If you have listened to the news on the Keystone XL Pipeline today you might be thinking that the Republicans are responsible for killing the pipeline – you would be wrong. After hearing these reports I decided to read Obama’s official statement on his rejection of the Keystone XL Pipeline. He suggested that Republicans ‘forced’ his hand by setting an arbitrary 60-day deadline for a decision. When I heard the explanation on NPR this morning the president’s position seemed reasonable and appropriate. Those crazy Republicans wanted to force him to make a decision before he had enough time to study the impact of the pipeline – they only gave him two months. Wow. So I decided to do a little research of my own. Turns out the truth is very different from what either Obama or NPR wants us to believe. Obama has been delaying a decision for political reasons since entering office in 2008 – more than three years…
The Keystone XL was proposed in 2008 and was approved by the National Energy Board in 2010. Obama and NPR’s assertion that Republicans are ‘rushing’ him is completely BS. His administration has had three years to study the impact of the pipeline. The Republican’s 60 day deadline for a decision was in direct response to Obama’s announcement in November that he was going to delay a decision on the pipeline until November 2013 – just days after the presidential election. Obama wasn’t rushed – he was forced to admit what he was planning all along – to reject the pipeline. The only way we get the pipeline is to get a new President, period.
Obama claims that he is concerned about the pipeline’s route through the environmentally sensitive Sandhills in Nebraska. What he doesn’t tell you is that Keystone worked extensively with the US Department of State and came up with 14 (yes 14) different routes including one route that avoided the Sandhills entirely. In November the Governor of Nebraska signed to compromise bills with the pipeline builder to move the route out of the Sandhills.
At the end of the day Obama is against the pipeline. Had it not been for the Republicans forcing him to reveal his decision the American people wouldn’t have known about his decision until after he was reelected. Will this information make a difference? I hope so. Energy independence is VERY important for America. Sending our money to the Middle East is simply a bad idea. Depending on the Middle East for our oil is a VERY bad idea. Today we produce around 60% of our own oil and with the pipeline the Americas could produce more than 2/3rds of our oil – within a decade we could produce 100%.
