Obama's Family Vacations to Cost Taxpayers More Than $20 Million

Friday, 04 Jan 2013 01:12 PM

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President Barack Obama’s four vacations to Hawaii since becoming president may cost taxpayers “in excess of $20 million, and possibly much, much more,’’ the White House Dossier reports.

A breakdown by the Hawaii Reporter shows his trips in 2009, 2010, and 2011 cost about $4 million, much of it for Air Force One. But that doesn’t include costs like flying in advance teams and separate flights Michelle Obama twice took.

When Obama returned from Hawaii to work on the fiscal cliff deal last week and then jetted back to Honolulu, the second roundtrip flight added about $3.24 million to the tab, bringing the 2012-2013 vacation to over $7 million, the Reporter said.

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“If we assume the estimates are probably quite low, then it’s likely to the bill for the combined vacations is more than $20 million,’’ said the Dossier’s Keith Koffler.

“Given that much of the cost involves transporting the First Family and its retinue, the Obamas could have saved taxpayers millions by doing what the vast majority of Americans do: taking either one trip a year, or none.’’

Koffler said while some argued the president is justified in returning to Hawaii because that is where he was born and grew up, “how many of us get to go visit our roots for a two week vacation every year?

“The Obamas probably also feel they must go to Hawaii because they are creatures of habit . . . Does this mean they eat a banana then start beating their chests.  But their allegiance to routine is costing the taxpayers – including those in the middle class Obama claims to care so much about – millions of dollars.’’

Read Latest Breaking News from Newsmax.com http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/obama-taxpayer-vacation-cost/2013/01/04/id/470102?s=al&promo_code=11788-1#ixzz2H48MLTTI
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Patriot or Traitor: 2ND IN KEYSTONE PIPELINE SERIES - ICYMI: Keystone ...

Patriot or Traitor: 2ND IN KEYSTONE PIPELINE SERIES - ICYMI: Keystone ...: TransCanada continues to use the talking point that the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline will be the "safest pipeline ever," but the truth...

2ND IN KEYSTONE PIPELINE SERIES - ICYMI: Keystone XL Will Not Use Advanced Spill Protection Tech

TransCanada continues to use the talking point that the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline will be the "safest pipeline ever," but the truth is that the tar sands pipeline will not even be using advanced spill protection technology.

TransCanada’s credibility and safety record are already questionable: in just its first year of operation, TransCanada’s existing Keystone pipeline leaked fourteen times in the U.S., a hundred times more leaks than TransCanada predicted. Federal pipeline safety officials have shut down the pipeline because of mechanical issues, Canadian regulators are auditing the company for systemic safety violations, and a former employee reported that systematic shortcuts were taken in the construction of Keystone I which compromised its safety.

Now, the company is taking shortcuts in the leak detection technology on its latest project—risking irrigation and drinking water in America’s heartland.


From Inside Climate News:

The leak detection technology that will be used on the Keystone XL, for instance, is standard for the nation's crude oil pipelines and rarely detects leaks smaller than 1 percent of the pipeline's flow. The Keystone will have a capacity of 29 million gallons per day—so a spill would have to reach 294,000 gallons per day to trigger its leak detection technology.

The Keystone XL also won't get two other safeguards found on the 19-mile stretch of the pipeline over Austin's aquifer: a concrete cap that protects the Longhorn from construction-related punctures, and daily aerial or foot patrols to check for tiny spills that might seep to the surface.

Experts interviewed by InsideClimate News estimate it would cost less than $10 million—roughly 0.2 percent of the Keystone's $5.3 billion budget—to add external sensor cables, a concrete cap and extra patrols to the 20 miles of the pipeline in Nebraska where a spill would be most disastrous. The water table in that area lies less than 20 feet below the surface and provides ranchers with a steady supply of fresh water.

Although the Keystone XL would run 1,200 miles across the nation's heartland, the area of greatest concern has always been Nebraska, where it crosses 222 miles of the Ogallala aquifer. Last year, TransCanada agreed to move the line out of Nebraska's Sandhills region, a fragile landscape that became a symbol for the project's opponents. But the new route still goes through 20 miles of Nebraska where the water table is less than 20 feet below ground—high enough for groundwater to bubble to the surface during the spring. An additional 70 miles crosses areas where the water table is 20 to 50 feet underground.

