Keystone XL 1.0 Is Dead; The Story Won't Die -- Barack Supports the Keystone

Barack supports the pipeline: leaves a 1,179-mile gap -- details, details, details
TransCanada has not even submitted a new application

EPA and US Army Corps of Engineers can't begin work until they see an application

And we haven't even started talking about the Texas ranchers and the Sierra Club

Updates

March 21, 2012: Twenty-four hours later and Bloomberg says something different, but says the Cushing won't be sped up due to Obama's involvement. Leaves a 1,179-mile gap.

Original Post

This really is incredible. All that talk about TransCanada's Keystone XL 2.0S, the southern leg of the original Keystone XL (that is now dead), from Cushing to the Gulf. The president gives full support to the southern leg; says he will fast-track it. Shave off three to four months of the process.

One little glitch: TransCanada has not even submitted the application for Keystone XL 2.0S.

Fast-track?

But TransCanada has not yet applied to build the southern leg, so it remains uncertain exactly which agencies would need to grant permits. Fish and Wildlife, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers are some that would almost certainly would have to sign off.

Doug Garman, a spokesman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said TransCanada would need a permit from the agency if its pipeline work involves any waters under the Corps' jurisdiction outlined by U.S. clean water laws.

Fish and Wildlife? This is where three months will be saved; one phone call from the president.
US Army Corps of Engineers? Good luck.
EPA? Don't even get me started.

Again, the US entered and ended WWII in less time than it's taken to get where we are with regard to this pipeline. And if the application for the southern portion has not even been submitted, we are not even back to square one.

And that, folks, is how the federal government can slow-roll the oil and gas industry. The headlines were all about the SecState giving/not giving a green light to a 100 feet of pipeline -- the part that crosses the international border. But we haven't even begun to see the work that will be required by just Fish and Wildlife, and in the hierarchy of slow-rolling the oil and gas industry, they are near the lower rung.

The EPA will be tough enough, but the US Army Corps of Engineers. Wow.

Meanwhile, gasoline at $4.00/gasoline and peak driving season not here. Three refineries near Philadelphia may be closing. Workers at a huge refinery in the northwest may go on strike. And that's just business as normal. Oh, one more thing: the Mideast.