82% more greenhouse gas emissions than conventional oil....

[Playinghardball]

A Monday evening vigil outside the White House was among more than 200 demonstrations planned across the country by leading environmentalists opposed to construction of Canada’s controversial tar sands oil pipeline. President Obama will have the final say on whether to allow building the 1,200 mile pipeline to ship 830,000 barrels a day of the dirty crude oil from Alberta to refineries in Texas along the Gulf of Mexico coast. An environmental impact study released on Friday discounted the increase in greenhouse gas emissions that would result from extracting and refining more of the dirtiest form of crude oil on the planet. Sen. Bernie Sanders said the report “turned a blind eye to the ugly reality” that expanded drilling in the tar sands region would contribute to global warming. President Obama should block construction of the pipeline, Sanders said, to avoid contributing to “the most serious environmental crisis facing the world today.” In addition to the vigil outside the White House, another was planned Monday evening in New York featuring 350.org co-founder Bill McKibben. The Vermont-based McKibben’s 350.org helped organize the vigils along with CREDO, the Sierra Club, Rainforest Action Network and other organizations.