherever the demand is. So it doesn’t necessarily reduce US oil purchases from “scary” foreign nations; it merely goes into the mix of producers. This is a fallacious argument.
But I guess it’s the only one Chu has.
He did manage to call the Keystone XL pipeline a “trade-off,” so that’s something.
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Chu was also one of the main backers of solar, so he does get it wrong sometimes.
Chu is carrying the shit for the administration. If he disagreed with Obama, etal on this matter he’d say so and resign.
Sometimes I just wonder wtf is really really going on.
On my don’t trust balance beam, boehner and Obama are dead level liars.
Man, it does not seem very long ago that bushco was in and we were freshly bombing Iraq, now we are bombing America, I cannot stand it much longer, and if they gut Medicare and SS I will be dead anyway, all the under bridges are taken.
If all is about “free trade” and globalism, why not build the oil refineries in Canada? The closer to the area of extraction, the fewer accidents.
Chu, hah.
I see where we export our PV contraptions instead of using them here. Never did hear where we are sending them. I want to know. Insanity must be in a pill, Kool-aid ain’t this powerful.
Chu kind of has to be a tool for Obama and Hillary and her/their friends. Chu works for them.
Can we put Chu Chu to music, it would be a top seller? Greedy Greedy chu chu train…..
Ah, yes — The Tractors. How ’bout he’s doin’ the “chu, chu, chu boogie.”
OT, but only slightly:
Here’s a link to a local story concerning the “real” meaning behind Nebraska Republican Governor Dave Heineman’s newfound opposition to the pipeline:
http://nebraska.statepaper.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2011/09/01/4e5f8b39c4447.
Turns out he’s just found a way to jump on the public opinion bandwagon without tarnishing his GOP credentials.
So any thoughts that he deserves some kind of credit can be rescinded. Too bad but very predictable.
Chu said “Coal is my worse nightmare”. Then he went to work for this administration, his message changed to embrace “clean coal”. I wonder if, when you become part of our government, you get a pill that prevents you from ever telling the truth.
Corporations have a voice and a defender in Chu. The earth is more deserving a voice than corporations. Who speaks for the earth? I know, too hippy and just asking to get punched by Obama and his friends.
At this point, if one isn’t an environmentalist I don’t consider him or her to be a member of the reality based community nor have the capacity to protect humanity’s long term interests.
Chu is a worthless piece of crap. He revealed that he allows himself to be f’d in the behind by his masters in some incident early in the admin. I forget what it was, now. He has no self-respect. This administration’s Colin Powell.
Chu’s defense of this environmental misery is straight out of the George Bush petro-playbook.
Ah, yes, that was prolly what I was thinking of that I couldn’t remember when I posted 12. I shoulda read the comments first.
Check out the funding for the nominally “editorially independent” television show where Chu made these comments. A foundation funded wholly or principally by Chesapeake Energy Corp.
I wonder how many of the “drill, baby, drill” crowd understand that fact.
As for Dr. Chu, I wonder if he realizes the effect on his future credibility in the science community of going allow with the Obama administrations policies. Some people haven’t been willing to compromise their integrity and resigned instead…
God Bless Bill McKibben and everyone associated with this action:
they have managed to flush
WaldoAlGore from wherever he’s been hiding since BP began suffocating the Gulf — he released a statement in solidarity last nightapparently he didn’t want to be to the right of a GOP Gov or Congressman (Jeff Fortenberry (R) NE–01) :D
thanks ! got link ?
Che was for exploiting all a nations natural resources to help the masses cope with the capitalists. Chu is a reactionary.
Reason in DC is suffocated by so many professional liars and seducers that I imagine normal people have to suppress their reaction it or become very unwelcome among their colleagues.
Chu has been encouraged and pressed to conform, carrot and stick.
Please can you write a coherent post next time.Stop with the liberal BS and read what Che has to say about energy and the peoples natural resources.
He’s nothing more than a neo-liberal globalist functionary. You expect him to speak and act with integrity? By the time climate change is well on the way of destroying civilization he’ll be dead.
Think your trapped in a time warp bubble.
