Last night, climate change denying Donald “Take the Oil” Trump, in an address to a joint session of congress, said the following:
“We have undertaken a historic effort to massively reduce job‑crushing regulations, creating a deregulation task force inside of every Government agency; imposing a new rule which mandates that for every 1 new regulation, 2 old regulations must be eliminated; and stopping a regulation that threatens the future and livelihoods of our great coal miners.
We have cleared the way for the construction of the Keystone and Dakota Access Pipelines — thereby creating tens of thousands of jobs — and I’ve issued a new directive that new American pipelines be made with American steel.”
Steve Horn, at the always informative DeSmogBlog, has a must read expose on Donald Trump’s push to use US steel for any pipe used in the Keystone XL and the Dakota Access Pipeline. The Keystone XL pipeline will send the filthiest oil on the planet from the tar sands in Alberta, Canada 2,000 miles south to the Gulf Coast. The Dakota Access Pipeline is a 1,172-mile-long underground oil pipeline project. The route begins in the Bakken shale oil fields North Dakota terminating at the oil tank farm near Patoka, Illinois. Both pipelines were ferociously protested by environmentalists and water protectors.
CANNON BALL, ND - NOVEMBER 30: Snow covers Oceti Sakowin Camp near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation on November 30, 2016 outside Cannon Ball, North Dakota. Native Americans and activists from around the country have been gathering at the camp for several months trying to halt the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. The proposed 1,172 mile long pipeline would transport oil from the North Dakota Bakken region through South Dakota, Iowa and into Illinois. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty ImagesDeSmogBlog reports:
But while the pipe may be made in the U.S., as DeSmog has shown in previousinvestigations, ownership tells a different story. Enter: TMK IPSCO, a massive producer of steel for U.S. oil country tubular goods (OCTG) and line pipe, and a subsidiary of TMK Group. A DeSmog investigation has found ties between TMK Group's Board of Directors and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
snip
According to a presentation given to the U.S. Department of Energy in July 2014 by TMK IPSCO's CEO, Piotr Galitzine, the company occupies 16 percent of the oilfield pipe market in the U.S. (and 9 percent of the global pipe market). Two of TMK IPSCO's major steel production facilities are located in Pennsylvania in the towns of Koppel and Ambridge, both well-situated for tapping into the Marcellus
snip
“From highways and bridges, to pipelines, to our military fleet, the Congressional Steel Caucus applauds any and all efforts to use American-made iron and steel for these federal projects,” a spokeswoman for the caucus told the industry publication, World Trade Online. “As we prepare for our annual State of Steel hearing next month, we have high hopes of great success working with the new Administration to fully enact long-fought agenda to keep it Made in America.”
As the case of TMK and Chubais shows, the definition of “made in America” — and who really benefits from such initiatives — is not so cut and dry. But we do know one potential major beneficiary: in this case, Chubais, a long-time associate of Vladimir Putin and yet another steel industry oligarch with ties to the U.S. line pipe industry who can claim credit for the Russian president's rise to power.
Anatoly Chubais is on TMK board of directors and maintains close ties to Vladimir Putin and symbolizes this new era of American and Russian relations.
x xYouTube Video The March for Science is a celebration of our passion for science and a call to support and safeguard the scientific community. Recent policy changes have caused heightened worry among scientists, and the incredible and immediate outpouring of support has made clear that these concerns are also shared by hundreds of thousands of people around the world. The mischaracterization of science as a partisan issue, which has given policymakers permission to reject overwhelming evidence, is a critical and urgent matter. It is time for people who support scientific research and evidence-based policies to take a public stand and be counted. ON APRIL 22, 2017, WE WALK OUT OF THE LAB AND INTO THE STREETS. We are scientists and science enthusiasts. We come from all races, all religions, all gender identities, all sexual orientations, all abilities, all socioeconomic backgrounds, all political perspectives, and all nationalities. Our diversity is our greatest strength: a wealth of opinions, perspectives, and ideas is critical for the scientific process. What unites us is a love of science, and an insatiable curiosity. We all recognize that science is everywhere and affects everyone. Science is often an arduous process, but it is also thrilling. A universal human curiosity and dogged persistence is the greatest hope for the future. This movement cannot and will not end with a march. Our plans for policy change and community outreach will start with marches worldwide and a teach-in at the National Mall, but it is imperative that we continue to celebrate and defend science at all levels - from local schools to federal agencies - throughout the world.All of us want good, high paying jobs for American workers. Instead of foolishly extracting more fossil fuels in a time of planetary climate emergency is the definition of insanity, we have the technology to break our dependence on fossil fuels but so far we are lacking the political will to do so. Renewable energy sources are the future. We must resist Donald Trump’s, and the GOP’s, greedy plans to commit us to a global catastrophe that none of us will want to experience.
“ Within hours of announcing the March for Science in Washington D.C., thousands of people began organizing Marches for Science in their own cities. With marches scheduled in more than 150 cities around the world, the D.C. march is only a small part of a much larger whole.”
Find a March near you.