Obama's XL Pipeline Delay May Kill the Whole Project

When you’re President of the United States, voting “present” is not an option. You must make tough choices. Obama’s failure to choose between creating jobs or appeasing his lefty base may kill off a project that would enhance our energy security and create 20,000 jobs. It would probably reduce prices at the pump too, over time, by increasing supply.

The U.S. State Department’s decision to delay its review of TransCanada Corp.’s $7-billion Keystone XL pipeline until after next year’s presidential election may doom the project and accelerate Canada’s efforts to ship crude to Asia, Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said.

“The decision to delay it that long is actually quite a crucial decision. I’m not sure this project would survive that kind of delay,” Flaherty said yesterday in an interview at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Honolulu. “It may mean that we may have to move quickly to ensure that we can export our oil to Asia through British Columbia.”