One pipeline down, one to go

So Obama has sunk the Keystone XL pipeline—at least temporarily. He has said Trans Canada can apply again, so perhaps he's just being an election-year tease. Nonetheless, it's a victory against the tar sands monolith. And that's what it's all about, not just shutting down a pipeline, but shutting down the tar sands. James Hansen, one of the U.S.'s foremost climate scientists and the head of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, said about tar sands development "Essentially it's game over for the planet."

With Keystone currently stymied, the next proposed "fuse to the biggest carbon bomb on the planet” is the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline through B.C. to the coast. If the tar sands are to be strangled, one pipeline at at time, one market at a time, Northern Gateway is next up on the list.

Everyone who puts the environment first, who wants to help make sure it isn't "game over for the planet," can contribute to stopping Northern Gateway. National Energy Board hearings on the pipeline by a Joint Review Panel are underway and you can participate by writing a letter to:

Secretary to the Joint Review Panel
Enbridge Northern Gateway Project
444 Seventh Avenue S.W.
Calgary AB  T2P 0X8

or you can use the online form here. The deadline is March 13, 2012.