Keystone Pipeline: Obama Was To Decide But Now It’s Kerry Making Decision | Krauthammer Responds: ‘Stop Jerking Canada Around’

Keystone XL Pipeline: Is Obama
Putting His Job Over American Jobs?

Today in Washington, Jan. 24, 2014 Congress is not in session. White House progressive agenda roles on!

The Wall Street Journal reports today, “The Obama administration is set to complete a critical phase of its Keystone XL pipeline review next month, setting the stage for President Barack Obama to make a call on the politically charged decision in the thick of the midterm campaign season. The State Department, which has been studying the project for years, aims to release a report on the environmental impact of the proposed pipeline extension in early or mid-February, people inside and outside the government familiar with the decision said Thursday. That would put Mr. Obama on track to make a decision by May or June. Until now, Obama administration officials have been vague about the timing of the State Department review. Officials have released no timetable for a decision and a series of delays in considering the project have left some observers thinking it could stretch beyond the November midterm elections. . . . Once the administration releases its environmental report, another State Department review would determine whether the pipeline is in the national interest, during which federal agencies will have up to 90 days to weigh in. That suggests a final decision by Mr. Obama could come in the spring or early summer and all but ensures the politics of the pipeline will become a feature of this year's elections. The pipeline project, which would add a link to carry oil from Canada to refineries on the Gulf Coast, has divided two of the Democratic Party's key constituencies: environmentalists and union groups. Environmentalists oppose it, citing the risk of spills and increased carbon emissions from extracting oil from Canadian oil sands, while business and labor groups say it would create thousands of jobs and help undergird America's new energy boom.”

It’s incredible that the White House and the State Department are still plodding along, avoiding a final decision on this no-brainer project that would create jobs and reduce American reliance on energy from the Middle East. But for years, President Obama and his administration have held up a final decision on the Keystone XL pipeline. TransCanada originally applied for a permit back in 2008, and it was in 2011 that Congress passed legislation requiring the president to make a decision on the project within 60 days.

Frustrated, all 45 Republican senators sent a letter to the president demanding an answer on this pipeline project. Led by Sens. John Hoeven (R-ND) and John Barrasso (R-WY), they write, “We have started yet another calendar year with no decision from your administration on the Keystone XL pipeline. TransCanada filed the original application for a Presidential Permit in 2008, and we are still waiting on the Department of State to issue a final environmental impact statement (EIS) for this project. On March 14, 2013, at a meeting with Senate Republicans, you were asked when we could expect a final decision on the Keystone XL pipeline. At that time, you told us that a decision on the Presidential Permit would be made before the end of the year. We are well into 2014 and you still have not made a decision. . . . On January 22, 2013, the State of Nebraska approved a modified route for the Keystone XL pipeline. The Department of State then closed its comment period on the draft supplemental EIS on April 22, 2013—notably, a year after you personally directed Federal agencies to make more ‘timely’ decisions on infrastructure projects. Your administration has had more than enough time to issue a final EIS and make a decision on the pipeline. Given the length of time your administration has studied the Keystone XL pipeline and the public’s overwhelming support for it, you should not further delay a decision to issue a Presidential Permit.”

And it’s not just Republicans losing patience with the Obama administration. The WSJ notes, “Canadian officials and conservative Senate Democrats who favor the pipeline . . . have grown impatient and upped the pressure on Mr. Obama to settle the matter. . . . ‘This has gone on way too long,’ said Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D., N.D.), who is among the pro-pipeline Democrats pushing for a decision. ‘I can tell you this, among those of us who've been waiting now for a considerable length of time, our patience is running thin.’”

In a must-read column today, Charles Krauthammer excoriates President Obama for the years of delays and the needlessly poor treatment of America’s close ally, Canada. Krauthammer writes, “After three years of review, the State Department found no significant environmental risk to Keystone. Nonetheless, the original route was changed to assuage concerns regarding the Ogallala Aquifer. Obama withheld approval through the 2012 election. To this day he has issued no decision. The Canadians are beside themselves. After five years of manufactured delay, they need a decision one way or the other because if denied a pipeline south, they could build a pipeline west to the Pacific. China would buy their oil in a New York minute. . . . If Obama wants to cave to his environmental left, fine. But why keep Canada in limbo? It’s a show of supreme and undeserved disrespect for yet another ally. It seems not enough to have given the back of the hand to Britain, Israel, Poland and the Czech Republic, and to have so enraged the Saudis that they actually rejected a U.N. Security Council seat — disgusted as they were with this administration’s remarkable combination of fecklessness and highhandedness. Must we crown this run of diplomatic malpractice with gratuitous injury to Canada, our most reliable, most congenial friend in the world?”

Krauthammer continues, “This is not a close call. The Keystone case is almost absurdly open and shut. . . . Where’s the environmental gain in blocking Keystone? The oil will be produced and the oil will be burned. If it goes to China, the Pacific pipeline will carry the same environmental risks as a U.S. pipeline. . . . Add to this the slam-dunk strategic case for Keystone: Canadian oil reduces our dependence on the volatile Middle East, shifting petroleum power from OPEC and the killing zones of the Middle East to North America. What more reliable source of oil could we possibly have than Canada? . . . The only rationale for denying the pipeline is political — to appease Obama’s more extreme environmentalists.”

He concludes, “For a president who claims not to be ideological, the irony is striking: Here is an easily available piece of infrastructure — privately built, costing government not a penny, creating thousands of jobs and, yes, shovel-ready — and yet the president, who’s been incessantly pushing new ‘infrastructure’ as a fundamental economic necessity, can’t say yes. Well then, Mr. President, say something. You owe Canada at least that. Up or down. Five years is long enough.”

With thousands of new Americans jobs hanging in the balance, why hasn't President Obama moved forward. It’s long past time for the president to do something, especially on the Keystone pipeline.

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