"P in P" Takes a Former Ambassador to Task for Bullshit Comments on the Keystone XL Pipeline

Below is an email I sent to "The House" this morning. It followed a very disturbing interview this CBC Radio show did with two former Ambassadors. One, Derek Burney (former Canadian ambassador to the US), dismissed opponents of the climate-killing project, the XL pipeline, as violently emotional.
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Dear Ms. Elliott, (Host)

Derek Burney's argument that opposition to the tar sands pipeline in to the US is spurred by "violent emotion" is outrageous. Sadly,  it reveals that he is nothing more than another cheerleader for dirty energy, with dollar signs where his heart should be.Where's the violence, Mr. Burney? 

I haven't heard of any environmentalists blowing anything up to support their case. Has he? Is it emotion that the Alberta tar sands are huge emitters of greenhouse gases which are feeding catastrophic climate change? It seems to me there is mounting science - not emotion - behind this conclusion. Is it emotion that the tar which will travel through this misguided project is very corrosive and needs to be forced under heat and pressure, increasing the risk of spills? Tell me I'm wrong, Mr. Burney. Unless you do, you have nothing more to tell me, or anyone else for that matter!
Larry Powell,
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Footnote: According to Wikipedia, Burney is also a Director of TransCanada Pipelines Limited, proposed builders of the pipeline. Gee, what a surprise for him to be taking the position he is taking! No vested interest there! 
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Please read the happy ending to this tale of woe here.





Comments

Anonymous said…
He's the letter I would ahve written.

Dear Ms. Elliott
Derek Burneys argument that opposition to the tar sand pipeline is based on emotion, right on the money. There are so many emotional lunatice lefties out there whining and griping about the pipleine is makes me sick. They would rather we build bird killing, eye-sores called wind turbines instead. I want this pipeline project to proceed, I want the sniveling environ-mental left to sit down and shut up.

I want Mr. Burney to know that there are alot of people out there who support the project. Though it seems like it's only the greenies who are being heard.

Cheers

Klem
Roblin, Manitoba
Christine said…
Why is it that folks like Burney - and Pamela Wallin get airtime on CBC without being challenged about their obvious conflicts of interest? Wallin is one of the Cons Senators who spoke up loudest about killing Bill C311, the Climate Accountability Act, because it was a "nuisance" bill that would "kill Canada's economy", and it turns out she's a director in a tar sands company, Oil Sands Quest. Where is the MSM in this, holding these people's feet to the fire?
Larry Powell said…
Dear Klem,

You obviously do not believe tar sands are highly polluting and will make catastrophic climate change even worse, putting our own children at risk.

Therefore, you obviously know something I do not.

ON WHAT AUTHORITY DO YOU MAKE YOUR COMMENTS?

I'm a science writer and would be delighted to "break this story" that we are all wrong about the role of fossil fuels in the worst environmental crisis facing planet earth.

So, just get back to me, CITING THE AUTHORITIES YOU RELY ON for your conclusions.

If they are reliable and credible, I'D BE HAPPY TO WRITE A STORY ABOUT THEM AND POST IT HERE!

If I DO NOT hear back from you in a reasonable period of time, I am, sadly, going to have to dismiss your comments as coming from just another ignorant crank.

Larry
P.S. A first step might be to give me your real name and address. I do not believe your name is Klem or that you even live in Roblin. I put no stock in people without the courage to give their real names!
Anonymous said…
"You obviously do not believe tar sands are highly polluting.."

No, I beleive they are highly polluting.


"..will make catastrophic climate change even worse"

Since you are a science writer you obviously are intentionally confusing climate change (which happens naturally) with anthropomorphic climate change (claimed to be human caused) . I find when folks do this intentionally it speaks volumes about their sincerity and politics. And you are correct I do not believe the tar sands will make climate change worse.


"So, just get back to me, CITING THE AUTHORITIES YOU RELY ON for your conclusions. If they are reliable and credible, I'D BE HAPPY TO WRITE A STORY ABOUT THEM AND POST IT HERE!"

