HOW TO ARGUE ABOUT THE KEYSTONE PIPELINE WITH A REPUBLICAN

It’s well known that the Republican Governor from Nebraska, Dave Heineman, was one of the first power brokers to publicly inject himself into Keystone XL debate. The surprise was that he was demanding President Obama deny TransCanada the right to construct its massive oil pipeline. It was a surprise because of the Governor’s political affiliation, but it should not have been.

TransCanada plans to build Keystone XL from Montana to Texas, through the Sandhills territory of Nebraska. The Sandhills territory is a delicate wetland ecosystem, distinct from other grasslands of the Midwest. Sandhills is home to wildlife preserves, riparian waterways, and protected vertebrate species. But that’s not why laying pipe is the problem. Subjacent to the Sandhills is the Ogallala Aquifer, one of the largest sources of potable groundwater in the United States.

The complexities of pipeline construction are great, and I don’t pretend to fully appreciate half of them. But it is undisputable that eventually, all pipelines leak. If Keystone XL passes through Ogallala, it will contaminate the aquifer. Once the aquifer is contaminated, it’s gone.

This is serious business for Nebraska. Think about it, what does Nebraska do? Statewide it has two distinct industries: beef and corn, both of which depend heavily on water availability. Indeed, it has been shown that, on average, it requires 5,000 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef.

The implications on the potential destruction of the corn crop are alarming. In order to import foreign oil we could wipe out one of our largest sources of biofuel. That doesn’t sound like energy independence to me.

And all along I thought Republicans were upset about our dependence on foreign energy. If that were the case, this would be a great time to prove it. Deny the import of foreign oil in favor of preserving our future in domestic biofuel production.

Update: Predictably, Governor Heineman has flip-flopped. He is working on a re-route for the project to bypass the Sandhills, which President Obama will likely permit. 

Meatless March

It’s been over 100 years since Upton Sinclair wrote The Jungle, but his protagonist wouldn’t know the difference if it was written today. The atrocities that we read about in our high school English classes continue, thanks in large to high public demand for meat and the industrial nature of US slaughterhouses.

Slaughterhouse employees strain to keep up with kill quotas, and as a result they make mistakes. Animals that are not rendered unconscious by “knocking” machines are routinely beaten to death on kill-floors as they fight for their lives. Animals that are rendered unconscious, but do not bleed out, are routinely disemboweled before they are killed. The industry custom in bovine slaughterhouses is to sever the spinal cords of cows that aren’t killed on the line. This is not to bestow a quick death, but to paralyze the animal so that it’s skin can be removed without a fight. The swine industry is no better; pigs that survive the line are stabbed and dunked into scalding baths, where their skin peels off as they drown.

Scalding baths are also employed in the poultry industry. Before the birds make it to the baths, they pass through a chopping machine. This machine is meant to decapitate the birds, but can miss and hit the torso instead. A bird with its torso split won’t die instantly; it drowns in the bath, but not until its wound has released gastric juices and fecal matter for the bird to drown in.

Can you imagine worse deaths? Anyone who has ever owned a pet should know that animals experience a vast array of emotions. Their life experiences are not much different from ours; indeed, we are animals, too. You, your dog, and the animals on feedlots all experience curiosity, joy, fear, and pain. Animals are just as capable of suffering as we are.

After The Jungle was published Congress enacted the Federal Meat Inspection Act (FMIA). FMIA requires that an animal be inspected both before and after slaughter. FMIA also regulates sanitary requirements for slaughterhouses, and provides the USDA with the authority to monitor daily slaughterhouse operations. Unfortunately the US meat industry is so wealthy that it counters regulations with some of Washington DC’s strongest lobbyists. USDA inspectors have little power to enforce regulations, and even less incentive. When slaughterhouse operators are punished for violations, the punishments are slight and the gruesome killing continues.

As long as the public at large financially supports the US meat industry, the status quo will go on. The strongest message you can send is with your wallet. I humbly request that you do not reward the US meat industry with your hard earned money, but that you punish the industry for its unacceptable, inhumane practices, and join me in boycotting the business of meat for the entire month of March.