Why Obama Turned Down the Keystone XL Pipeline
On the campuses, and among East and West coast types, environmental activism is the big cause of the day. Unlike working-class voters and even the unions that represent them and put jobs and the economy as their first concern, they like that their hero Al Gore puts nature and the environment first, and always paints a more deadly picture about the condition of the earth than is warranted by the facts. A prime example of this is the column on Huffington Post by the actor-activist Robert Redford, who praises Obama for “standing up” to Big Oil.
In Redford’s eyes, it’s all about Big Oil lobbyists paying off members of Congress to vote for the folly of an environmentally disastrous pipeline. The actor has not one word about the wide breadth of support for the pipeline, including from the AFL-CIO unions that support Obama on almost everything else. But Redford is precisely the kind of Obama supporter whose votes the administration is courting and that they deem as essential for a 2012 victory at the polls.
So if the unions supported the pipeline, as they did, why are they so silent now that the president has turned against a proposal they backed? The answer is that I suspect a private deal was made last week: The unions would downgrade their disappointment at the veto of Keystone XL, in return for the president unconstitutionally using his powers to override the Constitution and put in pro-labor recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the same board that tried to penalize Boeing for wanting to move its new facility to South Carolina from the state of Washington.
For the unions, a pro-left-wing NLRB is more important for Big Labor to attain all of its goals even if it hurts the spread of corporations to a more hospitable climate where new jobs would be created. This kind of clout as well as promises to support other labor demands that Congress might not sanction but which the president would try to implement by executive fiat are more important in their judgment than having the pipeline built at this moment.
And, in the process, Obama would try to energize the left-wing base in Hollywood and the campuses, which care little about the needs of the working-class and the unions, but respond with passion to the clarion calls of Al Gore, Robert Redford, and Laurie David.
So the president makes his move, and leaves the pipeline for the future while instead he makes his stand in an orchestrated speech to be given at Disney World’s “Main Street,” as far away as possible from any real American main street, and where the ghost of Walt Disney is turning over in his grave to learn what his beloved theme park is being used for.
The president, I think, will need a lot more to win next November than pandering to an invited Florida audience at the nation’s number one dream factory after those in Hollywood.
At some point China will force us to drill for oil and to mine for coal as a way to pay off our debt to them. They need our energy resources. And, frankly, China trumps anything that the environmentalists can do politically.
Just remember that Canada will ship their oil to China. Big demand and China does pay well for oil. That will be a big factor in forcing the US to do the same.
It is all very simple. Obama is about the destruction of our country. If you view his actions through this template, there will be no surprise, or politics or other reasons to question his actions. If you doubt what he is doing, just go back and review his actions over the past three years and then tell me what he is doing if not destroying the economy.
Has anyone heard today that China has delivered a drilling rig to the Florida Strait between Cuba and Florida USA? They plan to begin drilling soon. And I’ll bet they aren’t too careful about the environmental effects.
“Has anyone heard today that China has delivered a drilling rig to the Florida Strait between Cuba and Florida”
Mary -
Several years ago on Kudlow (CNBC) I heard that China was drilling off the coast of Cuba. The concern then is the same as now: 1) There are huge gas and/oil deposits in the Gulf off the west coast of Florida; 2) Florida prevented whoever owns the lease from drilling for fear it would damage its beaches/tourism; 3) Because of the fairly new process of horizontal drilling, China could tap into ‘our deposits’ and take what’s there w/o us even knowing it; 4) And, yes, China is not that environmentally conscience.
Famous quote from “There Will Be Blood”. Something like: “If I put my straw in your water, I drink your water.” [Daniel Day Lewis]
Canada must know that undermining America will impact themselves as well.
They will much prefer to sell their oil to America than to the Chinese, if only to slow the rise of the Chinese world power.
As long as Congress is still battling Obama to get the pipeline, the Chinese will not win.
My question is why is Omama even involved in this, this is a states rights issue, and if the states agree to it, who is Obama to prevent it.
It is not that Obama is the heroic defender of our borders
It’s even more than that.
These environmental lefties made rejection of Keystone XL into a virtual litmus test–a non-negotiable demand. If Obama did not reject Keystone, then they would stop contributing to the Obama campaign.
Obama fundraiser Wendy Abrams, for example, a well-heeled Chicago enviro-activist and Rahm Emanuel buddy whose family owns the country’s largest privately held medical equipment maker, recently warned that the Keystone decision would show whether Obama “really wants to begin the transformation to building a renewable energy future.”
news.investors.com/Article/598185/201201181847/pipeline-decision-purely-political.htm?src=IBDDAE
I thought that from the start – It’s cold political calculation: Obama believes union money will still come in regardless of his decision, but environmental/”progressive” groups are more petulant and fickle. If he doesn’t oppose the pipeline, they will stop contributing and might sit out the election “in protest”, but union officials will still donate, even if the members are angry.
Yep! King Barry is wagering that union members will either (a) remain pathetically oblivious to the fact that the modern Democratic leadership considers them primitive lifeforms, fit only for writing checks and voting early and often or (b) that they’ll either sit out the election or vote for him anyway, cuz Republicans are so greedy and mean and junk. I’ve read several leftwing apologists decry the pipeline on the grounds that it wouldn’t create “enough” jobs. I wonder, how many jobs are “enough” if you’re an unemployed construction worker, steel worker or welder? Tell me again, King Barry, how much you care about the working poor and the struggling middle class.
It’s not like the unions that count, the big public and service employee unions, are going to start supporting Republicans. They can take the unions for granted the same way to do Blacks.
Obama angered the Moguls by flip flopping on SOPA, and he can’t afford to anger a large and petulant group (enviros)that provide 100x the money. But most realistic scenarios of the electoral vote put Pennsylvania in a very key position. Obama could lose PA, as outside Philly, it is mostly an industrial and agricultural state. This is why I expect Obama to do a real game changer, and do it soon. Sometime in the next 6 months he will announce the long awaited super mega automatic mass refi of all underwater mortgages in the US. To do this he needs to (illegally?) recess appoint a new head of FHFA, hence his recent test of those powers. He also needs Bernanke on board to drive the 30 yr rate even lower. A mass refi that lowers payments by 400-500/month for 30 years, but does not complete until the election is over will give the huge numbers of underwater borrowers in Florida, Nevada, and Virginia an unbeatable incentive to vote for Obama. It will be the offer you can’t refuse – reelect me or you won’t get the money.
Obama also has a plan B, if his recess appointments are ruled illegal. Bernanke could refinance the mortgages directly. All Republican candidates have promised not to reappoint Bernanke, and he wants to stay in power so he is siding with Obama. But this is dangerous for Bernanke as well. The backlash could end the semi-political independence of the Federal Reserve.
I have known environmentalists up close for many decades. In my own experience there were two types: 1. Leftists who sought to use the environmentalists as a weapon against evil capitalism; and 2. Deep ecologists who romanticize nature and masochistically submit to Mother Nature. The latter type (the primitivists) are discussed here: http://clarespark.com/2012/01/21/huck-finn-and-the-well-whipped-child/.
Abolish the EPA and drill, and do the pipeline.for all the good these enviro wackos do they do ten trimes as much bad that weakens this country even further.
The damage will be reversed in about one year. All of this caterwauling is besides the point: what is in the US best interest? The answer is as plain as “Is environmentalism stupid?”
What makes you think Canada is going to sit on its hands for another year? They’re a sovereign nation intent on exploiting their own resources. A multi-billion dollar project like this can’t simply be put on hold without costs accruing. So if they have to take their pipeline in another direction – to British Columbia to be loaded on tankers for China – they just might do it.
The Watermelons, green on the outside, red on the inside, have already started their war on the Canadians shipping the oil to China. A recent Nat Geo had a big spread on what they styled, “The Wildest Place in North America,” which just happens to be the area tankers would have to traverse to get that oil out of BC. When the time comes, they’ll show endless re-runs of that oiled otter from the Exxon Valdez spill. The Canadians are showing some bravado about this, and they really aren’t as enthralled with the greenies as the majority of Americans seem to be, but they’re going to have on Helluva time building a pipeline to BC tidewater and shipping the oil out in the Prince Rupert area by tanker. And truth to tell, Alaska trade tankers go far out to sea to give the area a wide berth, so the greenies seem to have a pretty good lock on stopping tanker traffic out of Northern British Columbia. Anyway, TransCanada has a half-billion bucks that Sarah Palin gave them for the vaporware gasline, so they can afford to fight this out. And if anyone is interested, there’s lots of oil in Alaska if the communist SOB and his allies in Congress would let it be developed; we don’t need Canadian tar sand oil, and all they want Alaska gas for is to help them develop it.
