Keystone Pipeline debate symbolic of what's wrong with American politics

[ALoveSupreme]

I have always felt the Keystone Pipeline was both used as a means for politicians to make symbolic arguments, but also for the citizens of the United States to see on both sides, how incredibly awful our public servants truly are. Between republicans lying about the number of jobs the project will create and lying about defending private property rights at all costs, to democrats lying about how the pipeline could be radically terrible in regards to climate change while ignoring that the tar sands oil would move on unsafe rail systems regardless, both sides have showed their true colors in this argument.
This column I wrote goes more in-depth, I urge everyone to read it:
Keystone pipeline debate symbolic of American politics - Collegiate Times Opinion

Let me know what your thoughts, comments and questions are. I was hoping this could start a debate on Keystone as well as the Kelo vs New London decision, which i strongly disagree with.

 

[waltky]

7 years of delay - and still no decision...

Keystone backers look to Obama's successor to make the call
Nov 3,`15: The company pleading for permission to build the Keystone XL pipeline looked beyond President Barack Obama on Tuesday in apparent hopes a future Republican president would greenlight the project. But the administration signaled it was in no mood to hand off the decision to the winner of the 2016 election.

TransCanada insisted its request for the U.S. to suspend its review of the proposed project had nothing to do with presidential politics even though a delay could thrust the decision a year or more into the future, likely putting it in the hands of Obama's successor. Questioning the motivation for the Canadian energy giant's request, the White House said "there might be politics at play" and Obama still intended to make the decision. It was an unusual reversal of roles for TransCanada, which complained bitterly for years about Obama's delays before suddenly requesting one of its own. Likewise, Obama's administration, after seven years of delay, seemed to discover a newfound sense of urgency when faced with the prospect of letting the next president make the call.

The Keystone Steele City pumping station, into which the planned Keystone XL pipeline is to connect to, is seen in Steele City, Neb., Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2015. TransCanada, the company behind the project, said Monday it had asked the State Department to suspend its review of the Canada-to-Texas pipeline, citing uncertainties about the route it would take through Nebraska.​

The State Department, the official arbiter of the pipeline permit, said it was considering TransCanada's new request but in the meantime the pipeline review would move forward unabated. "We'd like to finish this review process as swiftly as possible," spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau said Tuesday. That was 2,601 days after TransCanada first proposed the $8 billion project. For TransCanada, a delay into 2017 might improve the prospects for approval - if a Republican wins the White House. The GOP presidential field is unanimous in its support for Keystone, while Obama has downplayed its benefits and emphasized environmental risks, setting up a high bar for approval.

All of the major Democratic candidates oppose it - including front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton, who oversaw the early phase of the pipeline review as Obama's first-term secretary of state. Ahead of TransCanada's request, Keystone supporters had feared Obama would seize on a brief window between Canada's recent elections and the conclusion of global climate talks next month to kill the project in grand fashion, solidifying his environmental bona fides. Obama hopes to make a global climate pact the capstone of his environmental legacy and has sought to show aggressive action to curb carbon dioxide emissions as world leaders prepare to finalize an agreement in Paris.

MORE

 

[Moonglow]

Keystone is letting Nebraska re-evaluate the environmental decision to okay the pipeline....

 

[Rexx Taylor]

Keystone is letting Nebraska re-evaluate the environmental decision to okay the pipeline....

the loonies have all of these excuses for keeping us from getting the keystone, yet they dont seem to be complaining about what ISIS is doing to Christians.

 

[Pogo]

Keystone is letting Nebraska re-evaluate the environmental decision to okay the pipeline....

the loonies have all of these excuses for keeping us from getting the keystone, yet they dont seem to be complaining about what ISIS is doing to Christians.

That comparison right there is a post worthy of Special Ed.

That is not a compliment.

 

[Moonglow]

Keystone is letting Nebraska re-evaluate the environmental decision to okay the pipeline....

the loonies have all of these excuses for keeping us from getting the keystone, yet they dont seem to be complaining about what ISIS is doing to Christians.

Nor do they care about my psoriasis...

 

[Davros]

If Obama rejects it rather than letting the next President decide, he is an asshole.

