Free Republic

The nation’s governors emerged from a meeting with President Barack Obama Monday claiming harmony, only to immediately break into an on-camera partisan feud in front of the West Wing. Louisiana Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal lashed out first, saying if Obama were serious about growing the economy he would approve the Keystone XL pipeline project and take other executive actions. […] Jindal’s statements were the kind that Republicans often make on television appearances or at partisan events. But his colleagues had been instead expressing wide agreement and appreciation for the president’s time. Some of the governors began shaking their heads, and...

Remember: We actually pay people to report on stuff like this. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO), while not exactly non-partisan, doesn’t always see eye to eye with either party in D.C. Yes, sometimes the effects of proposed Democrat economic policies are so obvious that even the CBO is forced to agree with Republicans. The CBO just reported that the Democrats plan to raise the minimum wage would cost between 500,00 to a million jobs. Initially. No. Duh. At least that many jobs; really, probably more. “The CBO analysts said their estimate of employment losses was approximate,” says Fox News. “They...

A Nebraska judge on Wednesday struck down a law that allowed the Keystone XL pipeline to proceed through the state, a setback for the project that would carry oil from Canada to Texas refineries. Lancaster County Judge Stephanie Stacy issued a ruling that invalidated Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman's approval of the route. Stacy agreed with opponents' arguments that a law passed in 2011 improperly allowed Heineman to give TransCanada eminent domain powers within the state. Stacy said the decision should have been made by the Nebraska Public Service Commission, which regulates pipelines and other utilities. Heineman said Wednesday that state...

If you follow an all or nothing strategy you usually end up with nothing!I was very disappointed that both Speaker Boehner (R-OH) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell(R-KY) both caved on efforts to exact a compromise from Obama for a debt ceiling increase. I had hoped that attaching approval of the Keystone pipeline would force Obama to accept this worthy and environmentally safe project and help create tens of thousands of new good paying jobs for Americans. But Tea Party Republicans in the House refused to vote for ANY increase in the debt ceiling. Had Speaker Boehner brought up a...

Democrats who oppose the Keystone XL pipeline have thousands of dollars invested in direct competitors to the company looking to build the pipeline, public records show. A recent environmental assessment by the State Department was seen as a step toward the pipeline’s approval, but Sen. Tim Kaine (D., Va.) remains opposed to its construction. “In my view, there is now enough evidence to conclude that construction of this pipeline is not in America’s long-term interest,” Kaine said in a statement on the review. The freshman Democrat has between $15,000 and $50,000 invested in Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, according to his...

With the President delaying, again, parts of Obamacare, House Republican Leader Eric Cantor and Speaker John Boehner have declared they will not raise the debt ceiling unless the President does two things: (1) delay Obamacare by a year and (2) approve the Keystone XL Pipeline. In fact, Congressman Paul Ryan is standing shoulder to shoulder with them, telling Robert Costa, “Shutting down the government puts us on the wrong side. The fight is on the debt limit”. Further, the GOP won’t even bother fighting on a continuing resolution because they feel so strongly the debt ceiling is the path forward...

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) is shifting his focus to the nation's energy policy, starting on Monday. At the Heritage Action for America's Conservative Policy Summit in Washington, D.C., on Monday, Cruz will make the case that while President Obama should approve the Keystone XL pipeline, Republicans need to come up with other ideas to expand the country's energy production. Aides to the Cruz told The Washington Post that the senator is drafting a bill called the American Energy Renaissance Act, which he will announce at the event on Monday. "There is only one thing that will stop us from embracing...

On January 31, the State Department released its final Environmental Impact Statement on the Keystone XS pipeline, concluding once again that its construction would have a net neutral effect on carbon emissions. The study also confirms that the pipeline itself would have little to no impact on Canadian oil sands extraction rates or on global oil consumption. Canada will continue to develop the oil sands and consumers will continue to buy oil for the foreseeable future with or without the Keystone XL. The relevant questions surrounding the pipeline’s construction are who will benefit from the development and transit of this...

For over five years, the Obama Administration has delayed a decision on the Keystone pipeline because of alleged concerns about environmental impacts, especially climate change. The Administration’s non-decision process has been strongly supported by its activist environmental allies who have made extreme and unsupportable claims. Now, the truth comes out from the former Secretary of Energy, Steven Chu, who finally admitted that the decision is “a political one, and one founded in science” and just yesterday by former Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, who said that Keystone is a “win-win.” In spite of these admissions, environmental activists continue their...

Billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer is launching a new campaign against proponents of Keystone XL, and one possible target is Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu (La.). Steyer's green group NextGen Climate Action posted a list of candidates who are strong advocates of the controversial TransCanada oil pipeline on its website, asking people to pick which one it should target for its Keystone XL television ad. NextGen Climate Action is lining up Landrieu, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Reps. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and Paul Broun (R-Ga.) as potential targets. Also on the list is former South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds, who is...

