Keith Sketchley writes:
Today the US State Department reported ‘no major environmental objections to the proposed $7 billion Keystone pipeline’. I wonder what Obamas and Kerrys reasons for further delay will be now?
WASHINGTON (AP) — The long-delayed Keystone XL oil pipeline cleared a major hurdle toward approval Friday, a serious blow to environmentalists’ hopes that President Barack Obama will block the controversial project running more than 1,000 miles from Canada through the heart of the U.S.
The State Department reported no major environmental objections to the proposed $7 billion pipeline, which has become a symbol of the political debate over climate change.
From the AP piece:
Sounds more like the endangered American burying Green dodge, they keep sidestepping the issues.
Is that another one of those extremely rare “species” those eco-mentalist groups keep finding, that only lives in the proposed “impacted” area? That is genetically identical to populations of the critters found elsewhere, or perhaps with only a trivial difference that’s barely distinguishable and irrelevant? For which, despite their gene pool being more than adequately represented in un-threatened populations elsewhere, absolutely MUST be saved and protected solely because their population lives “only” in the proposed area of development?
“the pipeline was likely to have an adverse effect on the endangered American burying beetle, found in South Dakota and Nebraska”
That’s good enough for me, this pipeline has got to be stopped now!!!
Even with my ecoloon hat on, I still cannot see how any reasonable person can object to this pipeline. The environmental arguments are so flimsy, I would be embarrassed to use them, while the economic and strategic reasons are so compelling, there simply is no reasonable counter-argument.
Those who campaign against this pipeline must have morphed into something beyond ecoloon.
Government by superecoloon? If the USA wants that, then have a look at what this concept has done to the UK and Europe, blindly wandering into long term, self-inflicted, economic decline because of skyrocketing energy costs and imminent shortages of electrical power during winter.
Susan Casey-Lefkowitz
Seems as though the left of liberal married females most always have a hyphenated last name(s).
Speaking of ecos, here in WA state a similar delay tactic is in play, by the watermelons, a governor ordered ‘comprehensive’ study to determine the risk of coal trains passing through WA. The state department of ecology ( thank you Dixie ) is living in the limelight of the local green emotions – science and actualities have nothing to do with this dog and pony show. You can submit all the current climate science and/or solar physics you want, it will not be considered. On the other hand, a person can move to the head of the line of experts IF its a ‘she’ and her written page of comments drip with the emotions of how the future of her children and their pet goldfish will be imperiled by these menacing trains, carrying death.
Then why did you wait 40 years to object? The US has been doing it since at least 1973 through various pipelines, getting over 22% of the nation’s oil from Canada.
If building the pipeline will commence, it will be with the intention of never getting finished to not jeopardize Uncle Warren’s rail profits, but with the intent of filling the Union’s coffers.
In Germany, we currently have two eternal construction sites, one is a concert hall in Hamburg, one is an airport in Berlin. Both are vehicles to funnel off taxpayer money and are not intended to ever be finished. The state simply says, uh, looks like we signed a stupid contract, silly us. Sue us if you dare, we’re the state, see what it gets you.
The southern portion is already being used:
“The southern leg—the lesser known half of TransCanada’s pipeline—originates in Cushing, Oklahoma and passes through countless communities in Oklahoma and East Texas before arriving at refineries and shipping ports along the coast.”
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2014/01/22-9
Bonus, there’s a Weepy Bill McKibben tweet in that link.
you win some, you might lose some, too:
30 Jan: King5 News: John Langer: Washington lawmakers pursue Road Usage Charge .
SEATTLE — A plan to charge Washington drivers per-mile to raise more transportation money is getting a closer look from lawmakers in Olympia.
$1.4 million has already been spent studying the impacts and possible benefits of charging drivers to use the state’s roads. Late last week, a task force created by the Transportation Commission presented a report indicating this type of fee could bring in up to $3 billion.
Washington is now pushing forward with a pilot program to investigate further. It likely would not start until 2015…
Oregon is implementing its own version soon, charging some drivers a cent-and-a-half to use state roads.
http://www.king5.com/news/local/Washington-lawmakers-pursue–242884501.html
I admit that I have not been keeping very up-to-date with this pipeline but how would a ban have affected global warming or climate change? I understand there were always alternatives that came with unintended consequences.
And the following would have been even worse in more ways than we previously thought!
Would China have said no to the oil? Of course not. The China alternative route.