 

[tinydancer]

Well isn't this symbolic. Of ignorance and hype. The Keystone has been completed to the Gulf since January 2014. Canuck crude has been pumping to Nederland since then.

XL is just a smidge of an extension that was to help out the Bakken Fields.

But make no mistake. The Keystone is complete and has been for some time.

 

[tinydancer]

Keystone is letting Nebraska re-evaluate the environmental decision to okay the pipeline....

Have you ever seen the number of pipelines that cross Nebraska?



Let alone the whole Ogallala Aquifer?

This is why any sane individual knows this is all political bullshit.

 

[tinydancer]

If Obama rejects it rather than letting the next President decide, he is an asshole.

And why would he be an asshole? Especially considering that the Alberta Clipper Pipeline and the Southern Lights Pipeline have been approved and built during his time in office.

 

[tinydancer]

Keystone is letting Nebraska re-evaluate the environmental decision to okay the pipeline....

Link?

Nebraska Supreme Court overturned a lower court decision and gave Trans Canada the legal right to proceed. Oh and here's a map of all the existing pipelines that already cross Nebraska and the Ogallala aquifer.

So much bullshit. So little time. But I try to get the truth out there over all the lies the left spin.

 

[tinydancer]

7 years of delay - and still no decision...

Keystone backers look to Obama's successor to make the call
Nov 3,`15: The company pleading for permission to build the Keystone XL pipeline looked beyond President Barack Obama on Tuesday in apparent hopes a future Republican president would greenlight the project. But the administration signaled it was in no mood to hand off the decision to the winner of the 2016 election.

TransCanada insisted its request for the U.S. to suspend its review of the proposed project had nothing to do with presidential politics even though a delay could thrust the decision a year or more into the future, likely putting it in the hands of Obama's successor. Questioning the motivation for the Canadian energy giant's request, the White House said "there might be politics at play" and Obama still intended to make the decision. It was an unusual reversal of roles for TransCanada, which complained bitterly for years about Obama's delays before suddenly requesting one of its own. Likewise, Obama's administration, after seven years of delay, seemed to discover a newfound sense of urgency when faced with the prospect of letting the next president make the call.

The Keystone Steele City pumping station, into which the planned Keystone XL pipeline is to connect to, is seen in Steele City, Neb., Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2015. TransCanada, the company behind the project, said Monday it had asked the State Department to suspend its review of the Canada-to-Texas pipeline, citing uncertainties about the route it would take through Nebraska.​

The State Department, the official arbiter of the pipeline permit, said it was considering TransCanada's new request but in the meantime the pipeline review would move forward unabated. "We'd like to finish this review process as swiftly as possible," spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau said Tuesday. That was 2,601 days after TransCanada first proposed the $8 billion project. For TransCanada, a delay into 2017 might improve the prospects for approval - if a Republican wins the White House. The GOP presidential field is unanimous in its support for Keystone, while Obama has downplayed its benefits and emphasized environmental risks, setting up a high bar for approval.

All of the major Democratic candidates oppose it - including front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton, who oversaw the early phase of the pipeline review as Obama's first-term secretary of state. Ahead of TransCanada's request, Keystone supporters had feared Obama would seize on a brief window between Canada's recent elections and the conclusion of global climate talks next month to kill the project in grand fashion, solidifying his environmental bona fides. Obama hopes to make a global climate pact the capstone of his environmental legacy and has sought to show aggressive action to curb carbon dioxide emissions as world leaders prepare to finalize an agreement in Paris.

MORE

Makes sense to me.

Why bother trying to deal with assholes over an extension? Wait and make a move with a new President.

It's still no skin off Trans Canada's ass. The Keystone is complete. XL is a smidge in the pipeline game. But it gets D's huge buckolas in donations from enviro whackos who don't understand that the Cushing to Nederland was finished and Canuck crude has been pumping to the Gulf since January of 2014.

 

[tyroneweaver]

If Obama rejects it rather than letting the next President decide, he is an asshole.

well already know the answer to that question already.

 

[my2¢]

I'm a Republican who's opinion first slightly leaned toward building the pipeline but switched to neutral when the looking deeper into the issue. In reference to your article, I would say it understates the Democrats side of things by boiling it down to saying they, "are fighting against the pipeline, claiming that it will only lead to greater dependency on fossil fuels while accelerating climate change." We have plenty of oil pipelines built without any controversy, I believe their point here is the greater environmental impact of fossil fuels extracted from oil sands.