The strategy is to block the Canadian pipeline as well, effectively locking up the oil sands resources which the enviros believe are too dirty and require too much energy to extract. It remains to be seen whether Canada will sit still for this tactic.
We Won’t!!
Don’t the greenies realize that without oil there is no plastic? Do they think iPads and iPhones can be manufactured with parts made of wind and sunlight?
“Alaska trade tankers go far out to sea to give the area a wide berth”
Are you sure this for some practical reason or mere regulatory compliance. BC has rules prohibiting oil traffic through its waters. (based upon nothing but the fear that something bad might happen sometime.) That would explain your “wide berth”
The “practical reason” is that BC prohibits tanker traffic in the area as I understand it; I’ve never actually looked at the charts or the Coastal Pilot for the rules. Hell, even the State of Washington has talked about prohibiting Alaska tankers from their waters, including Puget Sound; that would pretty much make every Escalade in CA into a lawn ornament.
Yes, Art, that’s why the XL Pipeline decision is so crucial.
It’s about far more than Canadian tar sands, it’s about the entire industry and the country’s commitment to energy independence.
Obama et al view the pipeline as a two-fer (three-fer? four-fer?). Stop the Canadian effort and he effectively stops the Alaskan effort. He signals a potential stop to fracking in Ohio. He issues yet another warning to the industry as a whole. He reassures his allies/our frenemies that he will keep sending our dollars and jobs their way (ME, Brazil, China, etc.).
We have a big test soon; we’ll see if the courts stop Shell’s exploration scheduled to begin this summer of the Northwest Coast of Alaska. This is thought to be a very large province, maybe not an elephant like Prudhoe Bay, but in the big leagues. There are some genuine issues in developing this area, the first being the fact that these would be relatively deep water platforms in water that freeze over half the year or more; nobody’s ever done that and you get a lot of mumbling about how a mid-winter blow out or other spill would be handled in the Arctic Ice. The offshore wells off Prudhoe Bay are in very shallow water and are built on gravel islands, so they’ve never had to deal with platforms in the sea ice there.
In any event, I sure as Hell hope the courts don’t stop the exploration this summer, and for purely personal reasons: I have the opportunity to be the master of one of the service boats for the exploration fleet. Ka-ching! Though it does involve living on the boat or in a tent camp on the beach in absolute wilderness a couple hundred miles north of the Arctic Circle, but I’ve done that sort of stuff before though I was a lot younger.
Honestly, there is so much potential in the Tar Sands that the Albertans will be able to keep both pipelines full by the time they’re built, if they so choose. I don’t understand why the Albertans don’t build more refineries, though, and then sell processed petroleum products. Too polluting, or just not that profitable?
Crude or refined it still has to be transported. As crude it can be done in a single pipeline – as refined products it’d require many pipelines or many trucks or railroad cars. Costs rise substantially when you transport by wheel.
I seem to recall that pipelines can be used for multiple products by using “pigs” in between batches of product. Not so?
Maybe in days gone by this was the case. Now muliple refined petroleum products are routinely sent down the same pipeline one right after another. There is very little mixing at the boundry between one product and the next and that mixed quantity is very easy to remove and recycle.
Yes, you can separate products with pigs and use a single pipeline for multiple products, though not all products are compatible. The TransAlaska Pipeline is operating well below capacity these days and there has been talk of liquifying Prudhoe Bay natural gas onsite and shipping it in the TAPS using pigs to separate it from the oil. Hasn’t gone anywhere yet, and I’m not knowledgeable enough to really know the subtleties of it. The big problem with Alaska gas is it is expensive to develop and transport and the price of natural gas is quite low right now.
If we had started on a gas line to tidewater at Valdez back in ’06 rather than Sarah Palin’s veer to the TransCanada gas line THAT WILL NEVER BE BUILT, we’d be shipping LNG by now and have enough natural gas for Alaska’s domestic heating and electrical generation needs. Particularly with regard to natural gas for use in the Anchorage area, we are approaching a supply crisis, and the only thing that’s even at all in progress is Sarah’s vaporware line to Canada.
Please, the watermelons refer to them, snottily, as “tar sands”. It is oil that is being extracted. Our conservative government will not easily be swayed by them. They intend to sell and move this oil. China will be a good customer if the USA does not want it.
technically.. bitumen..
not tar though.. tar is a product of crude oil..
idiot watermelons..
first they will hee haw around to see if the great plunderer is going to get reelected, if so then they will sell out to china.
The damage will not be reversed in a year.
Would you invest the money in building a pipeline to the US, knowing that all it takes is the whim of some politician to shut it down?
This is permanent “We can’t trust doing business with the US” stuff.
You mean kind of like when Hugo nationalized Venezuela’s oil industry and kicked out Exxon and Chevron?? Yeah it did make it difficult for some Latin American countries to attract foreign investors. But hey we don’t need no stinking foreigners investing in the US. If all the oil industry jobs go away, so will all the pedestrian, money grubbing people and then the US can achieve its place as the world’s top producer of performance art and Medieval History scholars.
Erik, you’ve nailed it.
This decision has immediate negative impact, as noted by so many, but the longterm implications are disastrous. Every business owner and manager, here and abroad, is asking the same question: Can we trust doing business in America?
Obama and Minions sent a very clear answer.
It will take far more than a year to undo the damage that’s been done.
In reality, there are few places left that private oil producers can do business at all. Outside the the Anglosphere and Northwest Europe it is all national oil companies and state-owned oil. Oil-field support work largely remains in private hands as those companies contract to work for state-owned oil producers, but the production company itself is state-owned in most of the World.
Here in Alaska, all the oil under state land, about a third of the landmass, is state owned and we lease exploration and development rights to private produces, mostly BP, Exxon, and Cononco-Phillips, but Shell has taken the initiative for offshore development in Northwest Alaska in federal waters. The State of Alaska could easily afford to set up a production company and take the oil producers out of the equation, but a healthy distrust of government has prevented that – thus far. The perception that some producers, notably Exxon, have been sitting on leases has caused threats of State development, but it hasn’t materialized yet.
It will only be remedied in a year if the SCOAMF is turned out of office in November.
Environmentalism isn’t stupid, Environmental extremism is retarded.
Ask yourselves this: Will Romney undo any of Obama’s “transformations”? We are totally screwed with another year of Obamaism. Who can we best rely on to undo what is destroying us? I don’t believe Romney understands how stifling the Government has become.
Although this will prove to be a bad political mistake, and one in a long list, it is nowhere near the mistake of forcing ObamaCare down our throats.
the general population has no idea what this pipeline even is
the unions are happy and the wacko enviro’s get a shout out while 1/2 the country could care less– the obamanation will say republicans hate recycling just in time for it to stick in the short term memory of the rabble of voters knuckledragging their way to the polling place to go “DERP,” i mean, “D.”
True, at this moment, the general public is scarcely aware of the Keystone Pipeline debate.
It’s our job to let them know what it’s all about.
That’s why we blog.
Funny thing about this is that Nebraska is about 6-9 months before they will finish their study and approve a route. The Feds can’t do anything until there is an approved route. Nebraska is the one holding everything up and everyone is saying it’s rejected when in reality there is nothing to approve yet.
The funny thing is that you are completely wrong. Obama could have approved the pipeline, except he wants to postpone the approval until after the election, when the votes of his Green supporters will not matter.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/01/19/nebraska-gov-heineman-expects-to-ask-obama-for-keystone-decision-before/
Lord, I hope Gingrich gets the chance to debate “The One” and hangs this decision around his neck like the albatross it is. Who wants to bet that not one question about this incredible decision will be asked at tonight’s “debate” by CNN’s leftist “moderators?” No, it’s more important to ask about Mitt’s tax returns, Newt’s failed marriages and Rick’s take on contraceptives. Can the Republic take 10 more months of this clown in office?
I wonder whether this will influence anyone’s vote? Anyone who still supports Obama is overlooking everything from Honduras to Obamacare. Apparently they have decided this miscreant is some sort of all knowing god whom they willingly trust in all things. The decision is mindless, but Obama is not being supported by deep thinkers.
Which leaves me wondering how much of Obama a person can overlook before it becomes a pain in the neck. He’s already a pain in the ass.
Since Honduras was mentioned, we who live here are aware that Obama is determined to help Hugo Chavez move his military to the center of this country. It is a two hour commercial flight to Houston, Tx. or Miami, Fl. much less time to send missiles to New York.
President Pepe Lobo of Honduras is negotiating with Venezuela for more oil at this time. He and others realize that the United States can’t be trusted as a source of energy.
