Tag Archives: environmental

Thoughts on the Keystone XL Pipeline

By Meclee (Own work), via Wikimedia Commons

I spent last week in Montana and one of the biggest national environmental issues was a frequent topic of conversation – the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. It will carry tar sands oil from Canada through eastern Montana, south to Nebraska to speed up and improve the transfer of the oil to the refineries in Texas. I don’t have the solution, but discussing it from both a local and national scale is fun.

There is a statement that applies to most environmental discussions and perfectly to the pipeline. “Environmental issues are emotional; the solution is scientific; but the answer is political.”

Adding a new, very large pipeline presents two significant environmental issues that get emotions boiling. One, it creates an opportunity for a large oil spill on US soil. Two recent oil pipeline spills of note are the ExxonMobile spill in Arkansas just a few weeks ago and the ExxonMobile spill in the Yellowstone River in July 2011. The second, and more significant issue is that construction of the pipeline would reinforce our reliance on fossil fuels for an extended future. We wouldn’t build this pipeline and then not use it. (Or would we? See: Yucca Mountain.)

Now that our emotions are revved up, we can find scientific solutions, both for and against. The pipeline would be built to a standard that our current pipelines aren’t; highly regulated with monitoring and controls, and the scrutiny from environmentalists would not allow a sub-par product. Not building the pipeline could lead to more tanker trucks hauling the fuel. Think about that. What’s better, one controlled pipeline carrying the oil or an older pipeline plus hundreds of tankers driving on our interstates?

Of course, there is a scientific solution to get our country off our dependence on fossil fuels through energy efficiency and renewables. Check out Rocky Mountain Institutes “Reinventing Fire” and you’ll be a believer. If we really start brainstorming alternatives the options are limitless. What about building a new refinery closer to the tar sands, in Montana? But that, and other options open up a Pandora’s box and those are discussions that I’m not ready for in this space.

Unfortunately this, like all national environmental issues, is going to come down to politics. As the Obama administration continues to be on the verge of approving it, the EPA recently got tough, saying that the State Department’s review of the project was insufficient. Approving the pipeline is a big step to getting our country closer to North American energy independence and if you haven’t been paying attention, were getting closer.

It’s probably our biggest national environmental issue right now. It’s local, national, short-term, long-term, and emotions, money, jobs, and politics will be made and lost over it. So where do you stand? Depending on where you physically and/or emotionally stand, the answer becomes pretty clear.

There are plenty of websites for you to get more information and develop your own opinion, but here’s two big ones, TransCanada’s website, http://keystone-xl.com/, and the National Resource Defense Council’s (NRDC) site, http://www.nrdc.org/energy/keystone-pipeline/.

Genesis of The National Environmental Professional

When I started my first environmental professional job in the late 90s, I had never met or even heard of anyone else who did this kind of work. I routinely thought to myself, “Who else works in this field?” From my vantage point at the time I figured environmental companies were either activists groups or engineering firms looking for new avenues of work. That was often the case. I wished there was a publication where I could learn about the people in the field and their work, beyond my small circle of coworkers and associates. There were groups and associations, but even the national ones were regionalized unless you could go to the conferences. Since then, the size and number of organizations has grown and the environmental community is more connected, but there is still room to learn about the people doing the work.

I’ve continued to work in this field; living the environmental professional lifestyle. This has included working for 6 different environmental companies as well as 3-other non-environmental, science positions. (Ah, the life of a consultant/contractor.) I’ve seen the good and bad, the interesting and the boring, and the science and art of the work and lifestyle.

With this website I have created what I was looking for years ago. It’s not just a place for someone starting out to learn about the field. It’s for all environmental professionals interested in the lifestyle outside of their desk, office, or job site across the nation. Lastly, it’s also for me. I am curious to meet all the interesting people doing great work. I hope to see you soon.

Welcome to The National Environmental Professional

Welcome to The National Environmental Professional, a site dedicated to highlighting the people, projects, and places that make up the environmental professional lifestyle.

The “environmental professional lifestyle”? What does that mean?

We are all asked what we do for a living from time to time, usually by new acquaintances. If you’re a teacher or a doctor or a photographer, everyone has an idea of what you do. They probably also have an idea of your lifestyle. For an environmental professional, it’s not always an easy answer. I’ve had several colleagues tell me stories about trying to answer that question without boring or confusing people. The answers I’ve given include environment consultant, environment scientist, environmental, health & safety instructor, and more. And even those don’t mean much to someone outside the field. My favorite answer is to say I’m an environmental Winston Wolf. (If you don’t know The Wolf, it’s worth your time to look him up. See: Fiction, Pulp).

Even within the environmental field, saying consultant isn’t specific enough. Are you a RCRA- or DOT-ologist, a hydrogeologist, a researcher developing green technologies, a natural resource manager, a sustainability manager, an activist, a lawyer? Are you starting to see why I’m creating a place to tell our stories? Although there is no one clear definition of an environmental professional, we’ve all made a career in the environmental field a part of our life. Just as those who are journalists see the world through journalistic-eyes, environmental professionals see the world and live their life with their own tinted eyes, which incidentally are not always “green.”

I hope to introduce you the interesting people I’ve met and plan to meet, open your eyes to some amazing work, and share some great stories. This will span the nation because although we all have a home office and/or a region, so many people I’ve met have spread their expertise across the country. I myself have covered 49 states. Who knows? Maybe this will give me an opportunity to see #50.