This afternoon the Obama administration put the final (at least for now) kibosh on the proposed Keystone XL pipeline that would carry crude oil 1600 miles from the Alberta, Canada tar sands to refineries in Houston and other Texas port cities.
GOP candidate Mitt Romney decried this decision as a job-killer, but the state department denied the permit because there was not enough time to review the plans. The project had been delayed because of objections from environmental groups and farmers who feared the proposed route would impact their water resources.
During the congressional "impasse" on payroll taxes last month, Republicans forced the Obama administration to agree that they'd make a decision on the pipeline within two months. It should have come as no surprise that 60 days wouldn't be enough time to carry out the environmental studies required to approve the project.
The rejection of the pipeline permit isn't a judgement on the merits of the project, Obama told the press. It is a judgement on what he called "the arbitrary nature of a deadline that prevented the state department from gathering the information necessary to approve the project and protect the American people." You can read more here.
This ain't no final kibosh on the pipeline, it's just a temporary hold on the decision of whether there will be a pipeline.
ReplyDeleteYou're right, David.... It's a temporary kibosh until Keystone comes up with a new plan & a new environmental impact statement and a new route.
ReplyDeleteThe permit was applied for in 2008, The president's assertion that he only had 60 days to review is absolutely false.
ReplyDeleteThis is his way of denying any fossil fuel usage and inexpensive fuel costs to the public.
He will continue to push his wind, solar, ethanol and other false energy hopes at immense costs to the U.S. taxpayers.
as the project proposal underwent environmental evaluation, many groups (including conservative NE farmers) saw problems with the route and other issues. They asked for a revision. That was back in Nov/Dec.
ReplyDeleteSo really, folks are waitin' on Keystone to get their plan together.