The [2010] Enbridge accident showed what happens when dilbit spills into a river. But little is known about how dilbit might behave in an aquifer, said Wayne Woldt, a University of Nebraska-Lincoln professor who studies groundwater management.

Once an aquifer is contaminated, it's virtually impossible to restore it to its pristine condition, Woldt said. The extent of damage would depend on the size of the spill and on how the dilbit moves within the aquifer.

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For more information, contact:
Josh Mogerman, jmogerman@nrdc.org, 312-651-7909
Jane Kleeb, jane@boldnebraska.org, 402-705-3622

Patriot or Traitor: FIRST COMMENTARY ON INFORMING THE PUBLIC THE DIFFE...

Patriot or Traitor: FIRST COMMENTARY ON INFORMING THE PUBLIC THE DIFFE...:                                             Last Week in Keystone XL: Cruder Than Crude Below is a recap of last week’s n...

FIRST COMMENTARY ON INFORMING THE PUBLIC THE DIFFERENCE IN CRUDE OIL AND THE KEYSTONE PIPE LINE THAT DESIRES TO PIPE BITUMEN AN ENVIRONMENTIAL HAZARD.

                                           

Last Week in Keystone XL: Cruder Than Crude

Below is a recap of last week’s news related to the ongoing Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. TransCanada’s is fighting a losing battle to convince the public that tar sands oil is the same as crude. See below for more:

News & Developments:

• TransCanada has long been claiming that there is no difference between crude oil and the tar sands, but the differences are being put on display.  Big Oil companies have long made this irrational argument despite the fact that IRS classifies dilbit differently from traditional crude, as does Congress. But recently, a Texas landowner and the Los Angeles Times editorial board made sure TransCanada and the American public were aware of the critical distinctions.
  
  Last week, the Los Angeles Times editorialized that TransCanada’s “’dilbit’ problem” is the sticking point for the company’s Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. The editorial board said, “Bitumen is a tarry substance derived from oil sands that forms a sticky solid at room temperature; moving it through a pipeline requires pressure and dilution, usually using benzene, a carcinogen. Environmentalists claim bitumen is more corrosive than crude oil and poses more risks to pipelines, though engineers tend to disagree; meanwhile, there is no question that it behaves differently in the environment. For one thing, crude oil tends to float on water, whereas bitumen usually sinks. This has created a serious environmental problem in Michigan, where a 2010 spill on the Kalamazoo River sent hundreds of thousands of gallons of bitumen to the bottom; ongoing cleanup has cost more than $800 million, making it the most expensive onshore pipeline spill in U.S. history.”
  
  “Dilbit” has come into the spotlight because Texas landowner Retired Marine Michael Bishop filed a Pro Se lawsuit against TransCanada Keystone Pipeline, which has started work on the southern portion of the proposed line from Hardisty, Alberta, Canada to the Texas Gulf Coast.  In the suit, Bishop claims that TransCanada has intentionally misled and misrepresented the project to Americans and Texas landowners.
  
  The LA Times piece says of the case, “At the heart of Bishop's case is the fact that although TransCanada considers bitumen and crude oil to be essentially the same, the IRS disagrees. In fact, it exempts companies that transport bitumen derived from tar sands from an 8-cents-a-barrel tax levied on transporters of crude. TransCanada can't reasonably claim this tax exemption while pretending it's moving crude oil. More important, we'd like to see the State Department, which is conducting an environmental study of the northern portion of the Keystone XL route, include some analysis of any heightened risks posed by transporting dilbit.”
   
• In a letter mailed to President Obama yesterday, 18 Nebraskans responded to the 18 US Senators who asked the President for a meeting on the Keystone XL pipeline by requesting their own “Beef and Beer Summit” to discuss their concerns about the tar sands pipeline. These 18 landowners are major stakeholders in the project, whose lives and lands will be affected should the tar sands pipeline get approved.
  
