More political pandering…the Keystone Pipeline
Today, President Obama killed the Keystone XL Pipeline. That project would have brought 700,000 barrels of crude oil a day from Canada to our gulf coast refineries to be processed. And brought us approximately 20,000 most needed jobs. But, the project has now been shelved, once again, until after the 2012 election.
Under the President’s new, every vote counts program, it simply will not do to lose the far left environmental vote. And, those folks have been picketing the White House recently reminding him that every vote is critical to his re-election.
Wendy Abrams, who raised from $50,000 to $100,000 for Obama in 2008, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, had said rallying her friends around the president would be hard if he approved the pipeline.
Well, President Obama is now their hero.
The environmentalists claim that the pipeline will do two things. First, it might leak “endangering water supplies in Nebraska”. Of course, it might not leak, too, but, let’s think about that statement. Construction of the pipeline will be supervised by our Department of Interior, Environmental Protection Agency, and an assortment of other government bureaucracies.
Is our President saying that his administration is too stupid to administer the Keystone project correctly (so that it doesn’t leak), but, at the same time, brilliant enough to promulgate rules regulating virtually every aspect power plant emissions and deep water oil drilling? That seems odd.
Even odder still is the second reason the environmentalists oppose the project…it “will add to greenhouse gas emissions”.
Let’s analyze that as well. The pipeline itself, of course, will not add anything to”‘greenhouse gas emissions”. So I suppose the oil that is being transported is the problem…that is, if we consume it in this country. But, as the President assured Brazil on his last visit there, “we will be your biggest customer” of the oil you drill off your coast.
Does oil consumed in this country from Canada emit more ‘greenhouse gasses” than oil consumed in this country from Brazil?
Logic seems to have nothing to do with the President’s decision…thus, the title of this post.
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According to some sources, the oil would have been refined in the US, and the diesel fuel from it would be exported to Europe and Latin America, escaping a? tax that would be collected in the US if the diesel were used here.
Yet another reason over taxation is a bad thing to do.? Of course, now ALL the fuel that would otherwise have come here will be exported to China and elsewhere, so NO taxes will be collected.?? That Diesel could be redirected to this country in a time of need, but if it goes to China, it does us no good whatsoever.? And the oil will be transported across the ocean in tankers with far more irreparable potential for leakage than any pipeline.? And the real reason the greenies oppose the pipeline, the mining and processing of oil sands in Canada, will not be affected a whit.? As our biggest oil importer, Canada will continue to send oil into this country by other pipelines and trucks, so what does this purely political decision achieve?? Not much. ? It sounds like another mindless, “lose-lose” proposition by the greenies and their beholden president.? What it will achieve is the continued dependence on Middle East oil.? Recent threats by Iran and the Strait of Hormuz show how well that is working.
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You have to wonder when the line from total incompetence to outright indifference/hostility against this country is crossed.
Please don’t believe Boehner and friends who have been on TV with lie after lie.
20,000 jobs?? According to the state dept. at most it will be 6500 TEMP jobs, most of which will be going to Canadians.
The contracts for this oil are already done, and the bulk of it will be exported to foreign countries.
As far as the lie about reducing our price at the pumps? “Crude oil is one commodity that’s truly international, highly liquid and moves on its own supply, demand and most importantly, geopolitical dynamics. ?So Keystone pipeline may be a big multi-billion-dollar project, it carries little weight in setting the oil and gasoline prices.? ”
The pipe (made in India) will cross 1500 waterways which supply the 30% OF THE COUNTRY with water. Last year 42,000 gallons of oil spilled into the Yellowstone River and a year before that 20X that much spilled into the Kalamazoo…and this tar sands oil from Canada is the filthiest oil on the planet.
you are being played. They’ll say anything in their roles as prostitutes to big oil.
I believe it was the unions (http://www.liunabuildsamerica.org/news/story/766 and http://www.pipeline-news.com/feature/labor-agreement-keystone-xl-pipeline-create-13000-american-jobs) that quoted the job creation figures.? They wouldn’t lie to us, would they?? And even 6500 jobs is better than no jobs.? Yes, crude oil is an international commodity, but if a sixth of the world’s oil goes through a highly vulnerable area, versus protected in the heart of this country, which would be more easily protected during some chronic Middle Eastern strife?? The key word is: stability.? See my other comments above.
