WHO NEEDS JOBS AND OIL, ANYWAY? Report: State Department Plans to Block the Keystone Pipeline.

UPDATE: Reader Paul Strasser has a question for the State Department:

So let me get this right. The Canadian Oil is supposedly worse for the environment, so stopping this pipeline will help the planet.

So instead of moving the oil in a safe way and be processed in US refineries operating under EPA regulations, the oil will now be transported across the Canadian Rockies where it will be loaded onto giant tankers and shipped across the Pacific where it will be refined in Chinese operations that have far fewer, if any, regulations in place.

Please let me know how the Chinese alternative is better for the Earth. Because no matter what, this Canadian oil is going to be sold.

More cynically, several readers suggest that the Saudis’ investment in the State Department is paying off. But while such investments are real, I think this is too high-level for that. This is Obama himself choosing to placate the greens.