Obama's Jobs Council Supports Keystone XL 2.0 -- Obama Rejects It -- Speak Volumes -- Jobs, Obviously Not #1
[Best comment received so far: Candidate Obama talked about energy security. We have the 5th fleet protecting our vulnerable oil supplies from the Persian Gulf while we block pipelines from Canada.]
On CNBC now. Here's the Bloomberg link, time-stamped 11:52 a.m. by Bloomberg. It looks like CNBC was about 30 minutes late with this breaking news.
The rejection will probably come from the State Department which has been charged with reviewing the project and a joint statement will come from some of the larger unions and environmental groups in support of the decision, according to the person who spoke on the condition of anonymity before an announcement.RigZone's take on the rejection.
The administration will let TransCanada submit a new application for an alternate pipeline route (Keystone XL 3.0) said a person familiar with the administration’s plans.
As noted earlier, Keystone XL 1.0 was rejected; replaced by Keystone XL 2.0.
Talking head now says that "this was expected; not at all unexpected."
Talking head says Keystone XL 5.0 will be approved after the election.
(I added the numerical iterations to keep track of the various projects:
- Keystone XL 1.0 was the original; rejected by State Dept in late 2011
- Keystone XL 2.0 was the follow-on to the rejected project; this is the first re-route; it is on Hillary's desk; Congress gave Obama 60 days to decide; it looks like he called their bluff, although he hasn't looked at the plan; Obama rejected 2.0 on January 18, 2012
- Keystone XL 2.1 will be considered, in the news January 19,2012.
- Keystone XL 3.0 will be announced after the election, with "final decision" in 2013
- Keystone XL 3.1 will be the project routing to satisfy Texas' concerns
- Keystone XL 4.0 will be the project that takes Canadian oil sands oil to the west coast/China)
“This was not the end of the line for XL. This was, frankly, politics,” he said. “We’re probably going to see TransCanada and the state Nebraska come together in the next, probably, three weeks.”There is no relationship between $125/bbl oil, $4.50 gasoline, $5.00 diesel, and the Keystone, but if Obama's opponents can't demagogue this issue, they can't demagogue anything.
A final analysis could come in the fall, after which the company would likely reapply for a rerouted pipeline with a final decision in 2013.
"Unions in support of this...." All I can think of is those families whose fathers do not have a job. Sad. Sad. Sad.
Enbridge has been trending higher all day, but is hitting new highs for the day, up over 1 percent now (12:30 p.m. EST).
Hess to close Hovensa refinery in the Virgin Islands to be used as a storage facility. Lots of refining shut down.
ReplyDeleteYes, I posted that earlier today. I thought the same thing. But refineries have been struggling for years. For years.
DeleteI sure would like to know what unions supported this. It had to be the teachers union, employees and the garment workers. I would think the construction workers and teamster’s would be screaming blood murder.
ReplyDeleteThat's exactly what I thought: the teachers unions, NEA; state employees outside the midwest, and they only support it to support the president; they aren't killing the Keystone on its merit.
DeleteDidn't you indicate in an earlier post that the Gov. of ND had come up w/an alternative plan for the Keystone that did not extend it across the Canadian boarder so it didn't need State Dept. Approval? Was that in jest..or is that a possibility. Seemed like a good idea!
ReplyDeleteThe alternative plan would be for TransCanada to build the pipeline just on the US side and then have the US side hook up with existing pipeline that crosses the border.
DeleteI think there are two problems: any pipelines crossing the international border are already at capacity and could never handle the additional hundreds of thousands of bbls per day coming down the proposed Keystone. In addition, a lot of oil in the pipelines is of a better grade than the heavy oil coming down from Canada and folks don't want to mix the oil.
Bakken operators are not going to mix light, sweet oil with heavy oil.
I think the analogy would be a two-lane highway (that already exists) coming across the international border, and joining up with a 6-lane superhighway. There needs to be enough oil in that 6-lane superhighway to make it economical and to keep the oil flowing (see problems with Alaskan pipeline). The smaller pipelines crossing the border are not adequate to provide what the Keystone XL could carry.
The fact that TransCanada has not started building on the US side suggests the company may not be all that confident, or there may be other regulations I am not aware of. Alternatively, I assume the states aren't eager to allow pipeline to be laid if the the US govt isn't reassuring that the pipeline will eventually be a reality.
But no, what I wrote earlier was not in jest. There's a video of ND governor showing how it could be done. (At least I think it was the governor; it's been awhile since I posted it.)