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2012/01/obama-canada-alternative-route-keystone-xl/1#.UuzKR5zm5hc
If Canada has the oil and wants to sell it then that is what it will do. Blocking the pipeline is irrelevant and goes against what the environmentalists ‘want’ – to fight
global warmingclimate change. ;-pIf I were to bet, it will be along the lines of “now will refer it to normal channels for standard processing within the boundaries of the US”. This means that champion of hydrocarbon development, the EPA, would kick off the next round of assessments.
It would get past not only the 2014 midterms but at least well into the 2016 Presidential race. And then, regardless of how the EPA ruled, court actions against the EPA will delay it into 2017 as a minimum.
Posted two years ago. SSDD.
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/01/22/weekly-climate-and-energy-news-roundup-38/#more-55226
Three weeks ago I wrote to a friend, who is one of the recognized true experts in global energy, as follows:
_____________________
I remain perplexed by Obama’s Keystone decision, which appears to be very much against the national interests of the USA.
The pipeline is clearly in the USA’s strategic interest. Given the Iran situation, it should have been built yesterday. Furthermore, it will create some jobs and tax revenue at no cost to the taxpayer.
The alleged environmental dangers of the pipeline appear wildly overstated.
I think overconsumption of water from the Ogallala aquifer due to corn ethanol overproduction is a much greater environmental threat. Removal of corn ethanol subsidies will not solve the problem as long a s the corn ethanol mandates in gasoline remain.
Am I missing something here?
His answer: Sadly, no.
I do hope that Bill McKibben’s flights are fueled by bio-diesel.
Bill McKibben is an ECO-HYPOCRITE
a jones says:
January 31, 2014 at 11:53 pm
Far be it for me to meddle in U S politics but I seem to recall the State Dept cleared this pipeline a couple of years ago and POTUS sent it back for review. It seems State did not do what it was [presumably] told. And cleared it again.
Or have i got that wrong?
==========================
Yes and no. This is the 5th Federal study … so far. I believe the administration plans to do what my fellow federal workers (before I retired) would often do when we faced doing something we didn’t want to do …. we’d ‘admire’ the problem and kill any action by repeated ‘feasibility studies’, which would drive up the cost to the point that we could say it failed a ‘cost – benefit’ analysis.
He’ll just study the problem to death by having one sub-agency after another spend a year developing a ‘study’. There’s LOTS of sub-agencies to go, probably hundreds.
Facts don’t matter to the environmentalists and the far left-wing.
It is slogans, and emotional initial reactions.
We need to change the message from facts and the economy to slogans.
It is no longer the Keystone pipeline, it is the KXL pipeline.
It will eventually reduce US oil imports from the dirty oil sands.
It will keep dangerous oil trains off the tracks and tanker trucks off the roads.
It is opposed by the rail Barron’s and the truck tansport monopolies who want to move more oil by tanker through our cities. And there are many more spills and fires from train and truck transport.
It will clean up the biggest oil spill in history, the oil sands.
Etc.
Well, if what’s his name doesn’t want it, it won’t get built, no matter how many studies are done.
Barack said, “No,” in January, 2012. What part of “no” do you not understand?
Nothing has changed.
Regarding climate issues we may have now entered a time of political double speak. Up front, politicians cant be seen to back out of grandiose green and AGW statements involving grandchildren etc. However behind the scenes, more and more governments will be trying to “get rid of all the green crap”.
Leon Brozyna on February 1, 2014 at 4:34 am
Well, if what’s his name doesn’t want it, it won’t get built, no matter how many studies are done.
You are referring presumably to Warren Buffet?
Obama is likely having a “not on my watch” legacy moment. He won’t be remembered (fondly anyway) as the President who brought in “free” health care to the masses. He won’t be remembered as having a strong “green” commitment if he approves KXL. So I would expect him to kick the can down the road as long as he can with the intention of deferring to the next Presidency. “I did not approve the Keystone Pipeline”.
Other than Obamacare and the green energy revolution (i.e. subsidizing solar and wind projects) what has this President really done that is memorable?
“Bill Adams on January 31, 2014 at 11:46 pm
Next delay waits until after mid-term elections, that’s all.”
What Bill said. This has always been about politics. So look for the political loss/gain inflection point for the Administration: it won’t come until mud-November, and maybe not even then.
