Presidential Miscues On The Dakota Access Pipeline

Investors Business Daily ^ | 11/22/2016 5:06 PM ET | RICHARD A. EPSTEIN

[expat_panama]

Right now a major energy and environmental fiasco is playing out over the completion of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). This 1172-mile pipeline, when completed, will move 470,000 barrels of oil per day from the production fields in the Bakken and Three Forks regions of North Dakota to refineries and terminals located in Patoka, Ill.

Originally, the case was a legal dispute...

...the case should have been over...

...Two major interconnected issues have surfaced.

The first is that the SRST and its allies have sought to turn the entire dispute into a re-examination of the entire history of the troubled relations between the United States government and the Native American tribes....

...large groups of protesters have trespassed on public and private lands in their effort to block, often by force and violence, the completion of the pipeline, so that tensions have reached the boiling point, with over 411 arrests in the past three months.

The second issue is that the permit denial is a proxy fight over the systematic efforts of environmental activists...

...the same day that Judge Boasberg issued his opinion, the DOJ issued a conclusory statement blocking construction...

...the President seemed to be blissfully unaware of the risks that his proposed rerouting would cause to the federal treasury...

...The larger environmental debates over global warming, fossil fuels, and carbon dioxide levels are fair game for the political process...

...Obama gives SRST and its supporters undeserved legitimacy when he soft pedals their irresponsible participation... ...The unprincipled politicization of Dakota Access Pipeline is another.

Epstein is a professor of law at NYU, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, and senior lecturer at the University of Chicago. He has advised MAIN, a business and labor coalition, in support of Dakota Access Pipeline.

[expat_panama]

Happy "Thanksgiving and end (almost) of the 3-1/2 day week!  Stocks hit new highs and trade volume is back up to steady (average).   Metals got the same "leave-early-for-Thanksgiving" attitude and futures have them both off/flat. 

What's poppin' is the econ reports hitting the fan so the bean counters can run for cover:

7:00 AM MBA Mortgage Index
8:30 AM Continuing Claims
8:30 AM Durable Orders
8:30 AM Initial Claims
8:30 AM Continuing Claims
8:30 AM Durable Orders, Ex- Transportation
8:30 AM Durable Orders
8:30 AM Durable Orders, Ex- Transportation
9:00 AM FHFA Housing Price Index
10:00 AM Michigan Sentiment - Final
10:00 AM New Home Sales
10:00 AM Michigan Sentiment - Final
10:30 AM Crude Inventories
10:30 AM Natural Gas Inventories
12:00 PM Natural Gas Inventories
2:00 PM FOMC Minutes

Other news:

• Is It Time to Ready For an Index Fund Selloff? - Mark Cussen, Investopedia
• Globalization And Poverty - Marian Tupy, Reason
• A Big Boom for Stocks - Brian Wesbury & Robert Stein, First Trust Advisors
• Existing Home Sales: We're Not Impressed - Richard Moody, Regions Bank
• Thanksgiving: Capitalism Wins Over Collectivism

 

[Robert DeLong]

Well of course, Obama never knows the real issues.

[mazda77]

Stand down for just 58 more days and the existing DOJ can take a flying leap when all of their worthless decrees will be null and void. Now that we know that Gupta is serving in violation of the law as the Temporary head of the Civil Right Division for more than two years now, that the Republicans did nothing about, anything with her name on it is null and void. So how many other office heads requiring ratification by Congress are also operating issuing decrees that are essentially worthless?

The “tribe” sold their interests a long time ago thinking it was only worth what they could get out of it at the time. Now they are pissed they cannot collect on any right of way leasing and want a do-over. If that land was so sensitive to their ancestral whatever, it certainly was not so friggin important to them when they sold it.

As for the environmentalists arguement that spills can occur, well think of the giant spill at the tar pits in Kalifornja where the naturally produced oil is now seeping up again. it came from the Earth, just like the dirt, mountains and geysers. Or to them it is better to have it spill all over the surface from a tanker truck or rail accident, never mind the fires that are also usually a result. Not saying that a buried pipeline cannot have a failure, but at least the containment would be far more manageable for a naturally occurring product of good ole Mother Earth.

[mad_as_he$$]

Busy day for “data”. Could be some buying opportunities but vol is thin.

[Hatteras]

He’s been too busy playing golf to watch the news...

[bert]

The real issue is irrelevant. There is no real issue

The fiasco is about Indians getting paid to make ridiculous demands on behalf of the Envirowackos paying them.

Extradite Soros to Russia

[Nextrush]

Lets not forget that Obama allowed this in the first place, approving of DAPL after shooting down Keystone XL, a bigger and better pipeline that would have sent Canadian and American oil down to Texas.

Obama said last month he supported the pipeline and was ‘considering’ a rerouting. After looking like the Green, Environmentalist on Keystone XL, Obama turned around and gave the Left a crap sandwich by supporting DAPL.

I see crony capitalism here since the DAPL goes to Illinois, a state associated with Obama.

DAPL’s Texas-based builder has a CEO who gave 50-thousand bucks to a Paul Ryan PAC. Crony Capitalism is what I see here with Dems and RINO’s.

Its the Obama Access Pipeline IMHO and right now those protestors are protesting against Obama’s pipeline and his doublespeak to the concerns of the protestors.

[Jumper]

Better yet, give Putin a heads up he will be parachuting from a Cessna 25 miles inside Siberia so they can shoot him dead on sight.