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Obama caps Keystone

Supporters of the Keystone XL pipeline are outraged at President Obama’s decision to reject the project.  House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) called it “sickening.”

Message from coal country to Ryan and everyone else disappointed by the President’s actions: Welcome to our world.

Obama has made climate change a top priority of his second term with executive orders aimed at reducing the production and burning of carbon-based fuels, especially coal, while steering billions of dollars to alternative fuels.

The coal industry is suffering through a severe depression because of the president’s policies, as well as the glut of natural gas and oil which have reduced prices to the point where drillers shut down rather than sell their product at a loss.

The resulting decline of severance taxes has put a serious strain on the state budget, forcing cutbacks and limiting opportunities to give badly needed pay raises to teachers and state workers and to invest in the state’s crumbling roads.

The Keystone pipeline had become a symbol in the fight over climate change.  Backers cited the economic benefits of construction jobs and a reliable transit of oil from Canada’s oil sands to Steele City, Nebraska, and then on to refineries on the Gulf Coast. Opponents fretted about a possible pipeline spill and how the continued flow of oil would erode the movement toward greener fuels.

A State Department study determined pipeline construction would have supported over 42,000 direct and indirect jobs and contributed $3.4 billion to the economy over three years.  Opponents repeatedly dismissed the economic benefits by adding that once built the pipeline would support just 50 jobs.  (It’s worth noting that virtually all construction jobs can be classified as “temporary” because eventually what you’re working on is finished.)

The pipeline controversy had gone on for seven years, and while opponents and supporters waged their very public battle, economics took over.  As the State Department report predicted, the oil is making its way to market by rail and truck, which the review also points out is more dangerous and actually increases emissions because trains and trucks burn diesel fuel.

But hey, Earthjustice President Trip Van Nopper is happy.  “It’s a good day in America when the people triumph over political lobby groups,” he said.  In fact, it’s the Big Green lobby that carried the day because of its acolytes in the White House.

While Keystone was symbolic, it was also a real project, a legitimate proposal for the efficient transport of a valuable and critical resource so it could enter the global market.  The president’s decision is not as damaging to oil as the Clean Power Plan is to coal, but it’s rooted in the same philosophy; squeeze carbon-based fuels where possible while propping up alternative fuels.

 





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