FOD 2014.02.03

The U.S. State Department has, at long last, released its comprehensive environmental impact study of the Keystone pipeline, designed to carry crude oil from Canada to U.S. refineries. Environmentalists bitterly oppose the pipeline's construction, concerned that: one, it might increase greenhouse-gas emissions; and two, the potential for oil spills in environmentally oil spills.

Pipeline supporters argue that: one, the oil will get to market one way or the other (an alternative pipeline has been proposed that would carry the oil to Canada's Pacific coast, where Chinese tankers would load it and take it home to China for refining); two, pipelines are inherently safer for transporting oil than the other alternative (railroads); and three, construction of the pipeline and the subsequent increase in energy-related activity would create 40,000 - 50,000 good-paying jobs.

The State Department review comes down on the side of pipeline proponents.

A long-awaited environmental review of the Keystone XL pipeline released Friday by the State Department found the project would have a negligible impact on climate change, bolstering the case for the controversial project as it heads to the White House for a decision on its construction.

That report reaches the same conclusion as the many other studies and reports that preceded it:

“Five years, five federal reviews, dozens of public meetings, over a million comments and one conclusion -- the Keystone XL pipeline is safe for the environment,” said Jack Gerard, president of the American Petroleum Institute, an oil industry trade group in Washington. “This final review puts to rest any credible concerns about the pipeline’s potential negative impact on the environment. This long-awaited project should now be swiftly approved.”

Seems like a pretty straight-forward decision, no? Yet obama continues to dither.

White House desperately searching for another excuse to not build Keystone XL

The long-awaited and long-delayed State Department report on the environmental impact of the Keystone XL Pipeline is in, and avers no net increase in carbon emissions. So now the Obama administration is reduced to scrambling for alternative justifications for further delay. Fox News reports:

The White House released a statement pushing back on the notion that the pipeline is now headed for speedy approval, saying Sec. of State John Kerry and other agency heads will "closely evaluate" the report in the coming weeks.

"The president has clearly stated that the project will be in the national interest only if it does not significantly exacerbate the problem of carbon pollution," White House spokesman Matt Lehrich said.

"A decision on whether the project is in the national interest will be made only after careful consideration of the SEIS and other pertinent information, comments from the public, and views of other agency heads."

Multiple studies over the last five years have all come to the same conclusion - the pipeline won't impact the environment, will create thousands of good jobs for unemployed Americans, and will reduce energy costs. So why the delay on obama's part in approving it?  

...it is self-evident that this latest response is just an excuse offered in order to keep the fundraising going among wealthy environmentalists who are big donors to the Democrats.

Contrast that with workers and their families who are being help hostage so that barry can continue to rake in campaign contributions from wealthy liberal environmentalists.

Also think about this.

Rail transport is the alternative that remains when pipelines are not built. It makes lots of money for Warren Buffet's railway investments, but it can be tough on the neighbors. (More on that topic here.)

Rail lines, built a century or more ago, often go through heavily populated areas, while pipelines mostly are routed through sparsely populated zones. The rate of accidents for pipelines is a small fraction of rail transport of oil. Just ask the people of Lac-Megantic, Quebec, where blocks of the town were leveled by a tank car accident, and almost 50 people died.

The Obama administration is fond of playing the class warfare card. Very few rich people live near freight railway lines, so it is the poor who are imperiled by this delay, the unemployed who are harmed by not having Keystone jobs, and the ordinary motorist who pays more for gasoline because railroad transport of oil costs far more than pipelines do. But it is rich greenie donors who are the only reason Obama is delaying this win-win pipeline.