… except to perhaps say that environmentalist applied enough pressure on President Obama to send the project back to the drawing board. A few folks might be able to add that the scheme is to extract oil from Canadian tar sands and ship it via pipeline to refineries in America’s lower tier of states. The pipeline is the dream of a company called TransCanada and the plan remains to pump hydrocarbons down the length of the American Great Plains – including our state of South Dakota – and eventually into the atmosphere. In the end it will produce more climate change in a place already known for difficult weather. Of course what got the project sent back for review was that mining tar sands and piping all that oil, all that way, is inherently dangerous for all of us. Still, everyone thought it was a done deal – lots of construction jobs and a chance to lower US dependence on “foreign oil”. Of course Canada too is a foreign country, but it’s … well, not AS foreign as SOME.
I’m familiar with this idea that Canada is not really a different country and I know that notion is, while expedient and handy for American business, not true. I went to college with a bunch of Canadians in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan during the Viet Nam War and I can tell you that when you suggest that Canada is really just the northern part of the US, they tend to spill their Molson’s down the fronts of their shirt – just before they throw the bottle at you. We all know that there is something to the concept of a special linkage between Canada and the US, and we also know that it manifests itself mostly as a business arrangement. For instance: you might think that it would be impossible for a Canadian corporation to claim the right of eminent domain and be allowed to take the land and livelihoods of Americans who want nothing to do with them. That seems as self-evident as the truths that begin the US constitution. But, not so. The Canadian Pacific Railroad has been given the right to seize a sizable strip of land out of the middle of scores of ranches to build a railroad that will haul Wyoming coal to electricity generating plants in the Eastern US. One of the ranches is ours and it upsets me because we are not talking about a choo choo train chugging along bucolically at precisely 3:42 every afternoon. We’re talking at least a train an hour – long trains – a mile long – moving continuously at breakneck speeds. And we’re not talking about overpasses on our country roads or underpasses big enough to get a herd of buffalo under. We’re talking, again, about getting those hydrocarbons out of the ground and into the air we breathe. Some of us are beginning to sense a pattern here.
It is, of course, interesting that the corporations that are pushing these projects are Canadian, but I don’t think that the mailing addresses has nearly as much to do with their special treatment as does the fact that Trans-Canada and Canadian Pacific are special creatures with special rights and goals, with different responsibilities and investments in the future than the rest of us. While corporations seem to be gaining rights, the rest of us seem to be loosing them.
That notion came home to me last week as Jill and I walked around and through the encampment of Occupy Wall Street. Immediately I had flashbacks to the early and mid-sixties. What a jumble of misfits: unemployed, homeless, insane, dirty, multi-ethnic, union-belonging, sincere, articulate, determined, inspired, and American. There were the predictable angry signs, the protest songs, the soapboxes, the homespun order, and the chaotic moments. I swear, the same homeless, wild man I watched storm the stage in 1964, was there again – with his hair still in a red afro. His fellow protesters had him by the arms and he was again being urged to give up the stage. All in all it was like I thought it might be, complete with lines of NYPD cordoning off the area and, beyond the police, the grumbling kibitzers circling like nervous sharks reminded me of Spiro Agnew. I heard the same rhetoric that I had heard as a high schooler – get a job, get a hair cut. One man held forth with the complaint that the whole protest was unfocused, “What do these guys really want?” he asked anyone who would listen.
When one pinstriped banker accidently stepped on a tent a voice from within called out, “Don’t step on my home.” The plea was misinterpreted and the banker spit back defensively, “My taxes paid for your shitty home.”
As Jill and I walked away from the encampment we noticed another gathering of policemen on horseback and, since I am a sucker for horses – especially when their dressage lessons were not just for fun – we walked that way. We were suddenly on Wall Street and, though I had been there several times before, the light never seemed that defused. The street was dark with a tiny spot of light far at the end. It had to be the East River and instinctually we walked that direction. We walked past the New York Stock Exchange where the NYPD stood in lonely lines, down caste and shabby. Were they troubled by their diminished duty since 9/11? There were no demonstrators in front of the Exchange and the horses stood hipshot and sleepy eyed. Had they been less aristocratic and military, they could have been cow ponies tide to a corral rails. The ubiquitous pinstripe suits hurried in and out of the elegant Exchange doors between larger men with watchdog eyes and dressed in cheaper suits. An Orwellian chill crawled down my spine. Jill took my arm and began to guide me toward the distant smudge of blue at the end of the street.
