Obama delays oil pipeline plan, discards 20,000 jobs

The Daily Caller ^ | 11/10/11 | Neil Munro

[Nachum]

Roughly 20,000 oil industry construction jobs are being thrown under Obama’s 2012 campaign bus, largely because the president needs to pump up his sagging support among the environmentalists.

The pitch came Thursday when President Barack Obama put his leadership behind a State Department plan to study alternative routes for the pipeline, which is intended to bring oil from Alberta in Canada to oil refineries along the Gulf Coast.

“We should take the time to ensure that all questions are properly addressed and all the potential impacts are properly understood,” said Obama’s afternoon statement.

The construction jobs, and the revenue from operating the Keystone XL pipeline, may now go to Canadian workers.

That’s because Canadian government officials are already planning to help build a competing pipeline from Alberta’s oil fields to new West Coast ports near Vancouver. The likely destination point is the port of Kitimat in British Columbia.

[Nachum]

The list, ping

Let me know if you would like to be on or off the ping list

[Former Proud Canadian]

"Canadian government officials are already planning to help build a competing pipeline from Alberta’s oil fields to new West Coast ports near Vancouver. The likely destination point is the port of Kitimat in British Columbia."

And from Kitimat the oil will be loaded into tankers headed for the People's Republic of China. So, US government policy is to feed your avowed enemy a secure supply of energy? This is unbelievable.

By the way, I have been telling you guys this will happen for months.

[Libloather]

Jobs, jobs, jobs...

[ZULU]

“We should take the time to ensure that all questions are properly addressed and all the potential impacts are properly understood,” said the professor, smoking his pipe and looking down his nose at the masses of uneducated peons who just are incapable of comprehending the great expanse of his wisdom.

I HATE this guy.

[Signalman]

Obama is intentionally stalling on the pipeline decision. If he approves it, he pisses off his base. If he doesn’t approve it, the GOP nails him on all the jobs that were prevented. So he’s waiting until after the election.

[throwback]

Yeah, and I have a Republican Governor and Senator that helped block this. So if Mitt’s at the top of the ticket, I have NO reason to go to the polls. But I still get mail from the governor inviting me to events to support the party. Oh yeah, be right there.

[org.whodat]

It is their oil, their country, they have the right to build it in their own country, no problem, it is a world market after all. What does the Chinese buying it have to do with anything??? Are you against free trade.

[Former Proud Canadian]

Hey, pal, it doesn't matter to me who buys the oil. Other than the fact that I would rather see the jobs and secure energy go to the US.

I guess you, like Obama, have decided that fewer jobs and less secure and more expensive energy are good for the US economy. Hey, so be it. Good luck with that.

[EGPWS]

Roughly 20,000 oil industry construction jobs are being thrown under Obama’s 2012 campaign bus, largely because the president needs to pump up his sagging support among the environmentalists.

See, all you who think 0bama is nothing but politics before country, here is just another example of how patriotic 0bama is!

It's just tough love for all of us....

Did I pass my MSNBC audition?

[informavoracious]

"We should take the time to ensure that all questions are properly addressed and all the potential impacts are properly understood"

Too bad the Obama voters didn't take this approach before voting him in.

[blackdog]

In the spirit of compromise, might I suggest a refinery be built closer to the oil? After all, it’s the gasoline that’s retail distributed.

[shankbear]

From Southeast Texas where the oil would have been refined, I want to say thank you numbnutz Obsma. This area of Texas has 12 percent unemployment due to your idiotic policies already. These jobs would have helped, you communist punk puke thug.

[Izzy Dunne]

intended to bring oil from Alberta in Canada to oil refineries along the Gulf Coast.

The refineries are along the coast, because the main path for oil to travel is and has been by ship.

Is there a technical reason we cannot build refineries in Montana, ND, etc.?

I know nobody would risk the political firestorm of America trying to act grown-up, but is there a technical problem with it? Cold, maybe, or dryness?

[chimera]

Every time Obangi starts running his sewer about “Republicans not doing anything to create jobs”, they should throw this story right back in his ugly, smug face. Here is the ultimate “shovel ready” jobs “program” (not really that since it's private industry and not government work, which may be why Odouchebag opposes it) and they're trying to kill it with delay.

[ronnie raygun]

He’ll say no after the election if he wins.

[Fightin Whitey]

>>>Is there a technical reason we cannot build refineries in Montana, ND, etc.?<<<

Not technical just political. It’s called the EPA.

The practical fact is you cannot reasonably build a refinery given the costs and interminable time-frame demanded by EPA regulations.

Supposedly a refinery has been permitted by the feds for construction on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in North Dakota, but everyone knows this facility will never be built, let alone operational; rather the whole charade is just another excuse to shower tax money on the ruling class blanket Indians.

[thackney]

Is there a technical reason we cannot build refineries in Montana, ND, etc.?

No, we have five refineries already in North Dakota and Montana.

But we are not short on refinery capacity. The US has become a net refined product exporter. We are short on refinery input, not refineries.

What we would also need to build, if we built a 500,000 BPD refinery near the Canadian Border, is refined product pipeline instead of the crude oil / bitumen pipeline. The demand for that refined product in that quantities is still going to be a lot of pipeline.

Refineries also produce more than gasoline / diesel / jet fuel. They produce chemical plant feedstock and that market is mostly down at the Gulf Coast.

They also produce refinery "leftovers" that don't ship by pipeline, petroleum coke or residual oil. That market is far away as well.

A modern refinery requires hydrogen for multiple units. Around the Gulf Coast we have Hydrogen Pipelines so that not every refinery needs to produce their own. But a new large refinery up there would have to add hydrogen generation units as well.

A large refinery also requires a significant amount of electrical power. That would have to be added if you are not going to use an existing refinery.

Bottom line, it would cost a lot more money to build a new infrastructure along with the new refinery compared to building the pipeline to the existing infrastructure.

[Chode]

[SunkenCiv]

Of course, the election was Tuesday. Thanks Nachum.