  Susan Dunavan, a Nebraska landowner who signed the letter said, "As a grandmom whose land is in the path of the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline, I challenge [President Obama] to meet with the Nebraska 18, ordinary citizens who do not have an "agenda" to further a political career or promote huge foreign corporations.  Please meet with those of us who care about the future of our land and water, our state and our country... a future that money and influence cannot buy.  Please meet with the citizens of the State of Nebraska who want a future for our children, our grandchildren and those yet unborn."
   
• President Obama has made it clear time and again that climate change—and his climate legacy—will be a focus of his second term. Just the other day, Van Jones said that climate “is going to be the issue that he's judged on.” So far, the President and his administration have given little indication that it will consider the serious impacts the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline will have on climate change.
  
  A Bloomberg BusinessWeek article confirms what environmental advocates have long been saying: an Environmental Impact Study of the pipeline will be meaningless without a climate assessment. “The U.S. environmental assessment of a new Keystone XL pipeline route from Canada will be meaningless unless it considers the effect mining of oil sands has on climate change, opponents of the project said,” the article reads. It continues, “The State Department may release within days the updated review of the path from Alberta to the Gulf Coast proposed by TransCanada Corp. (TRP) President Barack Obama rejected a route that crossed an aquifer in Nebraska. Environmentalists say producing oil from Alberta’s tar sands releases more carbon dioxide than conventional drilling, worsening global warming. The review will be “a meaningless document unless it includes a serious review of the very serious climate impacts of the tar sands development the pipeline will trigger,” Trey Pollard, a spokesman for the Sierra Club, said in a statement.”

Quotes of the Week:

• "I'm fighting for the little guy out here who can't fight for himself. They can put you through the financial wringer. But in the end, we will prevail. He said he's hoping that he not only succeeds in his case, but that others join in. If I prevail in this suit, this is going to open the door for every landowner from Canada down to the refineries [to sue the company]. And I don't think TransCanada can handle that." – Mike Bishop, landowner suing TransCanada
   
• “While none of us carry a prestigious nametag other than farmer, rancher, mom, dad, grandma or grandpa, we too represent the concerns of a lot (of) folks here at home. ” –The Nebraska 18

In Case You Missed It:

• Not on My Land – Landowners and other opponents of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline  joined HuffPost Live to discuss the implications of the controversial pipeline should it cross their land.
   
• Brigadier General On Keystone XL Pipeline: 'All Americans Should Be Outraged' – As part of the above segment, “former U.S. Army Brigadier General Steven M. Anderson spoke out against the building of the Keystone XL pipeline, warning that "all Americans should be outraged" about the national security implications of the project.” 

Patriot or Traitor: Rick Perry: Obamacare Won't Be Successful

Patriot or Traitor: Rick Perry: Obamacare Won't Be Successful: ...

Rick Perry: Obamacare Won't Be Successful

Obamacare doesn’t have much of a chance of working because of the wariness of states over the creation of health insurance exchanges, according to Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

“The exchanges are not going to work because states are wise enough not to go into a relationship when you don’t know what the rules are. You don’t know what the cost is going to be," Perry told Forbes magazine.

States have until Friday to decide whether to create their own health insurance exchanges that will help people learn about how and where to buy insurance. The federal government will step in and run exchanges for states that opt out of creating their own.

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“The idea that you’ve got a state instituted exchange, but it has to be federally approved. So the fact is the federal government’s going to have to run these. And they don’t have the expertise, nor do they have the money,’’ Perry said.

Perry, who made an unsuccessful bid for the Republican presidential nomination this year, said he believes “wise governors and wise legislatures will say, ‘No, thank you.’

“Medicaid is a broken system. And the idea that we would expand and put more money and more people into a broken system is not unlike putting another 1,000 people on the Titanic. You know how this is going to turn out. And it’s going to be a disaster.’’

Perry said states should be given “the opportunity to innovate, to put in the programs that best serve their citizens . . .

“Bobby Jindal, one of the brightest innovators in the country. Rick Scott over in Florida, who spent his lifetime in health care. And a host of other governors, hopefully Democrat and Republican governors, will put ideas forward, put concepts forward, try them out in their states.’’