Now, I wonder if they were trading TransCanada or Canadian Pacific stock as we stood anonymous on Wall Street. I wonder if anyone in that building has ever considered what our buffalo pasture has been like for the last 10,000 years – hundreds of buffalo moving freely and grazing in the lush quiet of the Great Plains. Have they imagined the same buffalo cordoned off by roaring and rumbling coal trains? I wonder if the banker who believes that his taxes paid for the protesters tent ever considered that the protester would love the privilege of paying those taxes. I consider the accurate criticism of the protester’s scattered and garbled message and recall that the energy of 1964 also lacked focus, but matured to enough precision to topple a president and change America forever. I wonder how TransCanada’s Keystone Pipeline was stopped – if only temporarily – and my heart-beat quickens to dream that there might still be a chance for our buffalo to roam in quiet pastures for another 10,000 years.
It was with relief that I read that the pipeline has been delayed for further study. I hope it never gets built. We need to adjust to smaller cars and maybe even learn to walk to the grocery or to town (if possible.) As for coal being hauled from Wyo to the east coast — is there really such a thing as “clean coal?” When is this nation, as a whole, realize that we may not survive as a species as a result of our disregard for our planet?
Thought provoking!
In his book REPUBLIC LOST, Lawrence Lessig suggests that most of the problems in our American government system are caused by the influence of money on our legislative process. He proposes a constitutional amendment that would limit campaign contributions to $100 with no exceptions. This would be a wonderful thing for all Americans whether they be democrats, republicans, or independents. There is a remote chance that this change in our constitution would be the end result of the Occupy Wall Street movement. I dream deeply!
Mike OBrien
among the many disadvangtages us mere individual humans have is that corporate giants can shape- shift, outlasting each of us. I remember vividly fighting against that cross country coal-railroad
over a decade ago. Different name to the corporation, but the same scheme:
moving coal, seizing land , power, and life every foot of the way. Is there nothing else to be done to stop Canadian Pacific? Monkey Wrench gang anyone???
perhaps Canadians should refine their own crude and sell the finished product.
Because of your actions re: the buffalo, you are a hero of mine.However, I believe the aims of the Occupy Wall Streeters are misplaced. It is the government we need fear, with its gluttony and misguidance. If the government were hammeered into shape, corporations would follow.
Thank you for posting these comments. The $$ that is being spent on “developing” these remaining fossil fuels (tar sands/coal/etc) would get us many more BTUs/gallons/etc from renewable energy sources (solar/wind/biomass). I am disheartened by the shortsightedness and greed in the current system. However if each of us chooses to fight the good fight, we might be able to have a decent future on this planet. Different, but decent.
The modules needed to develop the tar sands were manufactured in South Korea (not Canada)and are being shipped to the Port of Lewiston (Idaho). Many of us here in Idaho are fighting to keep these “megaloads” off of our wild and scenic mostly 2-lane highways and are having successes in our battles with Big Oil. See http://wildidahorisingtide.org/
I also have property in Western Nebraska and have been repeatedly contacting legislators there as well as the State Dept and the President. I think if everyone will take some type of action, we may eventually be able to slow down the “carbon train” whereever we are.
Good luck to you, Dan & Jill, on keeping your pastures quiet and full of happy bison.
The old adage that all politics are local may be true but it is also true that we are intrinsically linked both in our failures and our accomplishments in protecting the environment and in our efforts in creating a better world for everyone. Thanks Dan for your thought provoking analysis of the present day issues we are facing.
Dan,
Well said, once again your words are thought provoking, funny and very upsetting all in one. I am glad Obama put the kabosh on the XL Keystone Pipeline, and I believe part of that decision was influenced by the 12,000 people led by Bill McKibben who gathered at the White House. Democracy does still work..!
