Environmentalists regret blocking Keystone XL pipeline

After a summer of lackluster protests and the failure to gain wide-ranging public support for the campaign, prominent liberal columnist Jonathan Chait called the Keystone opposition a “huge environmentalist mistake,” arguing that the focus on the pipeline project came in 2011 after environmentalists had been dealt a defeat on cap-and-trade policies. Chait criticizes environmentalist leader Bill McKibben and others for putting so much effort into fighting the pipeline that will do little to curb global warming. The real effort to cut carbon dioxide emissions, Chait writes, comes from the Environmental Protection Agency’s emissions limits on power plants. “Even slight gradations in the strength of possible EPA plans matter more than the whole fate of the Keystone pipeline,” Chait wrote last week. “And yet, McKibben and tens of thousands of his followers are obsessed with a program that amounts to a rounding error at the expense of a decision that really is the last chance to stop unrestrained global warming.” Chait’s argument got some push back from environmentalists, but the liberal writer isn’t alone is venting frustration about the environmental movement’s Keystone campaign. “Architecturally, a keystone is the wedge-shaped piece at the crown of an arch that locks the other pieces in place,” wrote four environmental activists representing U.S. and Canadian groups. “Without the keystone, the building blocks of an archway will tumble and fall, with no support system for the weight of the arch. Much of the United States’ climate movement right now is structured like an archway, with all of its blocks resting on a keystone — President [Barack] Obama’s decision on the Keystone XL pipeline.” “This is a dangerous place to be,” the activists added...wrote four environmental activists representing U.S. and Canadian groups. “Without the keystone, the building blocks of an archway will tumble and fall, with no support system for the weight of the arch. Much of the United States’ climate movement right now is structured like an archway, with all of its blocks resting on a keystone — President [Barack] Obama’s decision on the Keystone XL pipeline.” “This is a dangerous place to be,” the activists added...more