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Who’s lying?? Well, ?bama is doing a fine job, with the decision being based on “rushed and arbitrary” deadlines by (you got it) the Republicans. ? This pipeline has been approved by several government agencies for several years until the word came down from the “top” to delay and obfuscate.
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How are those Gulf oil permits coming, by the way??? And all of those jobs?
?bama killed those Gulf Coast jobs off a long time ago. ?bama, following the mantra of the U.N. Sustainable Development Initiative, wants to drive up the cost of fossil fuel to make it prohibitive to buy. As the price of fuel goes up. the weak economy — courtesy of ?bama — falters even faster. This is the aim of the SD crowd. ?bama HAS to oppose anything that would increase the availability refined fossil fuels.?
http://www.freedomadvocates.org/articles/sustainable_development/agenda_21_alert%3a_global_warming_freeze_20100505412/
Then again, that is the State Department, which last I looked was part of President Obama’s administration.? Interesting fact that that doesn’t get much press…Nebraska and its water seems to be the justification ?here.? Nebraska already has over 25,000 miles of pipeline running through it…more than the circumference of the earth.? Any leaks?? And, Nebraskans are in favor of the pipeline…they want the jobs.
Please don’t believe what you have been instructed to believe.? Yes, the pipeline will create jobs in Canada, but the 20,000 figure is American jobs.?
And, would you deny a fellow American a job on the grounds that is is only a “temporary” job?
I wouldn’t believe anything that comes out of our State Dept. ?The pipeline is going to happen, maybe later rather then sooner, but it will eventually be built. ?The doomsday scenario you’re suggesting is the same kind of rhetoric that normally flies around when a large project like this is being floated. ?The 800 mile Alaska Pipeline was supposed to have decimated the caribou population by some pretty wild estimates, but it never happened. ?This is a pipeline that pushes almost a million barrels of crude oil per day and benefits a couple of thousand workers, in addition to millions of dollars in revenues that have benefitted every Alaskan as a whole. ?We need more projects like this one, not fewer!
I don’t believe Bonehead & don’t believe that much oil spilled either. The benefits to us our allies & the world makes it a good project. BTW,everything is temporary.
Just read that Boehner has $350,000 invested in companies that would have benefited from the KPL. So, I had 3 thoughts:
He really must be cryin tonight!
No wonder he was on the Sunday AM shows lying about the KPL!
This is why these guys leave DC? multi-millionaires.
If I had $350,000. to invest I’d put it into energy as well. ?It’s the one segment of our economy that continues to outperform all others. ?Wouldn’t you like to see your investments perform real well, or do you prefer the ones that lose money hand over foot?
So we are kissing off a reliable oil supply that doesn’t pay terrorists/terrorist supporting nations and tens of thousands of jobs to “get” Boehner?
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Isn’t this like cutting off your head to cure acne?
Ha, Ha, ha, Dims what a question!!! As someone who regularly writes here would say…..DUH. I’ll take my head please and acne be damned.
Can’t stop it, sorry. As the Red Queen said, Off with their heads”!
Now that I believe-they’re all insider-trading crooks.
SOS, you do your homework! ?bama has framed his continued refusal to O.K. the Keystone Pipeline project as a Republican plot to delay the project. Nothing could be further from the truth. As the election draws near, he will promise the Union vote that he will “do everything in his power” to make sure the project is moved forward. Ha! It was his Regime that halted the thing in the first place! There wasn’t any problem until the ?bama W.H. sought to turn the Occupy movement to the Regime’s political advantage, which means playing up to the environmentalists. With a wink and a nod to the Unions, ?bama will wait until there is a crisis (Iran?) that necessitates the building of the Keystone Pipeline Project. (Too late)
?bama = Blame Someone. Blame it on the Republicans. Three years and counting of childish blaming and finger pointing is killing this country.
Oh, and the professorial lecturing!
We need a leader not conniving bystander. Dump ?bama in 2012!
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Pandering to to disparate interest groups twists our chameleon president (oops that will be considered racist) into truly strange positions, doesn’t it?
I’d love to see all those self-righteous demons of environmental purity foreswear all oil derived products and services, you know things like electricity, heat, air conditioning, cars, affordable food, modern fibers, medical appliances, all those things extraneous to modern life.? You can bet your Birkenstock booties the ranks of those hypocrites would thin if they had to do actual labor in heat and cold without power tools and travel in animal drawn vehicles all for the sake of an environmental utopia.
