8/12/2019 Letter to State Dept 14-03-07 KXL

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Douglas A. GrandtPO Box 6603

  Lincoln, NE 68506

  March 7, 2014

Bureau of Energy Resources, Room 4843 Attn: Keystone XL Public CommentsU.S. Department of State2201 C Street NWWashington, DC 20520

Re: TransCanada permit application for the Keystone XL pipeline

Dear Secretary Kerry and President Obama,

I have written fifteen letters on fifteen different issues relating to the assumptions andmethodology embedded in the EnSys WORLD model, as well as the lack of transparencyand the subtle subterfuge and obfuscation in specific sections of the FSEIS.

Now, I would like to make a final simple statement, one that I have been writing to youand Mr. Rex Tillerson, CEO and Chairman, ExxonMobil. I have done so in lettersaddressed jointly to Barack Obama and Rex Tillerson with cc to John Kerry, mostly, butsometimes addressed to just one of you at a time -- I have bound the 350+ lettersaddressed to Rex Tillerson and 170 letters addressed to President Obama in nicelypackages volumes and mailed them to them Messrs. Kerry and Podesta

The message is consistent, and it has taken a variety of manifestations, but it is simple:

"We must abandon our reliance on the burning carbon-based fuels, we are poisoningthe planet."

Those are not my original words. Those are the words of Dr. George Woodwell, founderof Woods Hole. I had the good fortune to meet Dr. Woodwell on May 15, 2009, at aClimate Leader reunion in Nashville, hosted by Al Gore (I am one of the first 1,000 peopletrained to present Mr. Gore’s slide show, which was the basis for the movie ‘AnInconvenient Truth”). Dr. Woodwell was one of the keynotes, and I had an opportunity tospeak with him briefly. I remember those words as clearly as if it was 5 minutes ago.

Specifically, at this time, I want to wrap up my commenting effort with a simple plea:

There is too much downside risk from the Keystone XL pipeline -- or any pipeline forthat matter -- which outweighs any upside benefit. The benefits are questionable atbest, but the downsides are disastrous. I have told Rex Tillerson and both of you inmy hundreds of letters over and over, not to venture where there is any possibility forMurphy's Law to make us regret having taken a specific course of action.

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8/12/2019 Letter to State Dept 14-03-07 KXL

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In this current case now under discussion, we cannot justify building the Keystone XLpipeline -- if the worst happens, IT WILL RUIN SOMEBODY'S DAY ... forever.

Please shift your way of thinking to apply this simple rule to all things energy. If there is arisk that somebody's day will be ruined by a spill, explosion, leak, derailment, toxic plume,polluted stream, destroyed livelihood, tainted food or water source … don't go there.

“All of the above” does not cut it for me. We need to begin retiring the refineries andreplacing the refineries with renewables. We need to stop feeding their demands

We need to engage the industrial captains -- Rex TIllerson and his colleagues -- tocollaborate on a unified plan. A plan that commits to making Tyrannosaurus Rex-fineryextinct within 2-3 decades. Like Seymour in "Little Shop of Horrors" who demands"Feeeeed meeee" we need to eliminate the demand for feedstock, which is quietlydictating our every decision with regard to crude oil and diluted bitumen.

The only benefit derived from the Keystone XL would be to feed the Tyrannosaurus Rex-fineries in the Gulf Coast.

FSEIS refers to Tyrannosaurus Rex-finery as "U.S. consumers." That is a strange way torefer to a complex demanding machine, one that is not human, one that never sleeps.

There is no benefit derived for true U.S. consumers of the human kind. Keystone XL hasno redeeming value.

Keystone XL contributes NOTHING to the National Interest.

Deny Keystone XL.

I implore you to use this opportunity to launch a moral discussion around all pipelinesand rail methods of delivering tarsands of any sort and any source (Canada and U.S.) tomarket.

Leave the tarsands in the ground. Begin dismantling the fossil fuel infrastructure

Sincerely yours,

Doug Grandt

Douglas GrandtMarch 7, 2014

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