Free Republic

As gasoline prices continue to rise, President Obama on Thursday pushed back on attacks from Republicans that he is blocking the Keystone XL oil pipeline and is against drilling, arguing his administration has added enough new oil-and-gas pipelines to "encircle the Earth and then some." Obama highlighted his support for the southern leg of the controversial Keystone pipeline, which would carry oil from Cushing, Okla., to refineries on the Gulf Coast. Appearing before a backdrop of oil pipelines in Cushing, Obama said he was making construction a priority through an executive order issued Thursday that instructs federal agencies to expedite...

President Barack Obama is in my home state of Oklahoma today, touting his tired talking points about energy in little Cushing, “the town that fossil fuel built.” For the record, most Oklahomans aren’t happy he’s here. The state administration will give him no official welcome and protesters have already gathered near the location of the president’s speech, which — predictably — was closed to the public. First, listen to this portion of the president’s energy address (h/t Greg Hengler).

TORONTO — Canadian proponents of TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline applauded Barack Obama's directive on Thursday to expedite the approval process for the southern leg of the pipeline. They also urged the U.S. president to approve the northern leg. Approval of the southern part of the pipeline is not really the Obama administration's call because it does not cross borders. The northern portion of the pipeline needs administration approval because it would cross the Canadian border. The longer 1,700-mile (2,735-kilometer) pipeline became a political flashpoint late last year when congressional Republicans wrote a provision forcing Obama to make a decision, and...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: I've never seen anything like it, folks. I've never seen this kind of a mid-course correction. I don't even think I saw one like this from Bill Clinton. Suddenly the biggest believer in the Keystone pipeline (or half of it), the biggest believer in drilling for oil, the biggest believer in expanding domestic oil supplies happens to be Barack Obama! Who just two days ago (and every day prior to that) hated the very idea and was trying to dissuade anybody from believing that drilling for oil or pipelining oil would make any difference whatsoever in the...

Rush on Obama's new found love for building the Keystone XL pipeline. He rips into the mainstream media for repeating Obama's lies and blasts the president following his speech at the pipe plant in Cushing, OK today. (audio)

“If you hear anybody on TV saying that somehow we are against drilling for oil, then you will know that they either don’t know what they are talking about or they are not telling you the truth,” Obama said, against the backdrop of oil production facilities outside Maljamar, N.M. “We are drilling all over the place,” Obama added, reading from a speech on his podium on a windy afternoon. “That’s the reason we have been able to reduce our dependence on foreign oil every year since I took office.” While Obama has repeated in recent days that there’s no “silver...

RIPLEY, Okla. — President Obama stood in a red-dirt field before acres of stacked pipeline pieces on Thursday to illustrate his support for expedited construction of the southern half of the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline. But his public declaration of support for the project has pleased neither the industry and its Republican supporters nor environmentalists. Environmentalists nationwide have rallied to oppose the entire Canada-to-Gulf Coast pipeline because its owner, TransCanada, wants to transport what environmental groups consider dirty oil from the tar sands of Alberta. The groups say such oil would hasten climate change, threaten spills and pollute air,...

As gasoline prices continue to rise, President Obama on Thursday pushed back on attacks from Republicans that he is blocking the Keystone XL oil pipeline and is against drilling, arguing his administration has added enough new oil-and-gas pipelines to "encircle the Earth and then some." Obama highlighted his support for the southern leg of the controversial Keystone pipeline, which would carry oil from Cushing, Okla., to refineries on the Gulf Coast. Appearing before a backdrop of oil pipelines in Cushing, Obama said he was making construction a priority through an executive order issued Thursday that instructs federal agencies to expedite...