The president of WSPA (the Western States Petroleum Association – a fossil fuel lobbying group), somehow got this nonsense published in the San Francisco Chronicle the other day.
The next day there was a great letter to the editor, which I reproduced here:
When elves can deliver oil
Reading the piece by the president of the Western States Petroleum Association (“America’s energy renaissance,” Open Forum, April 8) made me wish I lived in the alternate reality of PR spin that she was describing, where little railcar explosions that level towns only happen in the land of Sillytown and Whoopsyville and never anywhere near you.
All this wonderful black gold comes from magical fracked wells in the Midwest to make things better and better, and it gets delivered by whistling elves with rainbows across the sky overhead. Yes, this does seem a wonderful place to live.
Adam Knowles, San Francisco
I had to write in myself. I don’t know if it will get published, but here it is:
It’s hard to top Tuesday’s letter from Adam Knowles, but I would like to add one point concerning the self-serving op-ed from the president of the Western States Petroleum Association. One of the reasons so many of us are adamantly opposed to crude-by-rail is its ability to bring in Canadian tar sands – one of the dirtiest fossil fuels, with very high emissions that cause climate change.
Moving to safe, sane, clean energy is the path to true energy security and is the only course of action that can be called “responsible”.
Fish Rock Road 