This has nothing to do with ensuring that the laws are faithfully executed.
the sooner everyone understands CAGW is not a partisan thing, the better we will be able to defeat the scam. i do believe there are more CAGW sceptics than believers who already know this. this little saga is telling:
30 Jan: Reuters: US consultancy ICF wins bid to help plan China carbon market
U.S. consultancy ICF International has won a 5-million euro ($6.8 mln) contract to help the European Union advise China, the world’s biggest carbon-emitting nation, on designing a national emissions trading scheme (ETS).
http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/01/30/china-carbon-idINL3N0L412J20140130
April 2013: Desmogblog: Steve Horn: Ties That Bind: Ernest Moniz, Keystone XL Contractor, American Petroleum Institute and Fracked Gas Exports
As first revealed on DeSmogBlog, Moniz is also on the Board of Directors of ICF International, one of the three corporate consulting firms tasked to perform the Supplemental Environmental Impact Study (SEIS) for TransCanada’s Keystone XL (KXL) tar sands pipeline…
Moniz earned over $300,000 in financial compensation in his two years sitting on the Board at ICF, plus whatever money his 10,000+ shares of ICF stock have earned him…
Moniz’s American Petroleum Institute Ties to Shale Gas Export Advocacy…
http://www.desmogblog.com/2013/04/09/ernest-moniz-keystone-xl-contractor-american-petroleum-institute-fracked-gas-exports
29 Jan: News Ltd: The man who could be US president: Ernest Moniz, the country’s Energy minister
EVERY year when the US president gives his annual State of the Union address to Congress, there is a “designated survivor”.
This time, that man is a fellow named Ernest Moniz. He’s the country’s Secretary of Energy and also well known for having a distinct, wavy bob…
And despite the polarised nature of American politicians, the country’s Senate voted unanimously to confirm him to his position…
http://www.news.com.au/world/north-america/the-man-who-could-be-us-president-ernest-moniz-the-countrys-energy-minister/story-fnh81jut-1226812986353
31 Jan: UK Register: Andrew Orlowski: Tell us we’re all doomed, MPs beg climate scientists
Is a climate scientist a real scientist?
The majority aren’t angry climate sceptics. They are “So What?”-ers. “So what if humans cause the climate to change?”; “It isn’t it likely to be catastrophic here, we’re likely to cope, so what?” and “So what if it gets a degree or two warmer – I prefer a warmer climate.”
These are reasonable things to say.
MPs therefore had the perfect opportunity to reassess their junkie-like dependence on their hand-picked IPCC scientists. But they decided to hold onto Nurse for now – for fear of something worse. The establishment scientists, less surprisingly, appeared keen to maintain their influence on the policy being made. The unwritten pact between the scientific elite and the political elite which appoints them will go on for a little longer.
Here’s how an enthralling session unfolded….ETC
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/01/31/tell_us_were_all_doomed_mps_beg_climate_scientists/
Hi Janice! Thank you for asking about our trip.
My holiday (vacation) has just about ended. I am in a hotel in LA waiting for my overnight flight to Heathrow London and then another flight back to Newcastle tomorrow. The family are en route to Miami to pick up a Caribbean cruise for two weeks, sadly I have to work. We had one the best drives ever from Las Vegas to LA through Death Valley. I have never been anywhere where there is complete silence, no birds, no people, just us. In England even in the most remote of places there is always some noise, some people. The views were breathtaking up in the mountains. We did a tour of the Grand Canyon, fantastic! The drive from LA to San Francisco was of a similar length as the one from Vegas to LA, but we had to stop three times for coffee as I was starting to nod off at the wheel, there was just mile after mile of straight roads with either barren countryside or crops, no mountains, nothing. So for that part of the journey, I agree with you. Hawaii is beautiful, I never realised it was so far from mainland US! We fly to the Costa del Sol in southern Spain several times a year, from the NE of England it is a three hour flight. Hawaii is five hours and two time zones (I suspect it should be three, as the sun sets an hour later local time than it does in LA, but a three hour difference makes it difficult for businesses to operate).
We have had a fantastic time, the people here are lovely, very friendly, very helpful. We will definitely be coming back.
Keith Sketchley asks: “I wonder what Obamas and Kerrys reasons for further delay will be now?”
——-
Reasons? BO needs no reasons. He’s on record saying, “I have my pen and my phone …”
BO imperially believes, “It’s my bat, ball, and glove. We play the game my way, or the highway. Just who in he!! are you to think otherwise?”
Curtis says:
February 1, 2014 at 12:34 am
Definition of “insanity”: environmentalists commissioning assessment after assessment of the same project, hoping for a different result.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
It is not insanity it works.
1. Endless Delays
2. Mounting costs
As an example the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission charges the plant operator $274 per hour per inspector.
Steve from Rockwood says:
February 1, 2014 at 5:15 am
“Other than Obamacare and the green energy revolution (i.e. subsidizing solar and wind projects) what has this President really done that is memorable?”
Creating more public debt than all other presidents combined? His term is not over yet; he’s got a good change of making it.
http://politicalderby.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/us-debt-graph-2020.jpg