Obama Plays Keystone Cops With Oil Pipeline

By dragging his feet on the Keystone XL pipeline project, President Obama has pandered to a handful of environmental groups while disregarding the economic interests of his own country and its trusted ally Canada.  His decision to delay a ruling on the pipeline until after the election is politics at its worst.

The president attempted to deflect criticism by blaming (surprise!) Republicans for imposing a "rushed and arbitrary deadline" on approval of the $7 billion pipeline project.  It is a lame excuse considering the State Department has been reviewing the proposal for more than three years.

When Republicans pounced on the issue, Obama's allies in the media and the Democrat Party resorted to disparaging the project.  Their limp criticism appeared at odds with the president's own energy and environmental agencies, which reported the pipeline would pose "no serious impact" to the environment.

One of the sensitive environmental issues raised by the State Department was the building of the pipeline over an aquifer in Nebraska.  Even that was a red herring because the project builder TransCanada has operated a pipeline for years over an aquifer in the eastern part of that state. There have been no oil spills.

In stalling the project, Obama has curried political favor with the Sierra Club, Friends of Earth, National Resources Defense Council and other environmental groups opposing the pipeline.  Meanwhile, the tone-deaf president has angered a majority of the public, antagonized Canada and rankled 15 unions backing the pipeline.

Fifty-three percent of likely U.S. voters favor moving ahead with the 1,661-mile pipeline that would carry 700,000 barrels of crude from Alberta, Canada's oil sands to refineries in the U.S. The survey was conducted by Rasmussen Reports, a public opinion research company often employed by Democrats.

Upon hearing Obama's decision, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper expressed "profound disappointment" and hinted his nation may sell the crude to China.  Any disruption in the flow of oil would have dire consequences because Canada is a major supplier of crude to the U.S.

Currently, Canada ships 99 percent of its crude exports to the U.S. Canada accounts for 90 percent of all proven crude reserves outside the Middle East.  That country's output is expected to double over the next eight years as oil sand deposits yield increasing amounts of crude.

Canadians weren't the only ones feeling snubbed by Obama.  The president of the union representing pipeline construction workers minced no words in condemning the president's delay tactics.

"The administration should hug a jobless construction worker instead of hugging a tree," said Terry O'Sullivan, president of the Laborers Union International.  "Blue collar construction workers across the U.S. will not forget this."

Oil companies joined in the drumbeat of denunciation for Obama's political sidestep.  None were more vocal than the CEO of Valero Energy, a San Antonio-based company which had planned to be a shipper and purchaser of the Canadian oil.

Here's what Valero's Bill Klesse wrote in an employee memo, obtained by the Diatribe:

"Due to the administration's misguided policies, refiners like Valero will have to buy more oil from other sources outside the U.S. and Canada.  Consumers will bear the additional shipping cost, not to mention the additional greenhouse gas emissions and political risks.

"With all the issues facing our country, its is absolutely unbelievable our federal government says no to a company like TransCanada that is willing to spend over $7 billion and put Americans to work on a pipeline."

Obama's action is beyond implausible.  In holding hostage the pipeline project, the president has abdicated his leadership role and sacrificed American jobs for tawdry political reasons.

What could be more preposterous?