Clearly solidifying his base is far more important than creating jobs in a recession- and yes, as far as I’m concerned, we’re still in one.? Actions speak louder than words, and any of Obama’s words of concern for the jobless ring especially hollow now.?? They are belied again and again by policies that he advocates which seem calculated to perpetuate the need for government handouts in order that those who depend on them will vote based on the immediate fear of benefits being cut rather than casting a visionary vote for a long term prosperity generated by hard work and a growing private sector.
Without a crisis there would be no need for a rescue.? I’m skeptical of the cost impact that such a pipeline would have on price but creating jobs would enable more people to afford fuel and all manner of consumable goods- whatever the cost.? As for global warming- hasn’t that been outed as a gigantic hoax?? Why then is it still being used to justify blocking projects that could breathe life into a stagnant economy?? Oh, wait a minute… I think I already answered that one!? Gullible people vote too.
It disappoints me that so many people are either unable or unwilling to see this administration for what it really…
If the Eco-Nazis had their way, we would all be living in autonomous communes wearing homespun, and selling cow pies to each other.? I’m steadily getting through my ” Colloquial Chinese for Servants” tapes.?
not all would living in dark, the big wigs in government would be fine. Think North Korea.
not all would be living in the dark, George Orwell’s PIGS would be fine. I hope the sheep get the message before the next election.
BHO has to be against the pipeline it would defeat his entire purpose for being. It would create more jobs and more wealth so you end up with more evil rich people. The price of fuel would drop making his Volt even more expensive and more useless. All the subsidized “green” energy companies he’s banked rolled with our money would fold even faster. And the jobs created would go to republicans cuz we know his followers wouldn’t work for evil petroleum. If gas prices and unemployment got lower he’d have to find more crisis’s not to waste.
Yeah! Geez! I wuz gonna go to Canada sos I could get me one o dem temp jobs sos I cud be rich for a year!?
And I don’t care dat dem there pipes wud leak in a year cuz my water duz not come from dere…just my food…o heck, who cares.
And I don’t care that dat? this oil is only gud for plastics (why China wants it). I cudda bought? more cheeep junk from Walmart!? Geez ..dam Obama!
You sound like a OWS stooge…..LOL
Your failure to procure a proofreader aside, what’s wrong with jobs that could get people off of unemployment or welfare?? As noted by others, the probability of leaks is significantly higher with ship transportation vs. oil, Nebraska is already riddled with pipelines, and as sammy and even the crackpot greenie sites noted that the oil would be made into Diesel fuel and “other products”.? Your last sentence doesn’t even make sense.?? Except for the “dam ?bama” part!? 😉
now now careful picking on speech patterns you may violate the ADA….. besides throw a couple of ahs in there and she could be our govenor.
Amusing! The cry for : “Drill, baby drill”, supposedly in the US (or has that changed to “Dig, dig” you in Canada) has been replaced by a cry for jobs having to do with non-US produced oil whose distillates will be exported out of the US.? And still holding on to the notion that all that mid-East oil is destined for the US, not!
Most of our consumed oil is imported, mostly from Canada and Venezuela (http://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/pet_move_impcus_a2_nus_ep00_im0_mbbl_m.htm), but an interruption in ME oil will cause price spikes regardless of the source.? Even if the distillates are exported, we will create jobs and maybe even a new distillery!
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And there is a lot of oil to “dig” in the U.S., i.e. the Bakken formation, but ?bama and the greenies won’t let us get it.
Subject of the post is that President Obama killed the Keystone Pipeline because Wendy Abrams who raised $50,000 to $100,000 for Him in 2008 said rallying her friends around the President would be hard.? Money buys votes ergo kill the pipeline. You can think what you want about whether it would provide jobs or not, I think it would. If I believe Sammy and I do, wouldn’t refining oil provide jobs for Americans?
I don’t think the liberals think those jobs are good enough, much like those “insulting” (a la Juan Williams) jobs that Gingrich wanted kids to get while in school.
Sorry I meant him, not Him. Silly keyboard
So all those in favor of the pipeline would be just fine with it if it came through central Connecticut?
You couldn’t even get an offshore gas terminal in this state.? The odds of a pipeline are nil.
@Chelly1222, I would have no qualms.