My authority is the UN IPCC, the author of the most wishy-washy climate 'science' report ever written. And I use the word science very loosely here, the AR4 report is the one which made me switch from and alarmist like yourself to a skeptic. The science which is acceptable to climatology is so full of politics and industry influence it does not qualify as science in my eyes, it is not reliable or credible, yet is the very science on which you base your personal faith and hope in future climate catastrophe.
Here's the link, http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/publications_and_data_reports.shtml You can start writing anytime. Good luck Mr. Science writer.


"I put no stock in people without the courage to give their real names!"

I put no stock in those who do. Only an idiot would post their real name on the net.

Cheers

Klem
Anonymous said…
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Larry Powell said…
Klem,
Are you aware that you are quoting the very authorities (IPCC) whose findings I support (i.e. that you and I are causing climate change by the greenhouse gases we produce through the burning of fossil fuels such as tar sands)? Are you confused? Did you accidentally give me the wrong link?
Climate change in the modern context MEANS human-caused. Get used to it.
And don't tell me I am insincere or dishonest in what I write or say!
You display your own lack of understanding like a flag when you say there is INDUSTRY INFLUENCE in the science! The exact opposite is true and you must know it!
BIG OIL AND GAS are spending millions sewing their devious, criminal seeds of doubt in climate science, SO THEY CAN SELL MORE PRODUCT! If you can't see this, HAVE I GOT AN ACRE OF SWAMPLAND FOR YOU - CHEAP!
Myself and others who support climate science get called "alarmists" quite a bit. All I can say is, better an alarmist than someone who sees their own children in harms way & does nothing to warn them!
So Klem, if that is your name, since you have failed to come up with ANY valid authority to back up your wrongheaded claims, as I requested, we are done.
Have a nice day!
Larry Powell
Larry Powell said…
Seems like I have another loyal reader! "Klem" from Roblin (who I believe is neither Klem nor a Roblinite), has sent me 3 more abusive notes since the ones I posted. Then he has the gall to insult me for not posting them!

First of all, Klem, I had you all wrong. I first thought you were an ignorant yokel from the boonies. But I now believe you to be very informed in the great climate debate, indeed. That makes you cunning and deceiving. You obviously are aware of the skulduggery being committed by the likes of the "Cock Bras," yet you are actually their ally and accomplice.

I figure you are one of the following…

a) an agent-provocateur for Stephen Harper (i.e. you are on his payroll either as a staffer or a PR type who gets bundles of money from a government slush fund to try to frighten and demoralize the green movement,

b) you are an official of a large and wealthy oil company (perhaps tar-sands-related)

c) You are employed by a PR firm hired to destabilize & spread lies that there is still "doubt" about the science surrounding this issue.

(You wouldn't know anything about a hacking incident directed toward my blog a while back would you? One of my posts mysteriously disappeared!) hmmmm

The saddest part of the "cliimate-crank crowd" is their inability/refusal to be moved by the sheer weight of increasingly conclusive evidence. Your mission in life, Klem, seems to be, to knee-jerk reject the science as mere opinion, or a devious plot.

You also sadly confuse "might" with "right," somehow believing that Harper's electoral"win" somehow proves that human-caused climate change is not happening. Convenient logic, indeed, especially for those with a vested interested in the continuing ruination of our planet.

If you had lived in their times, Klem, I believe you would have been busy viciously attacking Galileo for proclaiming the earth actually revolves around the sun, or Aristotle for determining that the earth is not flat!

All your ranting does not conceal the fact that you still have not answered my requests to:

a) come up with authorities which support your own position and

b) screw up the courage to tell me who you really are.

As for your request to provide you with links to my writing - I say, blow it out your shorts! If you don't like it, start your own damn blog (using a fake name, of course).

What part of "we are done" don't you understand?

And, by the way, a word of advice.
You have anger issues. Get help!
Anonymous said…
Christine said...

Why is it that folks like Burney - and Pamela Wallin get airtime on CBC without being challenged about their obvious conflicts of interest? Wallin is one of the Cons Senators who spoke up loudest about killing Bill C311, the Climate Accountability Act, because it was a "nuisance" bill that would "kill Canada's economy", and it turns out she's a director in a tar sands company, Oil Sands Quest. Where is the MSM in this, holding these people's feet to the fire?

25 July, 2011 3:02 PM
Christine said…
FYI, Larry, I've had "Klem" visit my site as well in the past. The best thing to do with trolls is ignore them!

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