Obama is acting foolishly with his eternal delay on a pipeline that should be built. This should be an anchor around his neck. ---- As the EPA snipes at the State Department's approval, Canada's natural resource minister says failure to approve the pipeline would seriously jeopardize our energy relationship and do nothing to save the earth. Joe Oliver, not amused by the continued delays in perhaps the most shovel-ready project since the pyramids, said Wednesday that rejection by the U.S. of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline "would represent a serious reversal in our long-standing energy relationship." This critical energy infrastructure project is also perhaps the most studied and approved. After a reroute at the behest of environmentalists allegedly concerned about the sensitive Ogallala Aquifer, it received approval from the state of Nebraska. The U.S. State Department, which must approve or deny the project because it crosses an international boundary, recently released its second Keystone XL supplemental environmental impact statement, which represents the project's fourth environmental review. It found the pipeline would not accelerate global greenhouse gas emissions or significantly harm natural habitat along its route. Almost immediately, the Environmental Protection Agency, the sock puppet of the environmental movement, objected to the State Department's draft review, saying it included "insufficient information on environmental issues." The EPA said State used an outdated "energy-economic modeling effort" in its analysis that concluded tar sands oil would find its way to market without Keystone. Of course, considering the economic impact of mindless environmentalism is completely foreign to the EPA. But it is not a concept foreign to Joe Oliver. "Make no mistake," he said in a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, "Canadian resource development and export, including from the oil sands, will continue, Keystone or no Keystone." He was echoing the sentiments of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who has entertained investors and customers from China and has said his oil could go to Beijing or Houston, with America making the final choice. But Canada will not wait forever. "Anyone who equates the rejection of Keystone XL with some kind of body blow to the oil sands is just plain wrong," Oliver said, talking up the prospects of pipelines within Canada that could carry oil-sands crude to the East or West coast where it could be exported. Monday marked Earth Day and the end of the State Department's public comment period for the pipeline. Construction and other unions have been loud in support of the project. Testifying on behalf of the Laborers' International Union of North America, Legislative Director David Mallino recently appeared before the House subcommittee on energy and power. "The unemployment rate in the construction industry reached over 27% in 2010, and joblessness in construction remains far higher than any industry or sector, with over 1 million construction workers currently unemployed in the United States," he testified. "Too many hard-working Americans are out of work, and the Keystone XL Pipeline will change that dire situation for thousands of them." The privately funded $7 billion project, first proposed in September 2008, should have already created 13,000 construction jobs, according to President Obama's own economic advisers. While we dawdle, the jobless rate in the construction industry remains at 14.7%, and the Chinese keep offering inducements to Canada to forget the pipeline and sell its oil to them. The fact is, we are building new pipelines all the time. From 2004 to 2011, the U.S. laid 180,000 miles of oil and gas lines â enough to stretch three quarters of the way to the moon, according to the Transportation Department's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. Somehow the planet survived. It's time to build one more. The Canadians and the American economy can't wait forever. http://news.investors.com/ibd-edito...keystone-pipeline-approval-or-else.htm?p=full
My guess... Odumbo sees NOT approving the pipeline is yet another way to do harm to America. And after all, that IS his primary objective.
I think he sees it as a job creator and that won't work for him. The more people he has on food stamps and welfare the more Democrap votes he can count on for other liberals. So, why approve that silly oil pipeline? It will just take people off the government dole and help the economy and he certainly doesn't want that.