Point well stated. But unfortunately Obama will be around for another year. If we’re fortunate enough to give him the boot in ten months I predict that the last two months before inauguration of his successor will be a nightmare as he and the Dems leave behind all sorts of landmines to sabotage the new administration and leave an indelible Marxist imprint on America as they slither away. We may end up with a new administration and congress but we will still be saddled with an odious NEA who will remain busy indoctrinating our kids and SEIU who will cause as much unrest as possible. The left never gives up.
What this appears to be is yet another piece of evidence in the argument that no one in the DNC has control over this insane presidency. A presidency which has lost its own party 600 seats, ruined the economy, kept us in war, driven the deficit to sky high levels, and spent us into ruin. A presidency that thought it was a good idea to pose Obama in front of the Magic Kingdom castle today. Remember how many stories we’ve heard quietly trickling out that no one can reach this guy? That everything is run by his little group of advisers and inner circle cronies? That no one ever hears from him? This is the result: insane decisions that are going to destroy the Democrats this election year.
Good analysis. Another factor in the desperation of Obama’s folks is that the prior fears over global warming have evaporated. Its supporters have gone silent in the face of continued evidence that the sun, not us, is the culprit that affects our climate. Well, duh. So maybe someone will try to influence the sun’s output. Lotsa luck on that idea, friend.
Cool Jerk’s isolation from reality to which you allude is beginning to have an eery redolence of the final days of Howard Hughes and Michael Jackson rolled into one.
Of course that should be “eerie.”
Read “The Blueprint” to learn how a bunch of billionaires essentially superceded the Democrat Party to install Comrade Obama; he and his handlers owe nothing to the Party or other Democrat officeholders. Start with learning about the Gill Foundation; you’ll see why The Immaculation was in Denver.
Ron, I don’t think “rejection means worse relations with our nearby good neighbor”. It’s more like my fellow Canadians will be thinking “what the hell is wrong with those people?”.
That is a question many Americans are asking themselves, of course.
“…what the hell is wrong with those people?”
Barack Obama.
The environmentalist wack-jobs have naked pictures of Odummer in a hot tub with Maxine Waters. As for the Dems in Congress and the RINOs who support Dear Leader the greens have pictures of them not washing their hands after using the bathroom.
What else could exlain this galatcially stupid decision? Anyone with at least one functioning synapse in their brain can see that this is wrong.
But as has been pointed out above, 48% of the people living here in the US are monumentally stupid and living off the government teat, and the whores in the MSM are both going to support the left despite the outcome down the road.
turn down the pipeline? because it would be a benefit to the country he hates and wants to hurt and harm.
I must take issue with one point in your article.
On campuses, environmental activism is NOT the big cause of the day. Getting laid is. Environmental activism is the big cause of the day with those who can’t get laid.
I would add a further correction. Getting laid is the big issue. There are many ardent environmental activists on campus. There are also a lot of people who became activists as a way to meet people (possibly leading to getting laid).
Ha! This reminds me of the young guys attracted to communism in the early days of the movement. Their explanation? They believed in free love and joining the party was the best way to get laid.
Plus ca change….
why did obama turn the pipeline down?
because it would benefit the country he despises and wants to hurt and harm.
“why did obama turn the pipeline down? because it would benefit the country he despises and wants to hurt and harm.”
Well said and probably true. The pipeline would lower the price of oil.
Leftys hate lower oil prices because it shows that sun and wind are not viable energy sources w/o subsidies.
There is also this that watermelons are deaf, dumb & blind about – when the price of oil increases, everything that is transported becomes more expensive, thereby reducing the amount of money directed to r& d of alternative energy sources.
Affordable energy is what creates wealth, what has let us move from a nation of farmers to a nation of suburban information workers. The Greens despise humanity, so cutting off our energy — trying to force us back into subsistence — is their dream.
For Obama and the non-Green left, what matters isn’t whether the lives of the poor improve, but the gap between the middle class and the poor. Killing off the middle class — turning them into the poor — closes that gap much easier, and much more in line with their views of an ideal society, than telling the poor that it’s all out there for them to earn.
(And the super-rich? The left wants far, far fewer of them, of course, but they’ll all be loyal party members. Or else.)
Affordable energy is what creates wealth, what has let us move from a nation of farmers to a nation of suburban information workers. The Greens despise humanity, so cutting off our energy — trying to force us back into subsistence — is their dream.
As Ayn Rand put it in Atlas Shrugged (pages 867-868, Signet 50th Anniversary paperback edition):
In other words, any hardships imposed on the United States by Our Nero Zero’s (anti)-energy policies should be viewed as an intended feature, not a bug.
Chillingly appropriate.
We view Atlas Shrugged as a cautionary tale. Obama and his posse view it as an action plan.
Truth, Rand nailed it with frightening precision.
The “why he turned it down” is simply the old highest bid, in this case, from the emerging more powerful green lobby. The unions had to take a second place, but not to be forgotten in the next election.
For big goverment to turn down all the potential revenue, is as rational as the Iranian navy attacking the U.S. navy. It isn’t, but it plays well to the local audiences.
Why the hell does this oil have to be shipped to the gulf where it would be exported? Why can’t it be refined in North Dakota, and serve to lower the cost of fuel in that region and the entire U.S.? In North Dakota it would be more of a state’s issue. The greenies would protest a new refinery, but their stage would be limited to just one state. Let OWS try to camp in N.D. in the winter.
Because the refineries in Texas, built to handle very heavy Venezuelan oil are uniquely suited to processing the similarly heavy oil from Alberta.
If environmentalists had been around in the early stone age we would never have learned how to use fire. They are still fighting all forms of energy that use fire. You could say that the heart of environmentalism is a profound fear of fire.
If they pipe the crude to the gulf, it becomes world oil, not domestic. The Canadian and Bakken fields are a long term supply. Domestic oil is still subject to global prices. Cutting down trans-state shipping cuts down the State Department influence and regulations. The choke point to domestic supply is in refineries, hence pricing. The uniqueness of a refinery is a moot point, the approval of an new refinery would be a bitch.
If petroleum prices soar this summer, then Obama owns $4.50/gal gas, which is hard to spin in the electorate.
Today my friend bgates has conjured up a new theme song for the President, appropriate to his visit to Fantasyland:
B-A-R
A-C-K
O-B-A-M-A
Well, he’s got the ears for it, and without having to wear fake ones sewn into the sides of a beanie, that’s for sure.
Occam’s razor, applied to Obama’s behavior, says he’s convinced the US and modern technology are evil. It can’t be stupidity — stupidity is nowhere as consistent as Obama.
He’s trying to destroy them. Why look any further?
Why, indeed?
That’s pretty much a summary of the belief system of the Modern Liberal Arts Graduate Student. Grifting that demographic has been Obama’s meal ticket from the time he got back to the States, so it’s no wonder he caters to it.
“Grifting” is the perfect word-choice, phantommut. We are all marks to Obama.
I don’t quite buy this analysis unless Ron has access to real insider poll numbers showing the Republicans are a lock. Environmental activism may be popular on campus but all campus movements are astroturfed and are only attended by tiny portions of the overall campus. No one can really believe students will vote or canvas in large numbers based on Keystone (unless the Democrats really have started to believe their own talking points). Secondly the NLRB stuffing at the expense of the pipeline only helps the union leadership at the expense of the rank and file and only particular unions at that. Certainly the Democrats are aware that this is the type of thing that makes for Reagan Democrats.
I’m paranoid which makes me think that Obama is using Keystone as a bargaining chip with Iran and maybe other middle eastern oil producers. Give Obama foreign policy successes such as at least promised talks and he takes foreign policy from the Republicans and gets the environmentalists on board. Then he campaigns on enough promised pork to win back the unions.
It’s not the stupid children; it’s the foundations and non-profits that can throw millions at Comrade Obama. So long as the Democrats have the stupid children’s names, the nice people from ACORN or one of the unions can vote for them in most college towns and save them from putting down their doobie or pausing their video game.
Obama is stopping this pipeline simply because it will harm the US and his watermelon friends, green on the outside, red on the inside, want it. He’s not bargaining with ME oil producers; they live in the world of preserving their market share and neither this province nor any other known province will really offer enough production to change their market share. The US failed in its last market share gambit when we couldn’t bring Iraq on line with enough production to change the price paradigm as was the case after the first Gulf War or after the US, the Scandinavians, and Britain brought on the North Slope and the North Sea in the early ’80s and tanked the price of oil for over a decade; much to my state’s chagrin.
“columnist Joe Klein today on Morning Joe called perhaps the worst political mistake of his entire presidency.”
Nah. Obamacare is his worst political mistake . And that’s what this election will be. A referendum on Obamacare. Everything else is background noise.
See everyone (and I do mean everyone) at the polls. The turnout for 2012 will set records.