I am a carpenter, I have worked on pipeline projects, I don't belong to a union, and as a democrat I am going to be really pissed if Obama rejects this.
ReplyDeleteYes, this issue is crossing political lines; some of my best friends are union members, but it is the leadership that often bothers me.
DeleteThank you for taking time to comment.
A comment from another site on the same issue:
DeleteI don't think he's a doofus, which means he'd be slow-witted or dull-witted.---------No, Barack H. Obama is a calculating, destructive, anti-capitalist, anti-America, anti-Americans, an anti-Constitution Marxist who's sole mission appears, by his actions and words, to destroy our Republic, its economy and its founding documents.-----------This man is beyond dangerous.----------
I just do't get it.
ReplyDeleteThe advantages of a pipeline are:
Reduces our trade deficit
Create high paying jobs in the US
Helps reduce funding of terrorist
Improves our national security...And helps our economic recovery
The disadvantages are that it COULD, in the case of a spill, endanger a local environment. And then there's some silly babble about us not using the oil, but instead refining it and turning around and exporting it to China (as if there was something wrong with that...please see advantage #1).
This just doesn't make sense.
I think it's an act of desperation to hold onto his last small base, the radical faux-environmentalists. Not one sane American sees this anything other than political. You are correct; it makes absolutely no sense.
DeleteEnvironmentalists think it's better to ship by boat to China than pipeline to US?? A pipeline accident can't compare to an accident like the Exxon Valdez.
ReplyDeleteCandidate Obama talked about energy security. We have the 5th fleet protecting our vulnerable oil supplies from the Persian Gulf while we block pipelines from Canada.
Without question, the best comment ever received -- worried about Iran blocking the Strait of Hormuz, and we're blocking oil from Canada. Say what?
ReplyDeleteThank you for taking time to comment.
No surpise, but it appears the Obama Administration is about to formally kill Keystone. Can you imagine how much more Middle Eastern oil we would have consumed, if this cast of characters had had their way on the original Alaska pipeline?
ReplyDeleteThe Baaken stimulus is more than just energy security, it's a farmer buying another John Deere, it's contributing to real estate stabilization in places like Arizona, it's a hope for people willing to go where the work is, and more. All Saudi sweet does is put our dollars in the hands of individuals who want to butcher American citizens - just ask the Bin Laden family.
Helluva great website Bruce - education and real hope through stories of energy security and jobs that require Americans to make stuff.
CW2/Boise
I accidentally hit "reject" button when trying to post the above comment, but the comment has been re-posted. I apologize to CW2/Boise for my "fat finger."
DeleteTo say there is a anti-growth or even a spirit against what is good for our country by this administration and their fellow travelers would be a understatement. Keep exposing them for who they are.
ReplyDeleteThe anti-development, faux or phoney environmentalist are a post-industrial revolution mentality where only a very few have any advantage and therefor are easier to control. This same mindset that gave rise to the Fabian Socialist thought that took hold in Europe in the latter part of the 19th century.
It basically advocates a slow revolution to a Marx's state where big central government direct all aspects of people's lives. A very different kind of revolution than we normally think of. The citizenry becomes totally dependent on the government, a secular god or gods if you will. This idea took hold in the in the United States at the beginning of the 20th century and they became known as the Progressives. Those who first advocated the ideas of the Progressives most was President Woodrow Wilson (1913 to 1921) FDR, and now today's administration. Both parties have experimented with some elements of the Progressives but these administrations are the most pronounced. The total rejection of the Progressives in the 1920s lead to the election of Harding and Coolidge, a time of incredible economic growth and expansion. Trouble is it got too hot and all crashed under Hoover in 1929.
So when you see all these crazy radical environmental ideas think Progressives. They use it to cover who they are, their goal of a Marxist state through a slow quiet revolution. Many people are pulled in because they like to think we can create a utopian world if only we just try hard enough. Call them the sheepople, the easily mislead or "useful idiots" as the Progressive think of them.
A very dangerous worldview.
You are correct. In Boston (actually Cambridge), I am surrounded by extremely bright business students, most of whom are very, very conservative in their thinking, and yet, they are getting pulled into this very, very subtle movement. It is incredible. I am most amazed how many actually think "someone" set the global thermometer and since 1951 it is has been the perfect temperature, only to be disrupted by their parents' generation.
ReplyDeleteOne starts to wonder if Obama is not thinking of himself as a "community organizer" writ large -- i.e., not POTUS but rather COOTUS. I guess his followers could refer to themselves as COOTI or COOTIES.
Yes, I love it Bruce. The COOTS or the COOTIES very good,
ReplyDelete