The tar sands spill in Michigan is still not cleaned up, although we were assured it would be. More news you don’t hear about? The horrible illnesses (seizures leading to the heart stopping, etc) that are in the Gulf from that oil spill are now seen in Michigan.
http://michiganmessenger.com/52176/toxicologist-oil-spill-far-more-toxic-than-admitted
Hey David,
The point you made at the end about where the oil goes after refinement is the main reason why those who say domestic drilling will solve our problems are completely wrong. No matter where the oil comes from it does not belong to the United States. It belongs to the company the extracts it. It is sold to the highest bidder and maybe then it’s sold back to us. Hell, most of the drillers pay nothing or next to nothing for the rights to drill. Even on PUBLIC lands.
I don’t think most Americans realize this and therein lies the problem. If they realized that we get all the downside to drilling i.e. polution and damage to the landscape and none of the benefit then maybe these Drill Baby Drill folks would get laughed off the stage like they deserve.
Isn’t it amazing how truth has a liberal BS bias?
This is all so sad.
What do these greedheads plan to do when they
destroy the planet? gold-plated spacestations?
There are multiple questions regarding this.
1) Why isn’t Canada doing their own refining? After all, there is more profit in refined products than in raw products.
2) Why is it being taken to a location for an American port? I looked at the maps, and there is less than 800 miles from Hardisty, AB, to Vancouver, BC. Yes, there is this small thing called the Rocky Mountains in the way, however, there are ways through that issue. Or is it more of Canada not wanting to risk their seaport with potential oil spills, and their land with the same?
3) Who stands to profit the most from this? I doubt it’s either the Canadian or American governments.
Chu could have his solar panels over all the 1700 miles of land btwn Canada and the Gulf. Makes no sense to risk so much for oil as Obama wanted to get away from it earlier on. More state govs. need to come out against this give away to private oil. Has Canada said no f-ing way to the refineries, or what? Did anyone ask Canada if they wanted refineries? It should have been the first question bf thinking about the 1700 mile pipeline to hell. (Thinking Texas Power want the refineries come hell or high water to perpetuate Power) Why is Hillary involved in this potential tragedy and also in the Wiki/Manning thing?. Check out her hand in all that seems proposterous for America. Always wondered why Hillary was made SOS and not 25+-year Senate veteran Kerry.
Way OT–really disliked Morning Joke playing psychiatrist saying Jane Fonda had ‘low self esteem’ yesterday, then fawning all over unindicted Dick today. Mika seemed to laugh like a hyena during the Fonda thing. Jane was right as McNamera came out and said he was “wrong, very wrong” aout VN. Just conservatives’ way to put down a patriot and dissenter when they have nothing else. MSNBC had to find someone to put in after Imus. S-boro Country seemed to have no direction and what gig of her own did Mika have bf Morning Joke? What appear to be a petulant child and a chameleon are not my idea of authority in news.
Is this really all that surprising by now? Obama the Enabler has surrounded himself with these type of people since the very beginning. These persons who lack the vision and/or conviction to create and promote a better global society. Birds of a feather flock together. Courtesans like Chu are just adding pages to their curriculum vitae and are no different than the “Fuck you, I got mine…” crowd.
Sorry folks, I violated my own rule.
PLEASE DON’T FEED THE TROLLS!
NSFW for me to link. Google the program’s web site and scroll to bottom of “About us.”
Sorry nocompromises4me–same question about Canada. Good way to go on your questions.
thanks ralphbon, I waddled my lazy ass over there and got it :D
Chu was a useful idiot during the BP Gulf diseater, why, because the BP gave him a 500 million dollar grant. Here are Chu’s view on fracking.
“I will be working closely with my colleagues in the Administration to review the recommendations and to chart a path for continued development of this vital energy resource in a safe manner,”
Yea, the first clue is the name of the show; classic greenwash propaganda
Obama and his Administrations’ actions -including the DOJ’s – are making brazenly clear which voters he’s hoping to entice in 2012.
The only way to stop them and him, is to get Pelosi back in the Speakers seat.
The Senate is too corrupt to mess with.
He is probably concerned the Mr. O might arrest him, unless he supports big dirty oil.
Pelosi? Really??
Pelosi was one of the most productive Speakers in a long time. If you doubt that go back and look at her legislative accomplishment from ’09. Hundreds of bills passed only the die in the Senate. She delivered.
1). We need to get Riki Ott back here at fdl to discuss the remaining toxicity of the Michigan spill. I’d be happy to help on that. Too busy today to even check back until late this evening (8:00 pm fdl time)
2). What we see from what Sec Chu is doing here is that Obama is going to grant the permit on national security grounds – no matter what we do outside the WH.