Ah but what a background noise it is. As long as the GOP can muster up the cahones to attack him on the ‘noise’ along with the Health Care issue. Noise from the AG and EPA – Health – Treasury. Lots of drums to bang on against Obama. Lets hope the GOP – AKA – The Idiot Savant Party – can learn drum banging in time to save something of this Republic. We’d hear a real cacophony – if only…
I think the only one that is willing to do this is Newt.
Another reason Dear Liar squashed it: he wants us to buy oil from countries such as Brazil — drilling in the Gulf, because he wants to “spread the wealth” from America to the rest of the world.
You mean “drain the wealth” from America. If it were “spread the wealth” he wouldn’t be killing the goose.
Obama doesn’t pass up any opportunity to do harm to our country, if he can get away with it.
“the [NLRB] tried to penalize Boeing for wanting to move its new facility to South Carolina from the state of Washington.”
No. There was no ‘move’ involved. No ‘wanting to move’. Boeing built a brand new $billion dollar facility for brand new jobs in SC.
Saying: ‘move’ implies that jobs are lost. No jobs have been lost, nor will be lost in Washington State because of this new facility.
Mike @ 4:14 PM:
“There was no ‘move’ involved. No ‘wanting to move’. Boeing built a brand new $billion dollar facility for brand new jobs in SC.”
Thanks, Mike. Amazing, isn’t it, that they can frame issues so much in their favor that even bright people like those here at pjmedia buy into it.
It’s not about the environment or reelection. It’s about Obama’s future after the White House. He wants to make sure the “cool kids” like him after he is no longer POTUS, no matter when that happens. Just a thought.
I grew up when gas was 32.9 cents a gallon. Once we had to “get in bed” for oil from the Arab dictators, they had the US by the NU*S starting with gas lines in the 70′s. I’d much rather send my money to Canada than countries that continue to fund worldwide terrorism.
We, the British, the Dutch, the French, all the old “colonial powers” sat by when the Arabs, led off by Khadaffi and with Soviet backing, siezed all the oil production infrastructure in the Middle East in the late ’60s, early ’70s. It seems lost now but all those ME nations with oil were all but Soviet satellites in those days, our own very active left wing was firmly on the Soviet side in all the anti-colonialism, from whence cometh Comrade Obama. In many ways we were the instrument of our undoing because we, under our own leftist/communist pressures, in the FDR and Truman Administrations led the charge in the anti-colonialism. Even under Eisenhower, we sat idly by and in some ways cheered on the Egyptians when they siezed the Suez Canal; the French and British were willing to go to war over that and we pulled the plug on them. Even as late as the mid-Seventies, if that idiot Carter had let the CIA give him a 9mm brain hemmorhage rather than let Khomeni go back to Iran, the history of oil and the region would be much different and better for the US. Frankly, we hardly ever missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity and when we did do something it was usually wrong.
Are you ready for some Football? Union Planning to Ruin Super Bowl
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/ind-unions-s…
VIVA LA TEA PARTY!
Thanks for the link to the Times editorial. I hope people read it; it makes a lot of sense. Consider:
Obama “rebuffed the demand of House Republicans that the controversial project be decided in haste under an election-year deadline. The foolish requirement that Mr. Obama issue a decision on the pipeline by Feb. 21 — cynically inserted into the payroll tax bill passed in December — could never be met given the need for a thorough environmental study before any judgment is made.”
But RR claims that the environmental studies have already been done. Yes, but according to an earlier Times editorial, via Wikipedia:
‘In October 2011, The New York Times questioned the impartiality of the environmental analysis of the pipeline done by Cardno Entrix, an environmental contractor based in Houston. The study found that the pipeline would have`limited adverse environmental impacts, but was authored by a firm that had “previously worked on projects with TransCanada and describes the pipeline company as a ‘major client’ in its marketing materials.” According to The New York Times, legal experts questioned whether the US government was “flouting the intent” of the Federal National Environmental Policy Act which “[was] meant to ensure an impartial environmental analysis of major projects.’
But of course the GOPers want the pipeline only for the good of the nation. However, according to Reuters, yet another left-wing news source (i.e., a source other than Fox News):
“Koch Brothers Positioned To Be Big Winners If Keystone XL Pipeline Is Approved”
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/10/idUS292515702420110210
Guess that’s reason enough right there to kill that pipeline, isn’t it?
Guess that’s reason enough right there to kill that pipeline.
The Reuters writer really did some *great* work there. But, for some reason, he didn’t discuss the *magic oil gnomes* who will be needed for the Koch brothers to actually make use of XL, since the proposed route doesn’t go near their refineries. (I mean, I’d sure have to use magic oil gnomes.) Seems like he should do an expose on those guys: “Koch Brothers Responsible for Unsafe Gnome Working Conditions.” Sounds like a Pulitzer. Then he can follow up with coverage on the Oompa Loompas. I mean, chocolate river? Sounds like Willy Wonka is in bed with big oil.
From last May:
“There is an existing Keystone pipeline that begins in Alberta and runs to Cushing, Oklahoma, as well as points east. The proposed Keystone XL pipeline, which is scheduled to begin construction this year, represents an expansion of that system, as this map shows: [image]
The Keystone XL pipeline, like the existing Keystone pipeline, will be owned by a subsidiary of TransCanada PipeLines Limited, a Canadian company in which neither Koch Industries nor any other American company has any interest.
Koch Industries’ two largest refineries are in Rosemount, Minnesota (Pine Bend) and Corpus Christi, Texas. Koch does not use the existing Keystone pipeline to ship crude oil to either of these refineries, or any other Koch refinery. Instead, Koch buys crude oil for the Corpus Christi refinery from onshore Gulf sources or from abroad, and it ships Alberta crude oil to its Pine Bend refinery on the Enbridge pipeline, taking custody at Clearbrook, Minnesota: [image]
Now go back to the first map, and look at the proposed Keystone XL pipeline. You will see that it does not go any nearer Rosemount, Minnesota, than the existing line–actually, it will be farther away–nor does it go to Corpus Christi. Koch has stated that regardless of whether the Keystone XL project is constructed, its refineries will continue obtaining crude oil from their existing sources. The proposed Keystone XL pipeline does not offer any economic benefit to Koch Industries. Because Koch Industries has no financial interest of any sort in the Keystone XL project, it has never taken any position on whether that project should be approved.
In fact, completion of the Keystone XL project likely would be detrimental to Koch Industries. Currently, the large quantity of crude oil produced from Alberta sands flows predominantly to the Midwest, where there is a surplus of supply. This allows Koch to buy crude at Clearbrook at favorable prices. If the new pipeline project is built, Canada will have more outlets for its crude oil and the Midwest will have to compete with refineries in Texas for the product. Thus, the Keystone XL project likely would result in Koch paying higher prices for crude oil for its Pine Bend refinery.”
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2011/05/029093.php
oh gosh, you’re just too smart for us! yup, it’s all about the Koch Brothers.
I don’t know if you people are paranoid, or just not very well informed, or what, but the Koch Brothers don’t control the world. you probably won’t believe this, but I started attending tea party events before I even knew what a “Koch brother” was. and no, Glenn Beck didn’t order me to!
this pipeline would have been good for EVERYONE, not just “Big Oil” (which is apparently far more evil than “Big Pharma,” which Obama adores). and it would have accomplished several very important things (supporting an ally and creating jobs), but Obama’s concern is not to help the country. it is to get reelected. and, if one wanted to be paranoid about it, possibly also about continuing to funnel oil revenues to his Muslim pals in the ME.
Obama has dreamed of 7$ gas to wean us all off evil oil- if the pipeline was ok’d we would drown in oil, the economy would boom practically overnight on 2$ gas- that is 180 off of where the powers that be want us- election be damned we will have Romney to roast, easy pickins
Xl plays into O’s redistribution plans! Oil trade groups: Drilling deregulation could create 190,000 jobs, permanent jobs! Published: 12:04 AM 07/12/2011| Updated: 2:34 AM 07/12/2011
http://dailycaller.com/2011/07/12/oil-trade-groups-drilling-deregulation-could-create-190000-jobs/
Gasoline Taxes Vs. Exxon Profit, Per Gallon
http://www.dailymarkets.com/economy/2011/04/27/gasoline-taxes-vs-exxon-profit-per-gallon/
George Soros bankrolled Oliars election. George Soros bankrolled the Brazilian offshore oil drilling campaign. Brazil needed deep water drilling platforms. Oliar effectively shut down drilling in the gulf freeing up much needed drilling rigs. Oliar shut down the Keystone project which would have given us plentiful oil. Plentiful local oil hurts the Soros investment in Brazil. The U.S. becomes the number one importer of Brazilian oil. Soros and Oliar win and the Canadians and U.S. citizens lose.
