Will President Obama Continue To Stall The Keystone XL Pipeline Supported 2-1 by Americans?

Pew Research commented on a new poll it conducted yesterday. “As the Obama administration deliberates over whether to allow the Keystone XL pipeline to be built, the proposed pipeline continues to draw broad support from the public. Currently, 61% favor building the pipeline while 27% are opposed. These views have changed little over the past year. As previous surveys on the pipeline proposal have found, there is far more support for constructing the pipeline among Republicans (84% favor) and independents (61%) than among Democrats. About half of Democrats (49%) favor building the pipeline while 38% are opposed. . . . Opposition to building the pipeline is most widespread among highly educated Democrats, liberals and those with high family incomes. . . . As Pew Research polls last year found, moderate and conservative Democrats continue to be far more likely than liberals to favor building the pipeline (56% vs. 40%).”

So once again it’s clear that a large majority of Americans favors allowing the Keystone XL pipeline to be built, by a 2-1 margin. This is a project that will create jobs, help foster independence from Middle Eastern oil, and boost relations with our friends in Canada. Indeed, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell has said repeatedly that a decision to approve the pipeline should be “a no brainer. An overwhelming majority of Americans support building the Keystone XL Pipeline in its entirety. The President should listen to them,” as he said back in 2012.

And yet, a decision on the pipeline still languishes as the Obama administration drags its collective feet. Bloomberg News noted, “TransCanada Corp. of Calgary applied more than five years ago for a permit to build the $5.4 billion pipeline through the U.S. heartland, connecting oil sands in Alberta with refineries along the coast of Texas and Louisiana. The 875-mile pipeline would run from the U.S.-Canada border to Steele City, Nebraska. From there it would connect to an existing pipeline network.” Bloomberg also points out, “The State Department’s environmental report released Jan. 31 found limited impact on climate-changing carbon emissions, saying the oil sands in Alberta will be developed anyway. Building the pipeline would directly and indirectly support about 42,100 jobs for a year or two. Afterward, about 35 permanent jobs would remain, the report said.” Are these not the “shovel-ready jobs” tied to infrastructure projects that the president and Democrats are always calling for?

But still, President Obama and the State Department continue to stall a decision on this pipeline. Why? Bloomberg News ventures, “President Barack Obama’s advisers are lining up against the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline. Top Democratic donors oppose the project. And Obama himself dismisses claims that it will create many jobs. . . . If Obama rejects the pipeline, it might sink Democratic candidates in states with big energy industries, such as Louisiana and Alaska. That could cost Democrats control of the Senate -- a risk that’s likely to weigh heavily on any decision the president makes, to approve the pipeline, reject it or wait until after November to announce a decision. ‘If Obama approves the pipeline, he alienates environmentalists and the left; if he rejects it, he really hurts a number of endangered Democratic senators,’ said Charlie Cook, publisher of the nonpartisan Cook Political Report. ‘The path of least resistance would be to continue to punt the decision until after the midterm election.’ . . . A decision against the pipeline might mean defeat for Senate Democrats seeking re-election in Arkansas, Alaska, North Carolina and especially Louisiana, where Mary Landrieu, chairman of the energy committee, is fighting for political survival. ‘It would cement the image of this president having an anti-business agenda and hurt these senators with swing voters and rally business against them,’ said Cook. A Pew Research Center poll released yesterday shows Democrats nationwide are split, with 49 percent in support of building the pipeline and 38 percent against. State-by-state polling shows the risk to Democratic senators.”

With the turmoil in Eastern Europe, the Obama administration has an opportunity here to boost North American energy production, but will this decision continue to be put off for the political calculations that seem to dominate in the Obama White House?

As Leader McConnell said back in January when the State Department released its latest environmental study, “This report from the Obama administration once again confirms that there is no reason for the White House to continue stalling construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline.  So, Mr. President, no more stalling– no more excuses. Please pick up that pen you’ve been talking so much about and make this happen. Americans need these jobs. The Keystone XL Pipeline is the single largest shovel-ready project in America, ready to go, but for years President Obama and his hard-left allies have stalled these jobs in a maze of red tape. But if the President meant what he said this week about ‘a year of action,’ he’ll act now on this important project that won’t cost taxpayers a dime to build but will bring thousands of private sector jobs to Americans who desperately need them.”

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