 

[Timmy]

I heard a story on how keystone Canada is having a real hard time because lefty politicians are now in power in west Canada .

 

[healthmyths]

Keystone is letting Nebraska re-evaluate the environmental decision to okay the pipeline....

the loonies have all of these excuses for keeping us from getting the keystone, yet they dont seem to be complaining about what ISIS is doing to Christians.

That comparison right there is a post worthy of Special Ed.

That is not a compliment.

OK s

I'm a Republican who's opinion first slightly leaned toward building the pipeline but switched to neutral when the looking deeper into the issue. In reference to your article, I would say it understates the Democrats side of things by boiling it down to saying they, "are fighting against the pipeline, claiming that it will only lead to greater dependency on fossil fuels while accelerating climate change." We have plenty of oil pipelines built without any controversy, I believe their point here is the greater environmental impact of fossil fuels extracted from oil sands.

And this concern for the environment is MY reason for approving the pipeline.

We KNOW that Canada is going to produce 1 million barrels of oil and it will be shipped using tankers.
Tankers like the Exxon Valdez that will traveled through these waters.
David Mosley, public affairs specialist for the U.S. Coast Guard in Alaska, says that the thousands of ships that already navigate its waters each year face "winter hurricanes" with 40-foot seas and 100-knot winds that appear with little advanced notice.
In a typical year, at least one ship gets into trouble.
"A vessel will have some sort of mechanical or physical issue that then puts them at the mercy of the weather and the waves."
The Dangers of Not Building Keystone XL
Now add 365 tankers each carrying 1 million barrels traveling in these waters every year!

VERSUS
a 1,700 mile pipeline on dry land joining more than 185,000 miles of liquid petroleum pipelines, nearly 320,000 miles of gas transmission pipelines, and more than 2 million miles of gas distribution pipelines to safely and efficiently move energy and raw materials to fuel our nation's economic engine.
Pipeline101 - Why-Do-We-Need-Pipelines www.pipeline101.org/why-do-we-need-pipelines
The Keystone will carry 700 barrels in one mile on dry land within 2 hours of repair and at the worst 2,100 barrels versus a tanker carrying 1 million barrels in one mile on open sea.
Which one if there was an accident would spill the most oil? Which one would be fixed quicker?

 

[kaz]

I have always felt the Keystone Pipeline was both used as a means for politicians to make symbolic arguments, but also for the citizens of the United States to see on both sides, how incredibly awful our public servants truly are. Between republicans lying about the number of jobs the project will create and lying about defending private property rights at all costs, to democrats lying about how the pipeline could be radically terrible in regards to climate change while ignoring that the tar sands oil would move on unsafe rail systems regardless, both sides have showed their true colors in this argument.
This column I wrote goes more in-depth, I urge everyone to read it:
Keystone pipeline debate symbolic of American politics - Collegiate Times Opinion

Let me know what your thoughts, comments and questions are. I was hoping this could start a debate on Keystone as well as the Kelo vs New London decision, which i strongly disagree with.

Those are completely different situations. Kelo v. New London was one of the greatest Constitutional abominatinons in American History, taking land from one citizen and giving it to another. Pipelines are for transportation, like roads and railroads

 

[Wildman]

...republicans lying...

yupp!!

liberscum partisanship..., i am stunned!!

 

[Wildman]

If Obama rejects it rather than letting the next President decide, he is an asshole.

allow me to put it this way.., Obama is an asshole. <-------<<<< big period!!

 

[Rexx Taylor]

Keystone is letting Nebraska re-evaluate the environmental decision to okay the pipeline....

the loonies have all of these excuses for keeping us from getting the keystone, yet they dont seem to be complaining about what ISIS is doing to Christians.

Nor do they care about my psoriasis...

it seems that no matter what average americans are for, the lunatics are against, lets say the use of toilets, will that be next on the agenda? the loonies will claim that toilets are white and racist, therefore we should all be fair/equal and just use our back yards/ponds/oceans and holes in the ground, just like the animals do.