The news that the Canadian Pacific wants to run through your ranch, and your neighbors is news to me and very upsetting, you have such a beautiful/progressive/just-plain-right business going. Why does the coal transporation business trump yours? I know the answer and it smells…. Perhaps you already have, but I encourage you to ask your customers to help in any way they can; letter writing, calling whoever – after all, we’d all be losers too if your herd starts to get too stressed from all of the noise. I’m offering up my assistance, in any way, shape or form! I agree with the writer’s above and the “unfocused noisemakers” in the Occupy Wall St. movement..We have to challenge the decision makers, the status quo. After all, they’re just people like us…This just pisses me off and makes my heart break at the thought of your ranch being a throughfare for the coal industry.
I’ll check the website for action steps: )
Best to you, Jill, your family and all of your neighbors…and of course all of the four legged kids as well.
WE NEED A REVOLUTION….Rise Up People!
I, too, see the throwback to the turbulent 60′s. Now I find myself in favor of change, but with a different angle than the undefined goal of the present day “occupiers.” I fully support our capitalistic system as the best (although imperfect) economic system for us ALL. My protest is strongly against the deplorable ethical behavior of corporate officers and government officials. They both have an important duty to the nation and have let us down big time. It seems like we should have enough laws on the books, but are now failing to properly apply and enforce those existing laws. And ethics goes beyond the law. These corporate officers and government officials have let the country down to the point of treason.
The best thing I’ve gotten from the “Occupy…” folks are the wonderful quotes by people like Henry Ford, “If people knew how the our banking system works there’d be a revolution before morning” (paraphrased), Theodore Roosevelt’s comments concerning corporate greed, and FDR’s “Economic Bill of Rights” that he preceded in death. The flip side of all being that nothing’s changed for the Robber Barons in the last 100 years! But I phoned the New Mexico congressional delegation after reading your Nov. piece this morning..as well as those where I currently find myself in the Pacific NW…It’s the least that I can do and, hopefully, not the most.
Dan – we respect your insights and knowledge of the prairie, wildlife and such but I also think you’re educated enough to know that capital markets are and have been critical to the success of our country. It’s easy to criticize “Wall Street” but that term encompasses thousands of Americans who work all over the US to help finance businesses big and small. The recent financial crisis, centered on home mortgages, was more political than anything: lending money to people who had no way to repay it as public policy. It’s not a mystery who caused this and if there’s going to be a protest, it should be against those in Congress who pushed for these policies. As for the comparison to the 1960′s protesters: I find nothing admirable in this. In those days, as now, it’s mostly a bunch of entitled kids. I still resent the protesters at my university who thought that I should not go to class because of their politics. I was on scholarship and needed to go to class and needed to get a job – most of them did not.
From Canada with Love, here comes a beer bottle. A conscience searching article. I like it.
In this age of globalization, multi-nationals are purchasing value with-in their industry
irregardless of country. US Steel buys
Dofasco in Hamilton, Ontario, Alberta Oil Sands hosts petroleum corporations
from around the world, most US oil conglomerates have a stake in both the extraction in Canada and the refining in
the US. In 2008 the US Surface Transportation Board approved the $1.5 billion acquisition of Dakota Minnesota and Eastern Railroad Corporation by Canadian Pacific Railways that gives them a 14,800 mile network serving Chicago, Detroit, Newark, Philly, NYC,Buffalo, Kansas City & Minneapolis.
They trade on the NYSX & TorontoSX.
Any jingoistic/nationalistic interpetation as to the motivation behind these proposed infringements would be inaccurate and non-beneficial to your cause, which I relate to and
fully support. (I am in the middle of it with a gold miner’s open pit 150 yds from my 9 story bldg)
These projects, if measured by simple
GDP benefits, for example, which treat the enviroment as one big externality, tell us that the Exxon Valdez spill sparked an economic boom that made the catastrophe highly beneficial to Alaska.
There must be a battle of ideas and values as much as economics and statistics. The termerity to propose this pipeline over the Ogallala aquifier, for starters, boggles the mind in it’s arrogance and lack of historical perspective i.e marine life decimated in the Gulf of Mexico not a year ago. When we are down to 10 gal of gas and 10 gal of water, I’ll take the water, thanks.
