Posted on 02/27/2012 5:02:18 PM PST by Libloather
White House gives blessing to partial Keystone XL construction
By Andrew Restuccia - 02/27/12 02:27 PM ET
The White House backed TransCanada Corp.’s bid to build a major portion of the Keystone XL oil pipeline Monday, a move that could shield President Obama from growing GOP attacks over the project.
By supporting the southern portion of the pipeline, the White House was able to blunt Republican criticism of the administration's energy policies. But the move quickly re-opened a rift with the president’s environmental base, which condemned the project.
TransCanada said Monday that it will begin construction on a section of the pipeline that runs from Cushing, Okla., to Texas. It would carry crude oil pumped from land in the Midwest and surrounding areas to refineries in Texas.
The pipeline can't be extended to carry oil sands crude from Canada until the company receives a cross-border permit from the State Department, a permit the president rejected in January.
The Oklahoma-to-Texas project “will help address the bottleneck of oil in Cushing that has resulted in large part from increased domestic oil production, currently at an eight year high,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said in a statement, echoing Obama’s previous endorsement of the pipeline segment.
“We look forward to working with TransCanada to ensure that it is built in a safe, responsible and timely manner, and we commit to take every step possible to expedite the necessary federal permits," he said.
TransCanada said the southern section of pipeline, which the company dubbed the Gulf Coast Project, will cost $2.3 billion and will be completed by late 2013. The project must still receive other regulatory approvals.
Republicans have pounced on Obama’s January decision to reject Keystone XL’s cross-border permit as part of the party's broader strategy to target the president’s energy policies going into the election.
The GOP argues that Obama passed up an opportunity to create thousands of jobs and boost the economy by rejecting the permit. But Obama put the blame on Republicans, insisting that the decision was not based on the merits of the project but instead on a 60-day, GOP-backed deadline included in a two-month extension of the payroll tax cut.
The White House’s high-profile endorsement Monday of the Oklahoma-to-Texas portion of the pipeline could be used as ammunition to undercut Republican attacks on Obama over Keystone. But the GOP is unlikely to let up because the cross-border permit has yet to be approved.
TransCanada said Monday it would reapply "in the near future" for a the cross-border permit, which would allow the Keystone XL pipeline to cross from Alberta, Canada, into the United States.
The company said it expects the government to deal with the new application quickly.
"The over three year environmental review for Keystone XL completed last summer was the most comprehensive process ever for a cross border pipeline," TransCanada President Russ Girling said in a statement. "Based on that work, we would expect our cross border permit should be processed expeditiously and a decision made once a new route in Nebraska is determined."
The White House also welcomed TransCanada’s decision to reapply for the cross-border Keystone permit.
“We will ensure any project receives the important assessment it deserves, and will base a decision to provide a permit on the completion of that review,” Carney said in the statement.
TransCanada said Monday that it would continue working with Nebraska officials to identify an alternative route for Keystone around the state's ecologically sensitive Sand Hill's region.
The Obama administration had delayed a final decision on the project until 2013 in order to identify and analyze the alternative route. But the 60-day deadline in the payroll tax cut package forced the administration to weigh in on the project sooner.
The White House’s decision to back the southern section of the Keystone XL pipeline puts Obama at odds with his environmental base.
Opponents of Keystone XL raise concerns about increased greenhouse-gas emissions from oil sands production and potential oil spills along the pipeline route, among other things. They also say that industry-backed jobs numbers are wildly inflated.
Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune blasted the TransCanada plan to build the pipeline segment.
“TransCanada is hell bent on bringing tar sands, the world’s dirtiest oil, through America to reach foreign markets,” Brune said in a statement. “They can’t wait for a fair, scientific environmental review they know their pipeline would fail. So we see dirty political tricks, dirty PR tricks, and, now, this dirty trick to build the pipeline piecemeal.”
Bill McKibben, a vocal opponent of the pipeline and founder of 350.org, underscored his opposition to the Oklahoma-to-Texas portion of the pipeline, while noting that it won’t yet carry Canadian oil sands.
“Even though this doesn't bring new oil in from the tar sands, we stand with our allies across the region who are fighting to keep giant multinational corporations from condemning their lands," he said in a statement.
The Bummer is now trying to triangulate, but much more clumsily than Bill Clinton ever did.
He had to wait until his little bitty buddy Soros bought in to make a couple of unexpected shekels. Then he told the union bosses what a nice thing he was doing for them and told the ‘greenies’ not to worry ‘cause he had their back. Chicago style personified.
Obama = Politics trumps American jobs.
TC did not need White House approval for building sections in the US, only to cross the border. It has spent months if not years getting US government permits for this section. The northern section to the border still must receive some permits resulting from the shift in location in Nebraska. The enviro's as usual are screaming about this partial approval:
“They (TransCanada) can’t wait for a fair, scientific environmental review they know their pipeline would fail. So we see dirty political tricks, dirty PR tricks, and, now, this dirty trick to build the pipeline piecemeal.” LOL
It may not be too late, but it is too little. He's approved part of the pipeline -- Oklahoma to Texas. That does not bring Canadian oil to our refineries.
The enviros don't want to encourage Canadian oil-sands production. This decision doesn't change that. It creates some construction jobs (which is why the Republicans are short-sighted in whining about job-creation), but does nothing to discourage oil importation from the Middle East.
Without that, the rest of the pipeline is worthless, and you can bet that TC is not spending $2 billion to build a pipeline that will not be connected (ultimately) to the source.
The sections in the USA are NOT requiring Messiah Approval...they only needed to get the Regulatory Permits (from The Messiah's Minions) to build within the borders. This is NOTHING new (his Announcement), but it's Election Year, and he has to convince the duped that he actually is DOING SOMETHING (he's not).
They don’t need Obama’s okay for this portion.
TransCanada must be pretty darn convinced that Obama is toast come November.
This is just more of the Lame Stream Media trying to mitigate the damage being done to Obama.
Pure Propaganda.....to soften the fact that gas prices are Obama’s fault.
So put out some fakery, specialty, called Obama deception to make it ‘appear’ he’s not the reason for the high food and gas prices.
It’s Obama’s fault.
Always watch what his other hand is doing.
“Morons. I’ve got morons on my team. Nobody is going to rob us going down the mountain. We have got no money going down the mountain. When we have got the money, on the way back, then you can sweat. “
The Nation has an article, “Keystone XL would raise gas prices, not lower them.”
http://www.thenation.com/blog/166399/keystone-xl-would-raise-gas-prices-not-lower-them
You can’t make this stuff up.
I heard the same thing you did. This portion did not need WH approval. I do not see this as Obama triangulating or caving... I see this as something he couldn’t control but he will take credit for creating these jobs. Every job created needs to be shouted from the rooftops daily and a reminder many more can be created to finish the pipeline. Constant force of message is what the dems have and we do not.. except for Limbaugh, Beck, Hannity, etc.
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