Posted on 11/14/2011 7:44:33 AM PST by thackney
So much for the U.S. being the bastion of free enterprise and respecting due process.
With the State Department announcing Thursday it wants to explore alternative routing for TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline, after the project has been subject to 36 months of review - dutifully following a prescribed process that resulted in thousands of pages of documentation - the U.S. has signalled to the world it is not open for business.
Businesses need certainty and transparency to make investment decisions; that has been destroyed with one news release.
Read between the lines and things get even more interesting.
This announcement was directed from the White House, but the State Department is "wearing it."
Thus, if there was any doubt, it's clear this was politically motivated, predicated on the upcoming U.S. presidential election, the need to keep deep-pocketed Democratic donors happy while not alienating either supporters of the Keystone project or those who oppose it. How else can one explain what is effectively a change in the rules that will delay approval of the project until the first quarter of 2013 - conveniently after the presidential election.
This decision has been taken without due regard to the consequences of what happens to business investment when the rules are changed on the fly: Obama should ask former Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach about that one.
With this move, the geopolitical risk often ascribed to investing in countries where the rules have been known to change unexpectedly - say, Russia, Libya or Venezuela - is now going to be used when describing the business climate in the U.S.
Canada and the U.S. have a very important trading relationship; this decision has inextricably injected an element of mistrust into that relationship which won't be easily repaired.
That a publicly traded Canadian company, with transparent governance and processes based in a free and democratic society can be subject to this kind of treatment does not bode well for companies from other countries seeking to invest in the U.S.
The U.S. companies with operations in Canada, especially those operating in the oilsands, should be feeling mighty betrayed that their own government doesn't appear to understand the economics behind the need for this kind of continental energy infrastructure.
Being able to get oil into Gulf Coast refineries, which have already spent money re-tooling their facilities to accept the heavier barrels, would eliminate the WTI-Brent differential that has been sitting between the $15 and $20 US per barrel. Receiving WTI pricing for those barrels means companies that are not integrated on the refining side have been leaving millions of dollars on the table every day.
The same holds true for companies producing light oil from the Bakken formation in North Dakota. The Keystone pipeline was going to get those barrels to the Gulf Coast, resulting in more revenues for companies, not to mention needy government coffers.
The statement issued by the State Department said this latest review would, examine environmental concerns, including climate change.
Setting aside for a minute that all these issues were likely addressed in sufficient detail throughout the last 36 months, one wonders what could possibly surface that would be new and relevant in the coming 15 months or so?
The energy security and economic impact issues undoubtedly were examined in full - and remain irrefutable. The project would result in thousands of shovel-ready jobs and plenty of coin for government coffers.
The fact the U.S. wants to go down the environmental road - including looking at climate change - in the upcoming round smacks of nothing other than sheer hypocrisy.
The U.S. is further away from any sort of climate change initiatives than Canada - and if it really wanted to address the climate change issue it would follow Canada's lead and start phasing out coal-fired power generation.
In other words, to suggest the review of the last 36 months and the approvals received are insufficient is tough to buy into.
Ultimately, this is politics of a different sort and the unfortunate piece is it's not just TransCanada caught in the middle - it's the thousands of people that could have been immediately employed, not to mention those who will be affected by companies who will choose a country other than the U.S. as a place to invest.
Prime Minister Steven Harper will be seeing Obama in Hawaii today. No doubt he will be looking at someone who was supposed to be a trusted neighbour in a different light and wondering whether Chinese President Hu Jintao might be a more reliable ally.
” Face it. The inmates are running this asylum.” Too True !!
OBummer wants us to be a service society , not a manufacturing society. As long as he controlls the power and fuel , we will never return to the manufacturing country we once were .
Bloomburg gives 1 million $$$ to the Sierra Club to fight the coal industry.
OBummer guts the oil production in the Gulf of Mexico
OBummer gives Solyndra 528 million $$$ (government subsidized and guarenteed ~ thus protecting his crony investors) for sun collecters that cost twice (2X) as much as imported collectors, and then wonders why it failed ?
If you really wanted the U.S. to be successful , you’d think he would limit our chief financial rival ( China)access to power/ fuel , while encouraging our own power /fuel developement.
The attitude of the WH is “up-side down”
The attitude of the WH is politics, re-election and ideology over logic and common sense .
As best I can tell, there are no pipelines that run through the aquifer where it is more than 50 feet saturated thickness. If my map skills are correct, the pipeline will be running through 600-800 feet of saturated thickness.
Feel free to run the pipeline through our state, but let’s bend it around our state and country’s crucial groundwater.
Why??
How could a pipeline running on top of the ground possibly threaten a underground water system?
Worst case scenario; if the pipeline had a catastrophic explosion, how would spilled oil on the ground pollute a underground water system?
Our country is clinically insane. We can't make any basic positive economic decisions anymore. We are paralyzed by misinformation and lack of logical decision making
Obama chanelling Sir Winston Churchill
Sir Winston to the war cabinet:
Number one priority is to destroy the Nazi production, refining and distribution of petroleum products.
Then attack manufacturing industries starting with the ball bearing factories.
Where are you getting that the pipeline isn’t going to be buried?
I do not read the map the same way. Nearly all of the Nebraska section is more than 50 feet thick and has multiple liquid petroleum pipelines across it.
The existing pipelines cross through thicker section in Texas and Oklahoma as well.
In addition, can you tell me the concern of the aquifer going deeper while the oil is lighter than water and would float on the top?
The current pipeline runs along the very eastern edge of the aquifer. The biggest problem is the presence of benzene should there be a leak. Here is a peer-reviewed study: http://boldnebraska.org/uploaded/pdf/worst-case-keystone-spill-study-stansburyEmbargoeduntil11amEDTJuly11.pdf
I understand that I’m not going to change your mind and you won’t change mine. What this issue comes down to for Nebraskans is costs vs. risk. For us, we are in favor of the pipeline, but want it to take a different route due to the risks.
Most people seem to not get this - the pipeline may be more about increasing Canadian Co oil profits at THE COST OF PRICE INCREASES in 15 midwest states.
http://grassrootsne.com/?p=14125
http://www.startribune.com/opinion/otherviews/117832183.html
http://wyden.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/?id=158ffa9a-6380-4c2a-bbec-180c16839018
http://journalstar.com/news/local/article_b4b866cd-8b1e-56eb-a9d2-84852cfcb402.html
http://grassrootsne.com/?p=4549
That is not the only pipeline crossing the aquifer carrying petroleum (crude and refined products).
I understand that I’m not going to change your mind and you won’t change mine.
Understood.
So it has come to this.
Canadians lecturing US about free enterprise.
By damn, run it thru Iowa. We’ll take it.
Our most dangerous foe is the most powerful man in the country............. World.
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