And, if I may, just a note to writer A. Shusta – I, for one, am not in your colloquial “we” because I don’t patronize and I am experienced, if not educated, enough to recognize bitterness effecting honesty. I suggest your capital markets and greed have been critical to the tough times your great country is going through at present. Starting with Clinton’s last
presidential move to give your Mr Rubin the repealing of FDR’s Glass-Steagal, reinstating derivative products, a shell game that created “nothing” with a traded value, your capital markets insured the balloon through AG,your rating agencies rated them a “buy” while you “shorted” the value, and profited greatly while the government (productive citizens’ wallets) tried to right the ship your ilk capsized. In Russia, capitalism defeated socialism; in North America capitalism is defeating democracy. 12,000 marching on Wall St is not
democracy working, but thank God for the freedom to assemmble, it is democratic representation in need of a tune-up, and a re-visit of the meaning ‘justice and freedom for all’
These are not entitled kids, these are the kids your capital markets disenfranchised of the American dream.
I fear the myopia surrounding the political imperative brought on by hard economic times may produce baleful results.
I love our lands and what of them we provide the next generation will have to be fought for. I am ‘all in’, as a hog is in a ham & egg breakfast; the hen
is involved, sure, but the hog is committed. All the best, folks. Stay the way.
Thanks, Dan. Whenever the conscience is uttered, especially in the face of an oligarchy horde, honor and conscience are flickering wicks. They will not be extinguished.
This is a hard hitting piece! Archibald MacLeish said it right:
“There is nothing good in the world but the rich will buy it;
Everything sticks to the grease of a gold note,
Even a continent___ even a new sky.”
Here is Manitoba, (“the keystone province”) we are not proud of the pipeline, the CPR project or our present government. Much good it does!
How much fuel do you suppose is consumed each and every month at Wild Idea Ranch? What exactly is the alternative?
P.S. Your electric cars run on coal.
Think about it.
Dan, I appreciate your musings on Big Oil. I recently attended a “salon” party where the guest speakers were advocates of fracking the old oil fields near Casper, Wyoming, my old home town. As a product of an oil family myself, I was interested in hearing their arguments and astounded with their cavalier attitudes about the process. Needless to say, I won’t be invited to anymore parties at that residence! Over the years I’ve become an advocate of clean energy and admire those rare oil producers who agree that oil is a finite resource and are entering greener territories. One such company is Wold Oil, in Casper, who has recently installed the state’s largest, if not only, wind farm, and chosen not to frack their fields. Its a start. Here in New Mexico, oil and gas are our greatest resources and fracking is on the horizon, if not already begun. What a shame considering we get 360 days of sunshine every year. I’ve never seen your ranch but have vivid childhood memories of herds of buffalo on the Shoshonie Reservation near Thermopolis, Wyoming and can’t comprehend a pipeline destroying that image. Keep up the fight, you’re better at defining the challenge than most of us.
All capital intensive, centrally located electrical power generation destroys ecological resilience and integrity. New power lines to transmit wind farm power from former prairie grouse habitat to distant markets hack up habitat as surely as coal train lines and highways. Dan’s elegant linkage of the poignance of the “Occupy Wall Street” movement to the lobbying power of coal and oil reminds us why distributive power generation and use near the generation site languishes in the shadows.
Whatever “ism” we are hornswaggled into supporting we are all NIMBYcrats at the end of the day. A few miles south of your ranch down in the great state of Nebraska there are railroad ROWs that lie abandoned. CP has been taking over small local lines in the US, but I wonder why they want to basically tread on “virgin” ground. My guess is that state capitalism fused with socialist central planning has them getting a huge subsidy somewhere. Or per usual a pie in the sky plan is proposed so to drive down the price of another more realistic plan with a high Ask price.
Thank you, Dan, for proving once again that Ed Abbey lives.
Simply put Dan,thank you for saying what I think & feel, better than I could ever express it.Lets make sure it gets heard!!!