Patriot 493: And who will be the big winner if the Pipeline is not approved? Obama? I seriously doubt it. In fact bowing to the greens hardly seems smart: he has their votes anyway. Perhaps not their money, but I’m thinking he’ll have all the money he wants from Saudi princes. No, this does not strike me as a smart move. And knowing that the NYTimes thinks it is makes me all that much more certain that it is a bad move.
It is a bad move. He does it because it’s in his nature to do so. There is no logic behind it, only instinct.
According to one recent article, the person who stands to make a killing if the crude is moved by rail is Warren Buffett.
14@Patriot493 : No one on this thread mentioned Fox, but Wikipedia, the NYT, and Reuters are hardly objective by anyone’s standards.
So what does trolling for Obama pay these days? Better than Occupy*?
Assuming this analysis is solid (and it seems solid) then the analogy in Texas Hold’em would be drawing to a low inside straight with four big connected flush cards on the board.
Without the independent voters, Obama might stand a chance if the independent turnout is low.
The Keystone thing though is EXACTLY what it will take to get Independents well and truly pissed off enough to vote Anyone But Obama.
By not taking the Canadian oil means that it has to be replaced and according to the Canadian newspapers Obama has made a deal with his good friend Chavez. So Obama forces the Canadians to sell all their oil to Communist China and in the mean time to replace it buys from another Communist Chavez. If the pipeline would have gone through, we would have been free of OPEC oil for the first time in decade. we wouldn’t have been dependent upon them and now Communist China get the oil from our once best friend and we have to buy from the Communist Chavez because of the Democrats and Obama. We have enemies in high places and its called the Democrat Party, these people are masquerading as Harry Truman types but are more likely of the Marxist stench.
Glad to see you using the “left-wing” modifier for the NYTimes, instead of “liberal,” which the NYTimes is certainly not…
The author of this article is very naive about unions and environmentalists. I am in the Steelworkers’ Union, and our International couldn’t care less about working class jobs. Virtually all their efforts are to push a hard left-wing agenda, and the phony “environmentalism” we see today is a big part of that. Union bosses will cry crocodile tears when Obama does the Sierra Club’s bidding and destroys jobs, but they will happily give him tens of millions for his re-election campaign. It is no big mystery why unions are dying out in the private sector.
Feigned concern for the environment is just a cover for the left that runs the modern environmental movement. These clowns will do anything to cripple our free market system. Any industrial project that is proposed these days is automatically fought politically by the Democrat Party and in the courts. Huge expenses and built-in delays guarantee that many worthwhile projects are not even tried here. Companies must fight the left to even haul industrial equipment cross country these days: http://missoulian.com/news/local/update-smaller-megaloads-roll-in-montana-as-cases-proceed-in/article_a369eff2-2f7b-11e1-b4f0-0019bb2963f4.html
My county’s biggest employer recently announced two big projects overseas, and the main reason they went elsewhere is that those countries are more friendly to business. If the left are successful in destroying our prosperity here, I bet true environmental concern will be an early casualty. Environmentalism is a luxury that only rich countries can afford.
I have to disagree with the author as this is delayed and not rejected. The State Department cannot approve a pipeline until there is a route that has been accepted within all the states. All the states except Nebraska has accepted the Keystone pipeline route. Nebraska has not and will not for about 6 months. So let Nebraska finish their study and let their legislature approve thew route and then the State Department can then approve something.
Considering you posted ~ exact same fiction I felt compelled to respond/ set you straight.
The State Department TWICE determined the pipeline to be environmentally safe.
And the project’s builders had promised to re-route the pipeline to avoid sensitive areas in Nebraska.
You’re trying to conjecture blame to Nebraska? That’s rich.
Uhbama’s had nearly 3 years to get this project off the ground. THREE!!
Give your arm’s a rest, m’boy. That water HAS to be heavy after 3 years..
Of course Nebraska called a special session of their legislature to make sure nothing happens until they find a different route. So one can huff and puff and scream in the corner but until Nebraska approves a route then nothing gets approved. However, if Keystone wants to start building the pipeline without Nebraska approving their route let them but of course they are not stupid. And of course Obama has not killed this pipeline no matter how one tries to spin it. It just delayed.
From what I’ve read, the primary opposition to the pipeline came from conservative ranchers and farmers in Nebraska who depend on the Ogalalla Aquifer for water for their operations. For those not aware, maybe do a little research and you’ll find that water is the lifeblood of the West (“whiskey is for drinking; water is for fighting”).
I’ve also seen a wide range in the number of actual, long term, jobs that would be created. Long term, meaning after construction is done. That long term estimate was just a few hundred. But, if the water concerns are addressed and the new route is actually identified; however, I’m in favor of the approval.
Paul wrote: “The State Department twice determined the pipeline to be environmentally safe……” I wasn’t aware that diplomats had the necessary training to perform environmental assessments. Perhaps they hired consultants?
The purpose of building a pipeline, or any other capital project, is not to create jobs but to create wealth. I suspect imbecile Lefties like Steve B lack the wit to sunderstand that. The Alaska pipeline is 768 miles long, and the year-round direct employees of Alyeska pipeline service co. plus permanent contractors addup to 2,000 highly paid jobs. contracts add thousands of temp jobs yearly. note also that Nebraska already has 25,000 miles of pipelines crossing the state.
‘Perhaps.. perhaps.. perhaps’ Steveorino.
The State Department does dabble in our nation’s international, environmental well-being. The Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment, Robert Hormats (http://www.state.gov/e/) does that and more.
But hey, thanks for playing.
Patriot 493,
The person that wrote the Reuters article is either a moron that is completely ignorant of basic economics and how the oil industry works, or is being purposely misleading.
Right now, the oil produced from the oil sands is bottled up in Alberta. A local oversupply exists. I guarantee this oil is receiving a much lower spot price than the same grade of oil would receive on the Gulf Coast. Koch is one of the local buyers of this crude oil. Right now, they are buying their refinery input at a discounted price, but get to sell their refined gasoline into the northern tier at market value. I do not have insider access, but I would be willing to bet their refining margins greatly exceed the national average on this crude. Opening the pipeline to the gulf coast will result in more refiners “bidding” for the Canadian crude. The price will rise and Koch’s margins will be reduced (on both the input and output side of the transaction).
Unless Koch has some other subsidiary involved in the oil sands business, then building the pipeline will hurt their business.
The Reuters assertion that they have a Transcanada document showing that crude oil prices into the U.S. will rise by $3/barrel due to the pipeline is utter B.S. If you would like to outline your economic assumptions as to how bringing 1,000,000 barrels/day of crude oil into the U.S. will raise prices, then I would be more than happy to debate this issue.
I suspect it is far more likely that the Transcanada document stated that completion of the pipeline would raise the “local” price of oil sands crude by $3/barrel. The Brent spot price to bring oil to the Gulf Coast is currently $10.61 higher than the price of West Texas Intermediate. I do not know the current spot price in Alberta. However, I believe it is less than WTI. You could raise the Alberta price by far more than $3/barrel and it would still be much cheaper than the alternative oil imports into the Gulf.
The reasons for turning this down make no sense. There are already several petroleum pipelines that travel through that region, several to Canada, in fact. The us has 186,000 miles of petroleum pipeline infrastructure. If the oil does not go by pipeline, it goes by rail or ship which presents a much greater environmental threat than a pipeline does.
As you can see from this map:
http://www.aopl.org/images/cms/usMap.jpg
There are already several other pipelines though this region. The environmental impact of this one would be *exactly* the same as the other ones. There is nothing unique or special or more potentially environmentally threatening about this pipeline compared to the many others that already exist.
This smells like one of those “controversies” cooked up by Fenton Communications, to me.
Well said.
Very brief and straight to the point.
seems i remember obummer giving a $2,000,000,000.00 ‘loan’ to venezuela (2009) (marxist chavez, who hates our guts) to do oil exploration on lands held in lease by china. and wasn’t george soros the largest investor in this co.? and didn’t chavez then sieze 11 u.s. oil rigs (2010) when they (venezuela) refused to pay $100 million owed to the u.s. drilling co.
don’t i remember that obummer also floated ‘loaning’ another $2,000,000,000.00 to brazil (2009) for oil exploration (soros)? he pulled back on these guarantees after receiving bad press since he had constantly thwarted u.s. offshore oil production. china loans them tens of billion$ with payment made in oil. btw – the new brazilian prez is a long time marxist. and now we give them an A.F. contract, at the expense of an existing u.s. co. contract?
and don’t i remember the obummer admin. acting in contempt of a judge’s ruling by illegally enforcing a moratorium on u.s. gulf oil drilling (2011)? and then lied and said it was recommended by an agency expert? and wasn’t it during this moratorium by obummer that we guaranteed a billion $$ loan to mexico to drill in these same waters? and we all know how well they respect the environment.
and let’s not forget, while obummer fights us on oil exploration in the gulf and everywhere else, cuba let china drill in those same waters while the oil rigs we had there pulled out.
and don’t let anybody forget that it was months before obummer got through playing golf long enough to start addressing the oil spilling into the gulf. and wasn’t there a union fiasco of not letting nonunion made oil booms play a part in the oil recovery, until it hit the airwaves.
i’ll bet good money that a little research will show that every move obummer makes that hurts America in some way aids his donors, like soros.
