Thursday, January 19, 2012

The Reasons Behind Obama’s Decision Rejecting the Keystone Pipeline

Republicans could hardly pick their jaws off the floor when word leaked Wednesday that the White House would deny a controversial oil pipeline. House Speaker John Boehner sat shocked while his aides distributed outraged statements. “President Obama is about to destroy tens of thousands of American jobs and sell American energy security to the Chinese,” said Boehner spokesman Brendan Buck, referring to the oil Obama refused that may now be sold to China. “The president won’t stand up to his political base even to create American jobs. This is not the end of this fight,” Buck harrumphed. News of the Keystone pipeline denial was surprising for one main reason. The last-minute congressional compromise over the payroll tax in December included a provision that compelled Obama to make a decision on Keystone XL within 60 days. That would prevent him, Republicans believed, from running out the clock until December, when the issue would no longer affect the election. But when given two months, Obama only took one. A White House aide suggests that there was no point in waiting the full stretch for a decision that was fairly obvious. That’s not because Obama opposed the pipeline outright. As the candidate, Obama ran on a broad environmental agenda, including addressing climate change and shifting the nation toward a renewable energy economy. When the State Department offered provisional approval for the project and Obama hinted at lukewarm support last year, environmentalists freaked. Green groups organized repeated protests–the largest one garnered 5,000 people who encircled the White House–holding Obama to his campaign rhetoric against dirty energy.No, the primary reason for Obama’s rejection was because of the bed Republicans had made him, demanding a decision before the State Department could facilitate a full review of the pipeline’s environmental impacts. Nebraska became ground zero over the fight after environmental officials in the state highlighted concerns about ecological risks...more

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