Don White, Vice President of the Iowa Renewable Energy Association, i-Renew presented these points to the Iowa Utilities Board as powerful reasons to reject the Dakota Access Tar Sands Pipeline through the prime agricultural land of Iowa, some of the richest and most productive soils in the world:
"I am the Vice President of the Iowa Renewable Energy Association. We are a statewide 501(c)3 education nonprofit organization. Our mission is to make renewable energy the primary source of energy in Iowa. We oppose any kind of infrastructure for fossil fuels for three main reasons:
- Burning fossil fuels contributes greenhouse gases to the atmosphere that contribute to climate change. The results of climate change put Iowa crops and Iowa property owners at risk of weather related disasters. It also puts Iowa wildlife at risk of going extinct due to volatile climate changes.
- Fossil fuels are scarce resources and therefore developing an infrastructure for them does not make long-term economic sense. As these resource become scarcer, Iowans will pay more for their usage. The only people who gain from the consumption of scarce resources are those who own a controlling interest in them.
- There is a portfolio of alternatives to fossil fuels that will provide Iowans with long-term economic opportunities. Clean renewable energy alternatives that are not scarce are growing rapidly. Some technologies such as distributive power are becoming disruptive in the marketplace. Carbon-free renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, geothermal and low energy nuclear reactors are new economic engines. These engines will grow the Iowa economy and reduce carbon greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global climate change.
Renewable energy from wind farms can be stored and transmitted as NH3 fuel that can be burned in internal combustible engines or in power plants to produce power. Therefore, the Iowa Renewable Energy Association would support pipelines that augment existing NH3 pipeline infrastructure for this purpose."
In summary of Don's points to reject a deadly tar sands project (HB, 2015):
Reasons to Reject the Dakota Access LLC Bakken Dirty Tar Sands Pipeline Through Iowa:
* Emits GHG emissions, causing climate change
* Degrades Iowa Crops and productivity
* Puts Iowa property owners at risk
* Causes Weather-related disasters
* Global heating and Extreme Changes in Climate and Earth Systems Causes extinction (of numerous species, including humans)
* Fossil fuels are "scarce resources" " .....and therefore developing an infrastructure for them does not make long-term economic sense.
* Developing a "(costly and explosive and toxic spilling dangerous deadly infrastructure that threatens both fragile lives, lands and futures of all Iowans and American) "infrastructure for them does not make long-term economic sense. As these resource become scarcer, Iowans will pay more for their usage..." costs growing higher and higher through time as quality of dying resources decrease more and more as we pay more and more for less and less and more difficult poorer quality costing more and more to process and distribute through broken and breaking pipelines that will leak because corrosive and harsh tar sands destroy the ability of pipelines to transport dirty tar crud...
* This Project is mostly pushed by a cash-driven few in Texas that plan to ship out of the US..."The only people who gain from the consumption of scarce resources are those who own a controlling interest in them."
* "a portfolio of alternatives to fossil fuels will provide Iowans with long-term economic opportunities. Clean renewable energy alternatives that are not scarce are growing rapidly. Some technologies such as distributive power are becoming disruptive in the marketplace. Carbon-free renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, geothermal and low energy nuclear reactors are new economic engines. These engines will grow the Iowa economy and reduce carbon greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global climate change."