Always ask yourself
Cui Bono? Who Benefits?
Follow the Money
Who Benefits? A partial list:
Warren Buffett, who will move that oil by rail at a higher price
Hugo Chavez, who will continue to sell Venezuelan oil to the US
Joe, Robert and Kerry Kennedy, who are involved with Hugo Chavez’s regime
China, who will gain another reliable and inexpensive oil supplier
Miscellaneous Green Energy Boondoggles, who will avoid competition
All of these people support and contribute to President Barack Obama. For every dollar extracted from the US consumer by this veto, a penny will make it back to the President. And that is the real reason Obama vetoed this pipeline.
Mr. Radosh writes: Instead, it [the Democratic Party] has decided to try and increase the vote of the suburban upper-middle class and coastal elites…
I’m a little confused. The Democratic Party wins the coastal elites, and the states attached to the west and northeast coasts, anyway. If Obama wins California by 65% instead of 60%, who cares? Do the Democrats think they’ll win the east coast states south of, oh say, Maryland, with this strategy? The campus watermelon vote doesn’t change; it’s already max’d. The upper middle income voters who Obama and the Dems might target already vote in high numbers; one might think there are more votes there to be mined, but more than the number of unhappy working class independents?
California, Rhode Island and New York are locks for Mr. Obama. Why appeal further to them in the November election when what the Dems need is a way to keep Virginia, North Carolina and Florida, find ways to keep the upper Midwest solid, and find a way to win PA and Ohio. There are a dozen battleground states, and killing Keystone can’t — in my analysis — help Obama win any of them.
It’s not about votes. It’s about MONEY.
He’s in a fund-raising mode right now, hitting the filthy rich Gaia-worshipers.
It seems obvious that Obama’s actions are detrimental to the so-called working class and to anyone knowledgable in simple economics, but we have a brainwashed population that believes the barraqge of lies fed to them by the MSM and the environmentalist hordes that run the country. Our nation is being destroyed by a villainous cabal that the country adores even more than they worship Obama. Leading the charge to destruction is the Sierra Club, but nobody dares question that group of destroyers. American culture, as controlled by the education establishment from Kindergarten through the dumbed down college curricula, believe that this vile Sierra Club are true heroes and patriots. Nobody dares to utter a word of criticism of the viscious culprits, the Sierra Club.
Who cares about jobs in the oil industry. The health of the american people and the environment comes first.
Saving the environment takes fairly low priority when you are cold, hungry and homeless. Think about it, Jackie.
Jack, that oil will get shipped anyway. Failing to build the pipeline isn’t going to stop it being produced. Now the oil will have to go by rail and or truck until Canada builds a pipeline to the coast and then it will go by tanker. All of those modes are potentially worse for the environment than the pipeline. Pipes are very environmentally friendly ways of moving huge amounts of liquids long distances. So instead of an enclosed pipeline going directly to the refinery, the oil will have to travel over several different modes of surface transportation increasing the environmental hazard.
People who oppose this pipeline are simply not using their heads. They are being emotional.
Saving the environment takes fairly low priority when you are cold, hungry and homeless. Think about it, Jackie.
…just testing
This seems to be a straight forward issue on the face of it.
I am amazed this has managed to become political. Yes, jobs and friendly relations with one of the largest hydrocarbon reserve nations in the world who just happens to be our Liberal and sane northern neighbor makes rational sense.
The public objections seem to be 1. This Canadian oil is bound for Gulf Ports through our “heartland” where it will sail in foreign tankers to foreign markets. Is this correct? So how is this “energy independence”? It sounds like cash for more multinational service providers by cutting a pipeline through sensitive US land. Well, that’s the argument.
Do we get cheaper energy? Will those who own the refineries in Texas really generate “energy independence” or just corporate revenue? What oil contract have we signed at what rate? I guess there will be even more jobs in Texas if this goes through.
Why hasn’t this been presented as: we “cleanly refine” the oil in the South while obtaining discounted prices on gasoline and diesel for the nation (and make sure energy companies don’t steal it from the consumers)? Then perhaps, this would be a modicum of “energy independence” for AMERICANS given the huge reserves Canada has to offer us over several decades. This new supply (through a green pipeline) coupled with our own known gas reserves, thorium deposits, numerous decommissioned warheads and reactors, promising solar, wind and mechanical energy generation, we are surprisingly in great shape to within a decade desalinate sea water for more reclamation of deserts.
So many people understand what we should do. We can shift away from ME oil and Chavez. The new found reserves in Israel, the Eastern Med, Aegean, can more than off-set our “independence” and retreat from OPEC providers, but then we will have a relatively “cleaner” and secure energy system at a lower cost than most nations. It will become clear to others that low per capita and pollution is the only way China keeps pace. That race won’t fly into this millennium but it may sail to China from Canada’s western ports if Obama’s not careful.
So again, what’s the problem? Why hasn’t Romney or Gingrich issued a video statement?
Make sure the pipeline doesn’t risk any threat to farming, water and public health. This can certainly be done. A President who couldn’t manage this ought to resign. Make clear what this project means for our energy independence besides jobs in dollars and infrastructure. If its just some construction and transportation jobs that benefit other nations at our environmental peril we still ring hollow on the energy independence front. Will Obama block sequestration pipelines too?
It is odd no non-partisan source hasn’t stepped forward with Lugar and others to bring clarity here. Otherwise, I am suspicious why this has become contentious. Environmental concerns can clearly be mitigated. If this turns out to be the administration’s dislike of gasoline-powered cars or the extraction of tar oil as a global warming threat, that indeed will be a huge mistake. Already, the failure to offer a compromise on Keystone and address the concerns seems to indicate this is ideological, but I wouldn’t read too much into theater.
For some weeks Obama appeared to be toughening towards Assad and Iran. We know now the joint US-Israeli missile test was cancelled. We see lots of theater these days. Russia asks us if our Alaskan Array damaged their Mars Probe.
What is dangerous is that beyond the theater we have a confused and questionable strategy and that elements of US power are unwinding needlessly.
We shall see soon enough. Keystone is actually a litmus test of our ability to still engineer “smart” solutions. Or has politics screwed everything up?
M
Obama is the worst thing ever to happen to the US. Until the rejuvination occurs. The we can thank the dipwad for causing it.
Ron – Two things: 1) I’m glad you called out the NYT as being Leftist. I think (hope) that it will follow all failed leftist enterprises – into the trash-bin of history. 2) Global warming is not anthropogenic. CO2 has been going up steadily and yet there has been no warming over the last ten to 15 years. Moreover, the anthropogenic component of the CO2 increase is 25%-to-40%. So even if we eliminated all carbon burning sources, there would be still an appreciable increase in CO2. Of course, if we eliminated all carbon burning sources, we might as well put an end to human life as we know it: there will be no heating, and there be no eating, and there be no cooling, and there will no medicine, and there will no light, and the environmentalists will not be in sight.
Killing Keystone seems to prove that the President is favoring Communist Hugo Chavez over our Canadian friends. If we were to go forward with this pipeline, Venezuela would have nowhere to sell it’s difficult to refine oil because Canadian oil would supplant it in Gulf Coast refineries. Obama would never allow the EPA to let additional refining capacity to be created because that would upset the environmental extremists that control this President.
As energy prices necessarily skyrocket, expect people to burn more wood. That’s sure to enrage a few watermelons.
Count me and my family in that category. I’ve burned through three cords of firewood so far this winter, and am well into the fourth. While the outside temperature hovers around 32 degrees Fahrenheit, My house is at a comfortable 75 degrees as I type this. I have three more full cords cut and ready to split and burn through to spring. I will not be held hostage to a bunch of misinformed watermelons, nor to a local power company that keeps raising their rates as they spew bullsh*t about reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Well, it would enrage me and I’m a long way from a greenie. I’ve lived in places where there was heavy use of wood for heat, and it gets miserable really quickly in cold, still weather. If you do the work yourself, cutting and splitting firewood is hard, heavy, time-consuming work with not a little danger. You have to work all summer to get the wood in your woodshed and in most climates it takes some time before the wood will be dry enough to burn at all cleanly. Many woodstoves and fireplaces are poorly constructed and their chimnies/flues don’t have an adequate draft and a stove or fireplace that doesn’t draw well smokes up your house and burns very inefficiently. Most modern houses are virtually airtight, so even with a good flue, there isn’t enough makeup air for the stove and again you have a smokey house and inefficient, smokey combustion.