While the White House is still — still — adamantly insisting that their eventual Keystone XL pipeline decision (whenever that may be) will be absotively, posilutely not-at-all political after their former Energy Secretary Steven Chu openly conceded that “the decision on whether the construction should happen was a political one and not a scientific one, Former Interior Secretary Ken Salazar says he believes the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada should be built. Salazar said at an energy conference in Houston Wednesday that the pipeline could be built safely, as long as conditions are imposed. Those conditions would require the...

An unusual coalition of lawmakers from both parties, labor and business leaders, veterans groups and Canada's ambassador to the United States joined forces Tuesday to push for quick approval of the Keystone XL oil pipeline. Five Democrats joined Republicans at a Capitol news conference to urge President Barack Obama to approve the pipeline following a State Department report last week that raised no major environmental objections. The $7 billion pipeline would carry oil from tar sands in western Canada to refineries along the Texas Gulf Coast. The project has lingered for more than five years and has become a symbol...

PARIS -- An environmentalist lies down alongside his fellow organic cucumber aficionados to block the construction of an oil pipeline and wakes up a member of a proxy army serving the billionaires who are fighting against America's economic and national security interests to line their own pockets. How did that happen? This phenomenon is on display in the battle against the Keystone XL pipeline project, the cornerstone of Canada-U.S. energy independence, set to run from Alberta, Canada, into Nebraska, then ultimately to the Gulf Coast of Texas where it can be exported. None of this pleases environmental activists, whose actions...

As approval of the Keystone Pipeline continues to be an issue of debate, Speaker Boehner felt it was necessary to give the president a nudge with some impassioned words. After a member of the press asked Speaker Boehner whether the pipeline plan was too complex to attach to legislation raising the debt ceiling, he quickly responded by shooting that idea down. "Complex? The Keystone pipeline is complex?" Boehner said. "It's been under study for five years! "We build pipelines everywhere in American everyday. Do you realize there are 200,000 miles of pipelines in the United States? "The only reason that...

These aren’t demands in the sense of “pass them or we’ll walk.” These are “demands” — scare quotes — in the sense of “we’re going to force Democrats to vote them down so we can use it against them in the midterms, and then we’re going to pass a clean debt-ceiling hike.”Boehner’s never been willing to risk a technical default before. He’s not going to start now, in an election year when the GOP’s looking at significant gains. Several House members told The Washington Post on Monday that Republican leaders have narrowed their list of possible debt-limit strategies to two...

The shovel-ready pipeline from Canada gets yet another clean bill of health as yet another State Department review says it will have negligible environmental impact, unlike the crude-carrying trains that are replacing it. President Obama promised in the State of the Union that 2014, his sixth year in office, would be a "year of action" on jobs, unlike the first five that saw the labor force participation rate sink to its lowest level in decades. In his weekly radio address on Jan. 18, he said he wanted "to work with Congress this year on proven ways to create jobs, like...

(CNSNews.com) - The U.S. State Department on Friday released yet another "final" environmental impact statement that finds no major objection to the Keystone XL pipeline So why won't President Obama approve the job-creating project that's been in limbo since 2008? White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough repeatedly dodged that question Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press." "We have one department with a study," McDonough agreed. "Now we have other expert agencies -- the EPA and many others -- who have an -- the Energy Department -- an opportunity to look at this and make their determination. The president wants...

The final report largely echoed the conclusions in earlier reports that the pipeline would not affect greenhouse gas emissions. Pipeline opponents said they were now hanging their hopes on Mr. Kerry, who is expected to issue his conclusion on the pipeline in the coming months. An executive order signed by President George W. Bush gave the secretary of state the final say on cross-border pipeline projects. “I think the secretary has proven himself to be a lifelong advocate for tough action on climate, and we are cautiously confident that he will, along with the president, make the right decision,” said...

Ah, the elation that was felt yesterday when the headlines started showing up yesterday. The final report on the environmental impact of the proposed Keystone Pipeline was released, clearing the way for a speedy approval for construction from the White House. One of my coworkers read it out loud and declared it was about time. I pointed out that the favorable report was not the last word and was certainly not an approval to start construction of the pipeline, but my coworker said Obama would have no choice but to approve it. I told him simply, we shall see. I...

The State Department today released its long-awaited environmental impact analysis of the Keystone XL pipeline. The analysis is key because President Obama announced last summer he would not approve the pipeline unless it was found to have no significant impact on climate change. And that’s what the analysis finds. It argues, as many other analysts have concluded, that if we block the pipeline, Canada will just ship the oil out by rail. So, what public policy reason is there to block the pipeline? There really isn’t one. Indeed, the environmentalists' obsession with Keystone began as a gigantic mistake. Two and...