Climate Tuesday: When an Oil Spill Isn't an Oil Spill

You might look at that picture of a Mayflower, Arkansas backyard and think to yourself, I would be mad as hell if there was oil all over my backyard. You'd be almost right to think that too, as the runoff of that Exxon-Mobil pipeline turned suburban streets into a Venice of tarry liquid that flowed into storm drains and damaged private property. But only almost. See, this was actually a spill classified as "bitumen". That means that taxpayers will be footing the bill for clean-up of the mess, which some local residents hadn't even known existed.

Now, if you took a look at the sobering pictures related to this spill, and considered the harm to humans as well as local wildlife, it might really give you pause to reflect that we are considering allowing a tar sands pipeline that will carry ten times the material that this one does, which will cut through the Oglalla aquifer that irrigates much of the Midwest.

But we are.