The Koch Brothers Have Buried An Area The Size Of A City Block Under 30 Feet Of Oil Sands Waste

[Melinda]

Canada's oil sand mines will eventually produce up to 2 trillion barrels of oil and what that could mean for the environment has been debated for years. What's often overlooked though is a coke byproduct that results from refining the tar-like bitumen of the oil sands into oil.

Coke is a low-quality type of coal and the Marathon Petroleum plant in Detroit has made overlooking its role in the oil sands debate impossible to ignore. The refinery was built on the Detroit River more than 70 years ago but began refining Canadian oil sand deliveries just last November.

The coke waste started accumulating then. The New York Times writes that now the mound of coke towers three stories above the street, covers an entire city block, and is owned by Koch Carbon controlled by David and Charles Koch.

Petroleum coke generates up to 10% more CO2 than coal, and new permits allowing its use are no longer issued in the U.S.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/koch-brothers-oil-sand-coke-byproduct-along-detroit-river-2013-5#ixzz2Tm1SUlHi

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Be sure and read the NYT linked above. The Kocholigarchy and their kind care nothing for our environment, nor the air our children breath, nor the future of human kind, period. Our elected representatives go along so that they can continue to enjoy their privilege, financed by the 1%, to the detriment of our planet and all life. And isn't it convenient that this "waste" has been planted in Detroit, of all places?

We are at critical mass, and I fear for those I'll leave behind. I have not been a good steward, and I am ashamed. Meanwhile, in other news, an 85 year old nun goes to prison for 20 years for an act of civil disobedience, while Wall St and Big Bankers do as they like.

What have we done? What can we do? Ideas?

[Bluenorthwest]

1. It's not in Detorit, it is across the way in Canada...Detroit River has two sides....

still disgusting, but it is Canada's new thing, tar, coke, piles of crap, filth, pipelines, that sort of thing.

[MichiganVote]

4. It affects the water table for both sides of the river and the river itself.

The wind does blow in Canada and Michigan. But no one protects the Great Lakes and its tributaries.

[Initech]

2. They really are the two worst human beings on the planet.

Really they make Mr. Burns from the Simpsons look good by comparison.

[Junkdrawer]

3. "Armageddon only postponed by poisoning China."

Great comment by ClimateCrocks regular rayduray.

http://climatecrocks.com/2013/05/17/chinese-fed-up-with-growth-at-any-cost/comment-page-1/#comment-21772

If you didn't know, that crap is being shipped to China as a fuel - where it will be burnt dirty. The resultant aerosols will help mask the massive amounts of carbon released.

James Hansen calls it humanity's Faustian Bargain.

Read about it here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-james-hansen/doubling-down-on-our-faustian-bargain_b_2989535.html