Tuesday 6 Jan 2015
Letter # 481 (2nd letter today)
Dear President Obama,
Wm Morris, Cray, 1884
In November, with my broken wrist, I signed an on-line petition against the Keystone XL Pipeline initiated by leftaction.com. I added this comment to you:
“Please please -no kxl – I’ve written you 478 letters asking you this. We have your back. It’s not what junk the Media says, it’s how history sees you. Be historical – stop kxl. Thank you.”
Susan J. Ringler, Petition Signer
Wednesday 7 Jan 2015
Letter # 482
Dear President Obama,
Now that my wrist is healing and I can write again I have so many things to say to you. The articles on my table have been piling up! But first I want to thank YOU for your two identical letters of 11 July and 22 Dec 2014 stating that you will allow the Keystone XL pipeline to be built ONLY if it serves “our national interest.” You are under a lot of pressure from Republican bullies these days and I really appreciate your fortitude in the face of this political firestorm.
Clearly the KXL provides NO general benefit to the US. A few Gulf Coast refineries will profit and then the oil will be sold abroad. This week congress is trying to force you to approve KXL with a bill. This is a cheap publicity stunt. They can’t take your executive authority away with a bill. It’s like children “voting” to make their parents let them have take-out pizza for dinner! Stay the course. Ignore their bombast! Do NOT help Canada get their filthy tar sands oil to Asian markets. I know the amount of oil is small on a world scale, but we really need to stop building new fossil fuel infrastructure. Please Stop the Keystone XL Pipeline TODAY! Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, Appreciate your Fortitude
Thursday 8 Jan 2015
Letter # 483
Dear President Obama,
In November Coral Davenport wrote a “Pipeline Pros and Cons” article in the NYTimes that so annoyed me that I wrote the attached letter to the Editor, which they did NOT publish. So here it is!
19 Nov 2014
Dear New York Times,
In “Pipeline Pros and Cons” today, Ms. Davenport omitted one crucial fact about Keystone XL.
NONE of the oil is for use in the US. We don’t need it. We have lots of our own cleaner oil. Canada wants the KXL solely to export oil to other continents, mostly Asia.
Think of it this way. I make mud pies, my neighbor makes mud pies. We both play with our own mud pies and get yelled at for the mess. My neighbor wants to track its dirty mud pies across my kitchen to sell them to someone else. I say NO WAY. Sell them out YOUR OWN back door. I don’t want your mess and that doesn’t make me a bad neighbor. There is no benefit to the US in approving KXL.
Susan Ringler
Let me re-iterate: The US does not NEED any dirty tar sands oil. We are awash in cheaper cleaner Bakken oil. It is morally deplorable to support tar sands oil production. And now with oil dropping to $50 a barrel, tar sands oil is becoming far less profitable. The science is very very clear. We must cut our carbon emissions 4% per year or our grandchildren will live on a hellish planet. Thank you for delaying the Keystone XL Pipeline for years. Please Stop the KXL Right NOW! Congressional supporters of KXL are mis-guided by self-interest and greed. History will honor those who oppose KXL and who take serious steps to quickly reduce burning of fossil fuels.
Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, We Don’t Need Canada’s Tar Sands
Friday 9 Jan 2015
Letter # 484
Dear President Obama,
We are in the sway of severe weather disruptions all around the world. In November, Buffalo got 7 feet of snow in 2 days and a few miles away there was none.
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/21/nyregion/snowstorm-western-new-york.html
Refugees from Syria are huddling in Lebanon in a snowstorm, trying to shovel snow off roofs of tents. Instead of getting much needed RAIN, they get snow that brings little water and enormous misery.
Here in Boston the temperature was 50 degrees F on 4 and 5 January, but didn’t get above 20 on 6 January! These rapid swings are the result of jet stream shifting that has become the new norm. Burning all this fossil fuel, putting all this carbon in the atmosphere is even affecting the WINDS. We will pay hugely for not paying attention to how quickly our climate is changing. If we act QUICKLY we can avoid the worst. Please Stop the Keystone XL Pipeline to show you understand how very SERIOUS a problem carbon pollution has caused. We must get off Fossil Fuels. Please lead us. Show your convictions. Future generations will thank you. I thank you too.
Susan J. Ringler, Worried by Shifting Jet Stream
Sat 10 Jan 2015
Letter # 485
Dear President Obama,
I was really dismayed to see this ad by the giant Norwegian oil Company Statoil in the NY Times on 5 December (page B5).
I feel sorry for the lively young woman Allison whose shining face they use to spread their very misleading message:
“…To know where to search [for oil and gas], our passionate geoscientists develop advanced technology ….Thanks to our passion, Statoil has become one of the most successful exploration companies in the world and we keep pushing to ensure continued success.”
Far better would it be for Statoil to develop renewable energy and become an energy distribution company. The oil they “explore” for needs to stay in the ground. Please stop the Keystone XL Pipeline and show you understand that exploring for more oil is reckless because we cannot afford to burn the oil we have already discovered.
Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, Appalled by Statoil Ad
P.S. Maybe some investors are getting wise – their stock is down:
http://www.bidnessetc.com/30351-why-is-statoil-asa-sto-stock-at-a-fiveyear-low-today/
Sunday 11 Jan 2015
Letter #486
Dear President Obama,
Bravo to the 1.6 million who marched today in Paris for freedom of speech and SOLIDARITY against terrorism of all kinds.
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/12/world/europe/paris-march-against-terror-charlie-hebdo.html
I particularly would like to honor Ahmed Merabet the policeman with an Arabic name who reminds us that surnames do NOT define people.
We must resist the calls to tribalism and the exclusion of those unlike ourselves. We must redouble out efforts to INCLUDE our resent immigrants – not to marginalize them. We have seen the world’s climate grow harsher in places in the last few decades. There are fewer resources to share (like WATER)! and in this misery it is all too easy for tribalism and extremism to flourish. We humans have caused these climate changes and now that we know that to be true, and realize the catastrophes we are in for, we must act very quickly to cut carbon emissions. Please stop the Keystone XL Pipeline right now as a first small step here in the US. It is so important to act now. It may be the most important anti-terrorism step that you can take.
Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, Honoring Ahmed Merabet
Sunday 11 Jan 2015
Letter #487 (2nd letter today)
Dear President Obama,
A recent detailed study of earthquakes near Youngstown Ohio has concluded that fracking caused a build-up of subterranean pressure and a whole slew of earthquakes.
They are still pumping the oil out of the fracked cracks from last March, but the state has banned anymore fracking in that particular area. Well that is at least something! This is more evidence of how dangerous and untested high-pressure fracking IS!! The future costs to water supplies and public health are MUCH TOO GREAT. We do NOT need this oil and gas. We need to leave it in the ground and develop our renewable energy sources. Please Stop the Keystone XL Pipeline right NOW. These sources of “cheap” oil are not CHEAP AT ALL. We are kidding ourselves and not considering the true costs to our climate and the health of the planet. No more knuckling under to happy talk from the fossil fuel industry. Stay stalwart, stay brave. I’m so glad you are going to veto that Keystone bill.
Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, Fracking Causes Earthquakes
Monday 12 Jan 2015
Letter #488
Dear President Obama,
In November a Canadian journalist Andrew Nikiforuk wrote a moving piece about the vast destruction of millions of acres of boreal forest in Canada by Tar Sands mining companies.
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/18/opinion/a-forest-threatened-by-keystone-xl.html
Bitumen mining takes 3 barrels of water to produce one barrel of oil and the resulting polluted water is stored in more than a dozen HUGE waste pools along the Athabasca River. Pollutants are leaking into the river and the ground watre. To “restore” these devastated forest lands
“the miners plan to replace forest with artificial hills constructed of sand and pet coke. The hills will be topped with a salt-tolerant plantation forest.”
The mining industry calls this crude transformation “a sustainable landscape that is equal to or better than how we found it.” I doubt the animals would agree. The native indigenous peoples certainly don’t. Enough is enough. Please stop the Keystone XL Pipeline NOW. We don’t need this filthy oil and should not encourage the Canadians to pretend it is CHEAP. The environmental cost is too high. The carbon cost is too high. Tar sands mining is dangerous lunacy. Take a stand for your grandchildren. Stop KXL now. Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, Save the Boreal Forests
Tuesday 13 Jan 2015
Letter #489
Dear President Obama,
Hooray to Governor Cuomo for banning fracking in New York state!
I know it took a lot of grass roots effort with many many protests over many years to bring this about. Dozens of communities also passed moratoriums or fracking bans to show him the way – and it worked!! New York is a big important state. This is wonderful. It puts pressure on other states to follow his lead. It also shows YOU that missions of Americans don’t want fracking and they don’t want the KXL and other fossil fuel infrastructure. Please stop the Keystone XL Pipeline NOW! You can do it! We have your back. We will cheer you along. Please go down in history as the President who started to stand up to the oil lobby. Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, Hooray for NY Fracking BAN!
Wednesday 14 Jan 2015
Letter #490
Dear President Obama,
Another cold day yesterday, another cold evening rally in Harvard Square against Keystone XL.
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/10/us/keystone-pipeline-nebraska-supreme-court-transcanada.html
I joined about 100 others to urge you to immediately Stop the Keystone XL Pipeline and I thought back on Feb 2014 (letter #306) and a cold evening rally in Harvard Sq. against KXL and AGAIN Feb 17, 2013 our cold DC Rally “Forward on Climate” (letter #4) where I really found the inspiration to start writing these letters. So for 2 years we have managed to DELAY that stupid ill-advised pipeline and now it is becoming less and less economically viable. We are winning this battle! Standing in the cold, raising our voices, advocating for our vulnerable climate and vulnerable people everywhere WE ARE WINNING! That pipeline is going to be stopped before another year is passed! * I can feel it in my cold fingers and toes. Right is MIGHT. Join us! Get on the right side of tis climate battle. Stop KXL right NOW! Thank you.
Susan J. Ringler, Hundreds Rally in Cold
* I was right!! Obama stopped the KXL on 6 November 2015! less than a year after this letter. (See my letter #567)