I Juneau back in the ’80s energy prices were very high – either fuel oil or diesel generated electricity, and almost everyone used wood for some of their heating. The Mendenhall Valley, Juneau’s major suburb, is very subject to temperature inversions in clear, cold weather, the kind of weather that requires the most heat. We’d go days and even weeks when the whole valley was shrouded in woodsmoke; you couldn’t see 100 feet, your eyes burned, you coughed, you and everything around you stunk. The very young, very old, and those with respiratory problems couldn’t go outside. People said, “Enough,” and the city began banning wood-burning in those weather conditions, to the usual outcry about how it was hurting the poor. Well, actually, the “poor” had Section 8 housing and state and federal fuel subsidies so wood-burning wasn’t disturbing their stately repose; it was hurting the hippies and a few of the “rugged frontiersman” types. Anyway, did some work with public hearings and the usual stuff that came up with an ordinance that gave an exception for certain high-efficiency woodstoves with catalysts and proper air intakes; they’re expensive but don’t foul the air so badly. Now when it is cold and still, it is clear and you can actually see the stars and the Northern Lights and take a deep breath while doing so. Fairbanks has the same woodsmoke pollution problems in a much colder climate where they’ll go weeks with no wind and sub-zero temperatures when the woodsmoke and other pollutants combines with “ice fog” to make a brown pall over the whole Fairbanks area. There have been times that the ice fog is so thick that even Alaska Airlines cancels flights. So far, the “rugged frontiersmen” are winning that one in FAI, but it is only a matter of time before the EPA steps in as they did in Anchorage some years ago over auto emissions in cold weather. The City embarked on a program to have people plug in their engine heaters any time it was colder than +20F to reduce the highly polluting warm up time and to discourage people from leaving their cars running while they shopped etc., and, yes, emissions testing which got the usual outcry about hurting the poor, and it is, in fact, often expensive and sometimes impossible to bring an ageing vehicle up to emissions standards. I’m not poor, and I’m sweating having mine re-certified in March. But, I drove my wife to work yesterday and it was about 10 degrees below zero with heavy ice fog from mid-town to downtown Anchorage; every furnace stack and vehicle exhaust was belching steam, but you could sit at an intersection and not start to get sick from the exhaust fumes and carbon monoxide, which certainly wasn’t the case a few years ago; you couldn’t drive from downtown to the suburbs at rush hour without getting a headache from the CO.
Art -
I know very little about wood-burning stoves and Alaska, but many year ago in upstate NY I was in a giant barn that was converted into a house (new roof over the old roof to let the old wood beams/joists be seen). Anyway it was about 60-80 ft long by 30-40 ft wide by about 20-30 ft high. It had second level balconies.
The point being is that there was a lot of open cubic footage heated only by a small, new wood-burning stove. I was amazed that something so small could heat the whole place and asked how. I was told the stove had a catalytic converter and was about 98-99% efficient. Almost everything got burnt. The stove, itself, was metal w/glass doors. It was free standing w/a venting pipe that went straight up through the roof. It was very environmentally sound. FYI: Upstate NY gets very cold, too. [I liked your post on red diaper babies -- never heard the expression before].
Art -
I know very little about wood-burning stoves and Alaska, but many year ago in upstate NY I was in a giant barn that was converted into a house (new roof over the old roof to let the old wood beams/joists be seen). Anyway it was about 60-80 ft long by 30-40 ft wide by about 20-30 ft high. It had second level balconies.
The point being is that there was a lot of open cubic footage heated only by a small, new wood-burning stove. I was amazed that something so small could heat the whole place and asked how. I was told the stove had a catalytic converter and was about 98-99% efficient. Almost everything got burnt. The stove, itself, was metal w/glass doors. It was free standing w/a venting pipe that went straight up through the roof. It was very environmentally sound. FYI: Upstate NY gets very cold, too. [Liked your post on red diaper babies -- never heard the expression before].
The woodstoves with catalysts and outside combustion air intakes weren’t subject to the “no woodburning” rules in Juneau, so the must be pretty efficient. I know we cleaned up the problem in a year or two; the Mendenhall Valley went from intolerable during inversions to inversions hardly even being noticed. That valley is the classic V-shaped glacial valley with the Mendenhall Glacier at its heads and mountains down either side. When it is clear, still, and cold there can be a dramatic temperature difference between the entrance of the valley and the Glacier face about three miles in. I’ve turned on the main road into the Valley, I lived about a mile from the glacier face, and if it was five above as I turned in, I could watch the temp tick down on my car thermometer every few hundred feet and it would be five below by the time I got to my house, a couple of miles in. Fairbanks is in a bowl and the cold air just settles there and it gets colder and colder and the air gets thicker and thicker from ice fog and pollution. Once you get much below zero, all the moisture starts to freeze out of the air and the air is filled with tiny ice crystals called ice fog. The moisture from car or furnace exhausts will literally freeze out and fall as a fine snow when it is colder than minus ten or so. Hoar frost forms on everything and the trees look like those fakey looking white Christmas trees you sometimes see. With the low sun angles even at mid day you have sky colors ranging from orange to pink to mauve at the horizons and a brilliant azure directly overhead. Mid-winter is incredibly beautiful but dangerously cold and if you get stuck outside for long without proper gear, you’re dead.
Oh, and thanks for the kind words. “Red Diaper Baby” is a phrase the whole Country should know much better.
Over the last fifty or so years I have noted that America never misses an opportunity to, make the wrong choice, be out witted at negotiations, underestimate it’s enemies, sell out it’s freedoms for a pittance and treats it’s best friend and closest neighbor to the north like a bitch.
You’re not losing friends, you are chasing them away with a stick.
Obama is a dangerous clown who reminds me of the character “BATTY” from the HOLLYWOOD SHUFFLE. I sometimes wonder if he can be subject to a random drug test.
What Obama is saying is that we must wait for the jobs until the government bureaucrats get off their butts and redo the evaluations that have already been done.
Welcome to the new America, where every decision must wend its way through ever deepening layers of bureaucrat. I hope you’re not expecting anything to be done on weekends, holidays or Friday afternoons.
To me, the Keystone Pipeline represents a direct line into Obama’s heart, soul and mind. It’s proof positive, as if we needed any more proof, that Obama is determined, fixated on destroying America.
When he talks about the need to create jobs in America, he’s lying.
When he talks about the need to provide quality healthcare, he’s lying.
When he talks about looting the treasury as a way to better America, he’s in effect, the most corrupt lier in the history of the United States.
Obama has declared war on America. In truth, treating him as an enemy combatant is too good for him.
He’s evil incarnate.
“He’s evil incarnate”, yep just read this: http://theulstermanreport.com/2012/01/18/white-house-insider-you-dont-ever-wanna-do-the-things-ive-done/
No. He is just a crass and ruthless Chicago politician. Good and evil have nothing to do with it. He only cares about power and staying in power. His model is a simple one – pay to play politics. He panders to organized or wealthy groups who command lots of cash and / or votes, and he keeps them on the hook so they can’t stop giving.
Some of the left and their media are trying to portray opposition in Nebraska as a bunch of “conservative farmers”. They are lying, as usual. I’m sure there some of the usual trust fund types that always oppose anything that makes jobs for working people, but the main organization fighting this pipeline is financed by a Warren Buffett crony:
http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/10/warren_buffett_the_keystone_pipeline_and_crony_capitalism.html
So the Obama cronies make a ton of money, and the President gets to suck up to his lefty political base. Win/win for them and another big loser for the country.
Obama painted himself into a corner with Keystone XL. He owns 100% of whatever backlash results from his decision. The fact that he has tried to defer blame to the House of Representatives and more specifically Republicans, demonstrates that he is fully aware that his decision is a bad one. If for no other reason, the Keystone XL pipeline should be approved in an effort to at least maintain minimal control of that resource.
Every day I am more and more convinced that our President hates this country. If he didn’t, what would he be doing differently?
Ron, I think you nailed it: a private deal was made with the unions.
With that piece of the puzzle in place, Obama’s strategy becomes much more clear, in a “we are doomed” sorta way.
Add in the Gulf oil rigs and the Alaska North Shore, both virtually shut down and the picture emerges, hurt Americans and America. Bill Ayers must be loving it.
