Shameful: Keystone XL Proponent Using Deadly Lac-Megantic, Quebec Oil Train Tragedy To Promote Pipeline

picture-8-1346574554.jpg
on

Five people are confirmed dead and 40 people remain missing in the small hamlet of Lac-Megantic, Quebec, where a train with 73 carloads full of Bakken shale oil derailed explosively, incinerating 30 buildings on Saturday.

Local resident Henri-Paul Audette told the Huffington Post that his brotherโ€™s apartment was next to the railroad tracks, very close to the spot where the train derailed.

โ€œI havenโ€™t heard from him since the accident,โ€ he said. โ€œI had thought โ€ฆ that I would see him.โ€

This is by all accounts, a major tragedy, lives have been lost, loved ones remain missing and a small town has been nearly wiped off the map. There are still a lot of unknowns about this disaster, but that has not stopped supporters of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline from using the horrific events in Lac-Megantic to promote the pipeline.

In a commentary piece published in the Globe and Mail on Sunday, Diana Furchtgott-Roth, a โ€œsenior fellowโ€ at the Exxon- and Koch-funded Manhattan Institute writes, 

โ€œAfter Saturdayโ€™s tragedy in Lac-Mรฉgantic, Que., it is time to speed up the approval of new pipeline construction in North America. Pipelines are the safest way of transporting oil and natural gas, and we need more of them, without delay.โ€

No kidding, Furchgott-Roth wants no more delay in the Keystone XL pipeline, since she has been advocating on behalf of the oil industry in one form or another for more than 25 years, with stints as an economist at the American Petroleum Institute and the oil industry-backed American Enterprise Institute. 

Working for oil company front groups is one thing, but using the tragedy still unfolding in Quebec to argue for more oil pipelines is a whole new level of low.

Image credit: Transportation Safety Board

picture-8-1346574554.jpg
Kevin is a contributor and strategic adviser to DeSmog. He runs the digital marketing agency Spake Media House. Named a โ€œGreen Heroโ€ by Rolling Stone Magazine and one of the โ€œTop 50 Tweetersโ€ on climate change and environment issues, Kevin has appeared in major news media outlets around the world for his work on digital campaigning. Kevin has been involved in the public policy arena in both the United States and Canada for more than a decade. For five years he was the managing editor of DeSmogBlog.com. In this role, Kevinโ€™s research into the โ€œclimate denial industryโ€ and the right-wing think tank networks was featured in news media articles around the world. He is most well known for his ground-breaking research into David and Charles Kochโ€™s massive financial investments in the Republican and tea party networks. Kevin is the first person to be designated a โ€œCertified Expertโ€ on the political and community organizing platform NationBuilder. Prior to DeSmog, Kevin worked in various political and government roles. He was Senior Advisor to the Minister of State for Multiculturalism and a Special Assistant to the Minister of State for Asia Pacific, Foreign Affairs for the Government of Canada. Kevin also worked in various roles in the British Columbia provincial government in the Office of the Premier and the Ministry of Health. In 2008 Kevin co-founded a groundbreaking new online election tool called Vote for Environment which was later nominated for a World Summit Award in recognition of the worldโ€™s best e-Content and innovative ICT applications. Kevin moved to Washington, DC in 2010 where he worked for two years as the Director of Online Strategy for Greenpeace USA and has since returned to his hometown of Vancouver, Canada.

Related Posts

on

Hill & Knowlton played a key role in exporting Big Oil's PR tactics to the Southern Hemisphere.

Hill & Knowlton played a key role in exporting Big Oil's PR tactics to the Southern Hemisphere.
Analysis
on

A smarter investment? Put that money towards a massive build-out of the nationโ€™s electrical grid to reach projected energy demand instead.

A smarter investment? Put that money towards a massive build-out of the nationโ€™s electrical grid to reach projected energy demand instead.
Analysis
on

Delay and denial have clouded debate on green issues, with potentially devastating impacts for Europe's energy transition.

Delay and denial have clouded debate on green issues, with potentially devastating impacts for Europe's energy transition.
on

A pesar de que en las conferencias de la ONU, lo mรกs importante es invertir el drรกstico declive mundial de la vida vegetal y animal, las empresas han encontrado cรณmo hacerse escuchar.

A pesar de que en las conferencias de la ONU, lo mรกs importante es invertir el drรกstico declive mundial de la vida vegetal y animal, las empresas han encontrado cรณmo hacerse escuchar.