OntheWilderSide

Jill Stein image via Wikipedia

Jill Stein, who is seeking the Green Party nomination for President, lent her support today to the pending November 6th protests at the White House against the Keystone XL pipeline:

We are facing a climate disaster and we are witnessing a major failure in leadership at the top. Like Bill Clinton and George Bush before him, President Obama has been dragging his feet on climate protection, and doing favors for the oil industry that will only make things worse. The Keystone pipeline will spew a massive amount of carbon pollution into our fragile atmosphere. It should be stopped.

Both the Canadian and United States Green Parties are on record opposing the pipeline. Since the pipeline involves Canada, the President has the ability to reject it without the need for Congressional agreement. The proposed multi-billion dollar 1,700 mile Keystone XL pipeline would connect the tar sands oil resources in Alberta, Canada, to refineries in the United States. The pipeline would pose a threat to the Ogallala Aquifer, water source for many millions in the US.  The tar sands deposits are the second biggest pool of extractable carbon on the Earth. Climate scientist James Hansen has said that if the tar sands get extracted it’s essentially “game over” for the climate.  

Over 150,000 people worldwide are dying each year from the impacts of climate change, and this is just the beginning. We are entering uncharted waters, and at any moment we could pass the tipping point beyond which reversing the damage will be beyond our control. This is not the time for short-sighted decisions to please entrenched business interests. We need to say no to the Keystone deal and mobilize to protect our planet.

In order to combat climate change, Stein has called for a Green New Deal to create millions of new jobs in conservation, wind and solar energy, and public transportation. Stein says that moving to a sustainable energy economy will generate “a bonanza of climate jobs”, reduce water pollution, and have significant health benefits through cleaner air. To provide incentives for pollution reduction, Stein said she supported legislation such as the Save Our Climate Act, H.R. 3242. This legislation would levy a carbon tax on fossil fuels and would give each taxpayer a tax refund of about $1000 per year.

According to Stein :

Through this simple  mechanism, a broad range of pollution reduction efforts would become cost-effective, and people could come out ahead by making wise energy choices. With these kind of policy changes, we can make the Keystone XL project unnecessary.

Related articles

• Stein (G) launches run fro President (www.onthewilderside.com)
• Green Party blasts Obama & GOP capitulation to corporate lobbyists on Tar Sands & axing EPA smog regs (www.onthewilderside.com)

Filed under: 3rd party, activism, afghanistan, Ecology, economy, election, Election 2012, elections, energy, Environment, Global Warming, grassroots democracy, green, Green Party, presidential race, US Politics Tagged: | Barack Obama, Green New Deal, Jill Stein, Keystone Pipeline, united states, White House