Yesterday POTUS said the administration denied TransCanada's application for the $7 billion Canada-to-Texas oil sands pipeline because there was not enough time to review an alternate route that would avoid a sensitive aquifer in Nebraska -- within a 60-day window set by Congress.
Keystone seems certain to become a key issue for the coming presidential campaign, with teapublicans accusing Obama imperiling U.S. energy security. The administration rejected the attacks, arguing teapublicans inserted an unrealistic deadline in legislation in December that was designed to force Obama's hand by the end of February.
Angry congressional teapublicans voiced their displeasure over POTUS' actions to deny the pipeline project.
What I find most disturbing is that according to Mediaite, an overwhelming amount of teapublcians follow Faux News and Faux News only. If this is the case, what the hell are congressional teapublicans watching?
"Poll results bear that 73% of self-identified Republicans said they trusted only Faux News."
So a funny thing happened on the way to forum this morning - a very good friend submitted to me a story from Faux News. After several hours of research the writer has it right!
Directly from the horses mouth, Faux News writer Sally Kohn writes:
"In reality, the president was resisting an artificial deadline from Republicans trying to force his hand."
"But the fact is, for the good of our country and our economy, rejecting the Keystone XL deal was the best decision possible."
Kohn goes on to say:
.....why the pipeline was a bad deal for America and why it deserved to be rejected".Instead of claiming timeline fouls, POTUS and the administration should have given the below facts, which would have solidified the nail in the coffin - ensuring that the talking heads of congress had little reverberation or little ripple effect in the Keystone pond.
Keystone XL Would Not Reduce Foreign Oil Dependency
The oil to be sent through Keystone XL pipeline was never destined for US markets. In its own presentation to investors about the proposed pipeline extension, TransCanada (the company behind Keystone XL) boasted that most if not all of the extracted and refined oil would be exported --- sold in oversees markets where oil fetches a higher price (and thus turns a higher profit for the company).
Keystone XL Would Have Increased Domestic Oil Prices
Currently, Canadian oil reserves stored in the Midwest help suppress gas prices in the United States, particularly for farmers in our nation’s heartland. In its permit application for the pipeline, TransCanada noted that the Keystone XL pipeline would allow the company to drain these reserves and export that fuel as well. According to TransCanada’s own statements, this would raise gas prices in the United States, especially in the Midwest.
Keystone XL Overstated Number of Jobs to be Created
In 2008, TransCanada’s original permit application to the State Department said the Keystone XL pipeline would create “a peak workforce of approximately 3,500 to 4,200 construction personnel” in temporary jobs building the pipeline.
By 2011, now facing growing opposition to the pipeline, TransCanada had inflated these numbers (using undisclosed formulas) to 20,000. Supporters of the proposal, backed by big oil, have since trumpeted these trumped up numbers.
Current Keystone Pipeline Leaked 12 Times in Last Year
The pipeline that the Obama administration has rejected the permit for would be an extension of a pipeline that has already leaked -- not just once, but 12 times in the last year.
While TransCanada tried to dismiss these leaks as “minor” averaging “just five to 10 gallons of oil” each, the leak on May 7, 2011 near Millner, N.D., spilled about 21,000 gallons of oil in total.
The Environmental Concerns About Oil Leaks Are Justified
Nebraska’s Republican Governor Dave Heineman strongly opposed the Keystone XL project because the pipeline would run through a massive and vital aquifer in his state the supplies clean drinking water to over 2 million Americans plus water that fuels the region’s agriculture industry.
Building the pipeline might have created a few thousand temporary jobs but even a minor oil spill in or near the aquifer would have jeopardized hundreds of thousands of jobs, not to mention the health and safety of millions.
Meanwhile, in Michigan where a similar tar sands pipeline spilled over 840,000 gallons of crude oil into the Kalamazoo River in 2010, residents are still complaining of headaches, dizziness and nausea while studies continue to look at the long-term effects of just being near such an oil spill when it happens.
Mining Tar Sands Would Worsen Global Warming
Assuming you believe, like the vast majority of the world’s scientists, that climate change is both real and of concern, the Canadian tar sands are the second largest carbon reserve in the world.
Mining these reserves would release all of that carbon into the atmosphere, to detrimental effect on our environment. Sure, Canada might go ahead and mine the tar sands anyway, but the United States doesn’t have to help pollute the planet and our own states in the process.
Many disturbing factors exist here. No matter how you look at it, the Keystone XL proposal was a scam of a deal. John Boehner and his fellow banshees are under pressure to create one job, to which they will throw any bogus sham at their troglodytes to ensure their job creation success.
Its evident that congressional teapublcians are not a collection of the 73% following Faux News, or maybe better yet, facts just elude this radical group when it stares them in the face.
Quoting an editorial in the Chicago Tribune:
"The problem is, Keystone should be approved. This is a good project. It will give us energy and give us jobs. You want stimulus? This is a $7 billion deal to be done with private-sector funding."
Readers, I have always said that "a mind is a terrible thing to waste", especially when ideological talking points outweigh the facts.
This is what happens when humans as a society fail to think for themselves.
If you watch the below video one wonders if Ms. Kohn actually works for Faux News.
I applaud Ms. Kohn for credit due, its just a shame that her facts fell on deaf ears. In hindsight I would imagine that Ms. Kohn is unemployed by Roger Ailes for giving facts and for being 'fair and balanced"!
NFTOS
Editor-In-Chief
Roger West