Environmentalist act like if the pipeline is not built that the oil will stay in the ground! Nothing is farther from the truth. It will be extracted. It will be sold on the world market. Only now it will be transported in a far less secure and efficient manner. Enviornmentalism of this caliber is lunacy. Like mandating that MTBE be added to gasoline in California… only to discover in 5 years than it poisoned the water table… These people need to be locked up!
The oil doesn’t only have to go to China: there is the Commonwealth.
If Keystone was interested in lowering prices in the US they would build a refinery in ND or expand more refinery capability in Canada. They aren’t because they are land locked and the prices would be depressed. They need access to ports to export that oil. Like most businessmen they want to maximize their profits.
Truly spoken like a flaming liberal who knows nothing about the oil industry. What matters to an oil producer is well-head price which is selling price of the crude minus the cost of production and transportation. A straight pipeline shot to major US refineries and markets dramatically reduces their transportation costs and thus increases their wellhead value; they can make more profit on oil actually sold at a lower price. An expensive pipeline through harsh territory and two mountain ranges to tidewater in northern BC, an expensive terminal in a visible and enviromentally sensitive area, and a tanker slog down the West Coast or accross the Pacific adds to their costs and reduces their wellhead value and thus their profits. The only time we’ve ever exported Alaska oil was when crude prices were quite low and the Left Coast refineries didn’t have enough capacity to take all of our production, so we got federal authorization to export it to the Orient to avoid the transportation costs associated with taking oil by tanker first to Panama, off-loading to a pipeline across the isthmus, reloading onto a tanker and shopping it to a refinery on the Gulf or East Coast; it was costing as much or more to transport it than the oil would sell for and neither the State nor the producers made anything on it.
“The oil doesn’t only have to go to China: there is the Commonwealth.”
David, I don’t think you realize: 1) Australia already exports oil; 2)The US Gulf is one of the few places in the world that has the refineries for Canada’s heavy crude; 3) China has had its eyes Canada’s oil before anybody ever heard of the term ‘oil sands’ or ‘tar sands’. It tried to buy a huge percentage of them. Not sure if it did. However, this got the US got interested when it made headlines. 4) I doubt that Australia would build a refinery for Canada’s heavy crude (remember, its gov’t is very green and recently passed a carbon tax on mining — its biggest or 2nd industry). 5) China would be happy to build such a refinery — if it doesn’t already have one — and sell the refined oil/gasoline to Australia, who it buys lots of coal and iron ore from.
When you take a look at look at the countries within the Commonwealth, India is the largest importer, and Australia imports.
As long as there are people who do not want oil from Iran, Venezuela, or Nigeria, they can get oil from Canada.
David -
India, apparently, has made a deal to buy Iranian oil with gold. China will do the same. I believe they are getting better prices for doing so and this will effectively block any sanctions.
According to the chart in the article below, crude oil was Australia’s 6th largest export item.
http://www.dfat.gov.au/aib/trade_investment.html
Everyone misses the point. Obumer and the Demigods are vested in “Green Energy”, and more specifically, solar and wind power–they overplayed their hand. If fossil fuels do not significantly go up in price, then their investments will fail, i.e., Obama Motors and the Chevy Volt will do more than just explode. This sort of thing happens every time the government gets involved in alternative energy investment. I worked through it during Carter’s run and the windfarms of the 80s. Not much has changed in forty years, except for the limited memories of the American people. The free market tends to correct itself, and so does the overall will of a free people. We just waste a lot of time and money getting there. The pendulum continues to swing.
Have you noticed that Enviromentalist like Wendy Adams are all Trust Estate 2nd or 3rd generation Rich. She never created any Jobs or any wealth of her own.
Her Grandparents and Parents did. She won life lottery by birth.
We can see her in Aspen or Nice or Paris or Davos, North Shore of Chicago.
Travels in her private Jet. Drives the Prius and parks where ever she wants.
She and her kind, are prime reasons for Estate Taxes.
And, demands from the average guy and gal, to live under her demands.
When is America going to tell these people to just go away.
Read “The Blueprint” for insight into how the trust-funders, dot-com and various other billionaires, and various heads of foundations have essentially highjacked the political process and have in fact gone around even Democrat Party structures to install Comrade Obama. There’s a reason The Immaculation was in Colorado.
If we ever install a legitimate government, we need to set the FBI and IRS on these people and put a bunch of them in prison for a very long time. In a sane world, some of them would die from a 9mm brain hemmorage.
We’re talking about a man who was clueless to the fact that he couldn’t be closely associated with a black church that was its own version of the KKK and possibly succeed to the Presidency. Well, guess…
Obama feels invulnerable and reason and right and wrong and not things one can use when talking about the Chosen One.
Pickens won and Koch lost. Nuff said.
Obama wants the Robert Redford’s of this world for another reason – they have money. And he has to rely on them more in this election than he did in the last. If he gets the money expect to see some betrayals – like reversing himself on the pipeline, or making the pipeline project somewhat smaller or other ways to make it more environmentally friendly, or finding other oil drilling projects to support.
Obama, the Fed, and the locals borrowed 3.4 trillion and incurred 11 trillion in future promises. World’s biggest campaign contribution.While Repubs eat each other on tv,O has swung hard left in both domestic and foreign policy, and no one has noticed.Iran appeased.EPA unleashed.Jarrett is now in charge and O is getting more popular by the day. Krugman was right. There’s money for everybody and everything. Now that Boehner has financed the first 3.4 trillion campaign fund, they can start planning for next year when the real transformation comes.Just a few more of those secret letters to Iran,Turkey, and the Brotherhood.Just keep it under wraps for 9 more months and we’ll all be fat.
Nothing is so simple in politics that only one factor explains everything. Private industry is solving our energy problems in spite of the government rather than with its assistance. We in fact have had no real energy policy for at least 40 years. The oil sands frees us from dependence on hostile nations and the fracturing revolution has given us an abundant source of clean low cost energy to generate electricity that removes any economic or environmental reason to squander more money on wind and solar. Wind and solar will continue to be options for special small scale situations but not to light up Los Angeles. This abundant energy is killing the lefts dreams of unicorns in the sky.
It dose not surprise me much from the likes of Robert Redford, after all he’s to stupid to know that in order for him to fly in his jet, you need a whole system to support and build that airplane, and the system is powered not by wind or some other green energy bs, its powered by crude oil refined into lubricants for engines , grease for none engine related moving parts like the wheel axles. Tires the Jet-A to power the engine to pushes the airplane thru the air and keep him alive at cruse altitude while he sit on his backs back slapping himself over the wolf restoration to yellowstone and over looking the huge problems its causing for the people that live in the area. Also the coal along with nuclear and oil to make the electricity to run the ATC system so his pilots don’t fly into another aircraft or into the ground. This whole thing is stupid, its a win win, with Jobs Oil and money for Us, More Jobs and money for our good friends to the North. They keep telling me Obama is the smartest guy ever to occupy the oval office, if this is an indication of this, then he can be trusted to fill your car with the proper grade of gasoline, let alone be trusted to manage a gas station.
Obama is a GOD, worship him. He is better than you. Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated…oh yeah, anyone against Lord God Obama – is raaaaaacist.
When our gas goes to $5.00 a gallon. and food prices go up even more, utilities double in a already struggling America, obama is toast.They screw with America’s life line, (energy)They screw with America.
Newt is gaining favor because he has the guts to call out the,(in the tank for obama MSM} Look how they took the story of the pipeline and buried it with a tabloid X -wife’s story, (he said,she said.)Who gives a rats u know what.
Look at the RINO’S backing Romney, 3/4 backing him.As for me, if the MSM demonize, I’m for that person. If the RINO’S indorse, I won’t. I’m sick of the RINO’S picking our nominee,and the bought and paid for media feeding us the stories they want us to hear and not the stories we should hear.
Please, someone tell me one thing obama has done to help America ? Please tell me one thing he has done that hasn’t hurt and divided America?
Shipping oil by tanker from the west coast does make the most sense, but if ecologicl concerns stop that option Canada has another coast and plenty of pipelines in place to take oil there. The tarsands are not going to be bottled up.
How about Robert Redford? He portrayed a reporter in “All the President’s Men” that brought down a Nixon’s rogue government regime. Obviously that was nothing but acting because in real life he now is promoting/covering for another administration which is flaunting it’s illegality in the face of all American citizens. I will never watch another movie/TV project that has any affiliation with Redford.
Pipelines can be considered as the energy lifelines of human daily activities.Pipeline’s role is not only concentrated to our daily life’s but also,they are used to the nation’s industry standards.The pipeline companies are assigned the task of construction, operation, and maintenance of its pipeline systems in a safe, environmentally sound manner.
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