DRILLING in the National Parks

Keep dirty fuels in the ground

In the fight to stop climate disruption, we cannot fall short. It's time for President Obama to take the next step in protecting our communities and public lands from the dangers of climate change. The answer is simple -- keep dirty fuels in the ground and develop clean, renewable energy like wind and solar.

Mining, drilling and fracking proposals threaten to transform our most beautiful wild places, our communities, and even our backyards into dirty fuel industrial sites. That's why new energy projects and leasing should be focused on clean energy, not furthering our dependence on climate disrupting fossil fuels.
Send your letter today! Tell President Obama to truly embrace clean energy and climate action by ensuring dirty fuels remain in the ground.

1. Complete the form below with your information.
2. Personalize your message if you wish.
3. Click the Send Your Message button to send your message to:
   • President Barack Obama
   
   https://secure.sierraclub.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=13309&s_src=714DSNFB12
   

Keystone: Protest (Put Up or STHU)

May 17 Day of Action against Dirty Fuels

Say NO to KXL and other dirty fuel projects, YES to clean energy.

On Saturday, May 17, 2014, join communities around the country to ask the president and local officials to reject the Keystone XL pipeline, offshore drilling and other dirty fuel projects that threaten our communities and destabilize our climate.

As millions begin to understand that we must keep dirty fuels in the ground if we are to have any hope of halting climate change, there's a rising tide of grassroots activism demanding that we choose a clean energy future over the dangerous and dirty fuels of the past.

With our partners Hands Across the Sand and Land, we invite activists to organize rallies, marches, and vigils that call on the president to reject KXL and other tar sands pipelines, while at the same time asking our leaders to say no to the dirty fossil fuel projects that endanger our local communities.

Whether it's offshore drilling, mountaintop removal coal mining, dangerous tar sands pipelines, fracking, exporting liquid natural gas, or shipping crude by rail through our hometowns, we all have reason to be concerned -- for the health of our families, and the health of the planet.
Join us!

Enter your zip code in the search box in the upper-right corner of this page to find an event near you. If there isn't an event in your community yet, you can sign up to host one!

Looking for help on how to host an event? Check out our Day of Action Organizing Toolkit and our guide on how to use the Action Network site to manage your event.

Virginia James River Oil Spill: They said: "It Can't Happen Here"

• Energy

Thousands of Crude Oil Gallons Spill Into James River as Train Derails in Virginia

Brandon Baker | May 1, 2014 10:07 am | 

 

Thick smoke covered a Virginia town Wednesday after a CSX train derailed and thousands of gallons of crude oil spilled into the James River.

The City Of Lynchburg said that the train was carrying crude oil and three or four of its 13 cars were destroyed.

“There is some spillage in the river of crude oil,” Lynchburg city spokeswoman LuAnn Hunt told the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

ABC 13 in Lynchburg reported that at least 50,000 gallons of the oil that heading to Yorktown, VA went missing.

City officials planned on tapping an alternative drinking water supply, but later announced on Facebook that the water supply would not be impacted. Still, residents around the metropolis were evacuated with some leaving their cars in the area of the train. Streets around the downtown area were closed.

The National Transportation Safety Board announced that it is investigating the cause of the derailment. There were no reported deaths or injuries.
 
“It’s difficult to get Virginia to pay attention to this because they don’t think of their being part of the oil patch, but now they are,” Fred Millar, a hazardous materials safety consultant, said.

“Virginia is being used as a transportation corridor only,” Millar said. “We get all of the risks and no benefits.”

Just a week ago, National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Deborah Hersman spoke about the dangers of transporting hazardous materials without strong regulations.
“We are very clear that this issue needs to be acted on very quickly,” she told reporters last week.

“There is a very high risk here that hasn’t been addressed … [federal regulators] aren’t moving fast enough.”
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Another BP SNAFU!

BP Pipeline Sprays Oil-Gas Mixture on 33 Acres of Alaskan Tundra

Brandon Baker | May 2, 2014 10:02 am |

 

If you already thought BP was unfit to handle its own oil, an incident this week in Alaska won’t change that opinion.

Alaska officials said a BP oil pipeline was somehow compromised and and resulted in the nonstop spraying of an oily mist into the wind for at least two hours. The mixture of gas, crude oil and water covered 33 acres of a frozen snow field near a BP oil well in Northern Alaska.

  The Associated Press reported that no wildlife had been impacted. BP spokeswoman Dawn Patience wrote in an email to the AP that crews were still assessing repairs, and that it was too soon to estimate long-term impacts.

The spray took place at BP’s Prudhoe oil field on Alaska’s North Slope. There are several oil fields nestled under the tundra in the area. According to the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (ADEC), BP officials found the mist during a routine inspection.

The volume of the spill remains unknown and ADEC is continuing its investigation.
According to RT, cleanup efforts should be complete before a large amount of birds typically pass through the region in a few weeks. Prudhoe Bay is home to several migratory birds, caribou, a large porcupine herd and other animals.

In 2006, about 267,000 gallons of oil seeped through a quarter-inch-sized hole in a corroded BP pipeline. That went unnoticed for five days until a worker noticed the aroma. Three years later, 14,000 gallons of oil escaped from a pipeline into the tundra and wetlands of the area even though the company spent $500 million to upgrade 16 miles of pipeline that transported oil in the region to one of its facilities.

A recent report states that the U.S. oil industry is nowhere near prepared for large oil spills.

“The lack of infrastructure and oil spill response equipment in the U.S. Arctic is a significant liability in the event of a large oil spill,” the report reads. “Building U.S. capabilities to support oil spill response will require significant investment in physical infrastructure and human capabilities, from communications and personnel to transportation systems and traffic monitoring.”
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