Gert organized. Get prepared. Watch your back. The shit is about to hit the fan.
Bill McKibben, the Tar Sands Pipeline, and the Becoming
And not specifically related, but this is near where the pipeline will go
Pics here
And, more specifically related, from what I can see on the map, the pipeline crosses the Missouri just downstream of the Fort Peck Reservoir just outside of Glasgow and Wolf Point, and through Terry (prolly named after General Terry), where it’ll cross the Yellowstone, and diagonally SE through the NW corner of SD. This is prime, deer, antelope, elk, pheasant, and grouse hunting land; as well as fishing for walleyes, bass, and northerns. This is ranch land reminiscent of the old westerns, or Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, or Hud (not that Hud was filmed, or took place there). There’s a lot of wildlife, and history in these hills and valleys
I doubt Chu’s ever been there
Yet another government official who chooses “loyalty” to a person(Obama) over his loyalty to the American people and the Constitution. He doesn’t have to pimp for the XL Pipeline, he chooses to do so, because he values his position over his integrity, if he ever had any. Another professor from Cal Berkeley which now employs the torture boy Yoo. It’s difficult to believe that this institution was a hotbed of dissent in the 60″s.
President Osterity and his Merry Band of Corporatists don’t care about the earth. They’ll be dead and gone and the poor suckers scrambling on their Mad Max motorbikes will curse the name Obama for time immemorium.
When the O-Team took over, Chu was the only one that I thought would shine with integrity and a rigorously applied objective (scientific) approach. So much for my insight. Dammit.
I can read, and understand speakingupnow just fine. And I agree with them
What I valued about her most out of all the Democrats was that she was fearless. She knew what we wanted and wouldn’t take crap from Harry Reid, Emanuel or Obama. Her wielding the gavel over the Moderate heads of Hoyer and Clyburn was essential too.
Let’s be clear, there is NOT a SINGLE person who works for this administration that is not a complete sell-out corporatist.
NOT one!
Anyone who wasn’t already left.
Those who stayed know exactly what they are doing and who they are selling out in the service of the almighty dollar.
Anyone who works for this administration, down to the lowliest mailboys is a Corporatist. And if you’re doing it for the money, then same difference.
because the fewer refiners there are, the easier it is to keep the supply of gasoline restricted, and prices up.
no new refineries have been built for years.
most canadian oil projects are owned by non canadian entities, for instance China has a billion dollar tarsands business.
here’s Mr. Chu quoted in Climateprogress in 2009:
“Finally, we have a top administration official telling it like it is. Energy Secretary and Nobelist Steven Chu told a Los Angeles Times reporter:
In a worst case, Chu said, up to 90% of the Sierra snowpack could disappear, all but eliminating a natural storage system for water vital to agriculture.
“I don’t think the American public has gripped in its gut what could happen,” he said.
Precisely. [You can listen to an interview with the LAT reporter and me on "To the Point" here.]
We face desertification of perhaps a third of the earth that is “largely irreversible for 1000 years” — if homo sapiens are not sapiens enough to sharply and quickly reverse emissions trends. Part 1 looked at the canary-in-the-coal mine for desertification: “Australia faces collapse as climate change kicks in.”
and again climate progress, from the other day, August 30th quoting Mr. Chu in a speech he gave at a conference on clean energy.
“Energy Secretary Steven Chu: ‘It Saddens Me’ That Political Leaders Don’t Understand Climate Science
By Stephen Lacey on Aug 30, 2011 at 4:17 pm”
he’s sad.
good to know.
Yeah, our big bad enemies MADE me do it.
I don’t think they give out pills-they just search for anyone who’s willing to give up any integrity they might once have had.
I’ve seen a few articles reporting that the environmentalists in Canadian provinces surrounding Alberta (where the pipeline would start) have all but blocked the Tar Sands oil pipeline from going through their provinces. The Oil Execs in Alberta are thinking its going to be easier to get the pipeline to the coast through America than across their own country.
We know what is happening to Obama’s base. It could be interesting to gather the statistics on all the probable tipping points. “On which issue did you move from realizing you probably do not have any choice but to vote for the man, into realizing that you cannot?” For me, the tipping point is this one, the big pipe.
He does what his boss tells him to do.
mariner at 55–so they must protest much better in Canada and the government does not throw them in jail.. The Canadian government actually is run by the people.