[GPCA Updates] GP RELEASE Greens blast Obama's capitulation to GOP & oil lobbies on tar sands pipeline, EPA smog regulations

[Green Party of California Updates]

GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
http://www.gp.org

For Immediate Release:
Tuesday, September 6, 2011



Green Party leaders blast President Obama's approval of the tar sands pipeline
and withdrawal of EPA smog regulations, calling White House policies a
capitulation to Republicans and corporate lobbies

• Greens promote Green New Deal: real action to curb global warming and end
oil addiction, create new jobs in energy conservation, alternate energy
development, and public transportation

• Green Party Speakers Bureau: Green leaders available to speak on global
warming and other ecological issues:
http://www.gp.org/speakers/speakers-ecological.php


WASHINGTON, DC -- Green Party leaders strongly criticized President Obama's
recent decisions on the controversial tar sands pipeline and EPA smog
regulations, calling his support for the Keystone XL Pipeline and withdrawal
of smog standards reckless and dangerous to public health and the environment.

"More respiratory disease, more dependence on fossil fuels, more greenhouse
gases released into the atmosphere -- these will be the results of President
Obama's latest capitulations to the oil industry and Republicans.  The
President is trying to appease anti-regulation ideologues and climate-change
deniers in the GOP and corporate lobbies that place profits ahead of public
safety," said Audrey Clement, co-chair of the Green Party of the United States
and a member of the party's Eco-Action Committee
(http://www.gp.org/committees/ecoaction/index.php).

Greens noted that President Obama alone, without approval from Congress, has
the power to approve or reject the tar sands pipeline from Alberta, Canada.
Party leaders expressed admiration and gratitude to the protestors arrested
during the White House demonstrations against approval of the tar sands
pipeline (http://www.tarsandsaction.org).

“The courageous actions at the White House represent the voice of conscience
confronting the dark forces of environmental destruction," said Jill Stein,
co-chair of the Green-Rainbow Party of Massachusetts
(http://www.massgreens.org).  "I am so proud to see that America has so many
people willing to put themselves on the front line of the battle to save our
future.  This action is a defining moment.  It is the point at which the
environmental community stops accepting inaction and excuses, and starts
insisting that our government do the right thing.  That courage to speak up
clearly and not be silenced is critical for starting to save our imperiled
planet.“

NASA's Dr. James Hansen, one of the nation's top climate scientists, said that
development of tar sands in Alberta, Canada, would be "game over" for efforts
to curb climate change
(http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/29/idUS257590805720110829).  Mining
oil from tar sands creates three times more carbon emissions than conventional
oil extraction, and the oil will be transported by the hazardous 1,700-mile
long Keystone XL Pipeline to refineries in Texas.  Despite such warnings, the
State Department gave the project a green light in its environmental impact
statement, dismissing the threat of sharp increases in carbon emissions.

Greens said that President Obama's concern for the revenues of oil companies
and the financial burden created by anti-smog regulations reflected an
administration that measures the health of the US economy by corporate profits
rather than by how many new jobs are created, how many Americans move out of
unemployment and poverty, and how the US is meeting the challenges of global
warming.

"Green candidates have called for a 'Green New Deal' with a plan to create
millions of new jobs in conservation and conversion to safe, clean energy, the
promotion of technologies to reduce air pollution -- such as anti-smog devices
-- and expansion of public transportation to reduce car traffic.  Such
measures will help the US recover from the 2008 economic meltdown.
Unfortunately, President Obama has retreated from his 2008 nomination speech
promise that during his presidency the 'rise of the oceans will begin to slow,
and the planet begin to heal.'  He has capitulated to the corporate myth that
environmental standards are job killers. In fact, they are job creators
because they spur innovation and investment in cleaner technologies," said
Howie Hawkins, co-chair of the Green Party of New York State
(http://www.web.gpnys.com) and candidate for Common Councilor of Syracuse.

"Obama is ignoring the tar sands pipeline protesters and the whole movement to
stop global warming.  Street protests alone without a political alternative to
vote for will just leave the protesters taken for granted by Obama and the
Democrats again.  We can multiply the power of the protests by mounting an
electoral insurgency behind the political party that is dedicated to
preserving the planet -- the Green Party," Mr. Hawkins added.  (More on the
Green New Deal:
http://www.greenpartywatch.org/2010/08/11/62-green-candidates-endorse-green-new-deal)

Greens cited numerous other Obama Administration environmental retreats and
capitulations: an industry-coddling response to the Deepwater Horizon oil
spill catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico; paralysis in global climate
protection negotiations and promotion of emissions-trading schemes that will
grant polluting industries licenses to continue polluting; refusal to ban
mountaintop removal mining; endorsement of 'clean coal'; approval of new
nuclear power plants (despite the Fukushima disaster in March 2011) paid for
by taxpayers for the benefit of energy companies that don't want to assume the
high cost and high liability; plans to expand off-shore drilling with new
operations in Atlantic coastal waters.


MORE INFORMATION

Green Party of the United States http://www.gp.org
202-319-7191
• Green candidate database and campaign information:
http://www.gp.org/elections.shtml
• News Center http://www.gp.org/newscenter.shtml
• Speakers Bureau http://www.gp.org/speakers
• Ballot Access Page http://www.gp.org/ballotstatus
• Livestream Channel http://www.livestream.com/greenpartyus
• Video Page http://www.gp.org/video/index.php

"The Tar Sands Action (smile)"
By Ted Glick, September 5, 2011
http://www.tedglick.com/columns/102.html

Press conferences, forums, and other events at the Green Party's 2011 Annual
National Meeting in Alfred, NY, broadcast and archived on the Green Party's
Livestream Channel http://www.livestream.com/greenpartyus
• 2011 Annual National Meeting http://nygreenfest.org

Green Pages: The official publication of record of the Green Party of the
United States (Summer 2011 issue now online)
http://gp.org/greenpages-blog


~ END ~