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As House Republicans launched an assault on President Obama this morning for nixing a popular energy pipeline from Canada to Texas, the party renewed its pledge to move ahead with the project even if the president won’t get on board. Emerging from the GOP’s issues conference in Baltimore this morning, House Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton of Michigan told reporters that he was “deeply disappointed” that the president denied the project, adding that Republicans are considering an array of alternatives that would put the Keystone XL Pipeline back on track. “As much as the president might want this issue...

The Obama administration finally pulled the trigger on a decision on the Keystone XL pipeline, and while very few were surprised at the President’s thumbs-down, many were disappointed. The proposed line, which would actually be a twinning/extension of an existing one, would take raw bitumen from Alberta’s abundant oil sands down to the Gulf Coast of Texas to be refined. The arguments have all been played out on both sides of the issue. Anti-oil sands environmentalist groups, backed by outspoken yet unknowledgeable (and hypocritical) eco-celebs grabbed the media spotlight with their protests. Pro-groups, including a large portion of Obama’s base...

Brilliant as always

The central conflict of the Obama Presidency has been between the jobs and growth crisis he inherited and the President's hell-for-leather pursuit of his larger social-policy ambitions. The tragedy is that the economic recovery has been so lackluster because the second impulse keeps winning. Yesterday came proof positive with the White House's repudiation of the Keystone XL pipeline, TransCanada's $7 billion shovel-ready project that would support tens of thousands of jobs if only it could get the requisite U.S. permits. Those jobs, apparently, can wait.Unless the President objected, December's payroll tax deal gave TransCanada the go-ahead in February to start...

Green America Applauds President Obama's Rejection of Keystone XL PipelineJan 18, 2012 Green America strongly commends President Obama for his wise decision, announced this afternoon, to reject the dangerous Keystone XL pipeline. The proposed pipeline would extend nearly 2,000 miles from Alberta, Canada, to the Texas Gulf Coast. This Canadian project poses severe consequences for human health and the environment while further entrenching the dirty fossil fuel economy and failing to generate lasting jobs. Investment in clean energy generates 3-4 times as many jobs as investments in fossil fuels. "This is the right decision, a brave decision, and one that...

The big news of the day, aside from the idiot rally finally being back on full bore, is that the Obama administration finally pushed Canada's hand in telling it to sell its crude to China instead of the US, which we are confident it will gladly do. Much of this was largely priced on, as was the fact that opportunity for significant job creation was just kicked to the curb. What was not however expected, is that in keeping up with the fine tradition of taking responsibility for his decisions and actions, kinda sorta, America's president said that it was...

taking the Obama administration to task over the forthcoming decision to pull the plug on the U.S.-Canadian oil pipeline: Newt Gingrich, who frequently talks about the Keystone Pipeline in his stump speech, railed on the news that President Obama is rejecting the permit. Speaking to a standing-room only crowd of about 350 people in Warrenville, S.C., “boos” erupted when Gingrich said the pipeline had been “vetoed.” “Now, this is a stunningly,” Gingrich began until he was interuppted by a crowd members shouting “stupid mistake.” After pausing for a moment Gingrich responded, “This is a stunningly stupid thing to do.”

anuary 18, 2012 – API President and CEO Jack Gerard called on the administration and Congress to start making the right choices on energy if they want to put the nation on track for more economic growth and job creation. "While we have abundant resources – and the ability to access those resources safely, responsibly, and with care for the environment – the U.S. seems to lack one thing: the political will to act," Gerard said in remarks delivered today at the U.S. Energy Association's 8th annual State of the Energy Industry Forum in Washington, D.C. "When it comes to...

President Barack Obama says he's denying an application for a Canada-to-Texas oil pipeline because a GOP-mandated deadline didn't allow time for a full review. Obama says his decision isn't a judgment on the merits of the proposed $7 billion pipeline. Rather, he's citing the "arbitrary nature" of the Feb. 21 deadline that was set by a GOP-written provision in a recent tax bill that Obama signed. The president says in a statement that he's disappointed that Republicans in Congress forced...

Erika has already laid out the policy folly of the Obama administration's feckless and ideological rejection of the Keystone XL project, so let's consider how Republicans should respond to this mess. For all its alleged prowess, the Obama political team makes its share of tin-earned decisions -- whether it's pursuing an unpopular healthcare power grab in the midst of a jobs crisis, throwing lavish parties at inopportune times, or taking legal action to block supermajority-supported immigration and voter ID laws. The Keystone decision might take the tone-deafness cake, however, and the GOP should exploit it to inflict maximum political pain...

"It is not in the national interest to lock the United States into supporting an expensive and dirty form of oil for many years to come. Also, additional capacity for tar sands oil perpetuates America's addiction to oil, and undermines the clean energy alternatives that would bring genuine energy security," the NRDC report continues.

The Obama administration was poised on Wednesday to reject the Keystone crude oil pipeline, according to sources, a decision that would be welcomed by environmental groups but inflame the domestic energy industry. The administration could make its announcement on TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline late on Wednesday or on Thursday, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters. TransCanada Corp. shares slid more than 3 percent after the news.

The controversial Keystone Pipeline will reportedly be denied by President Obama, according to Fox News. The State Department is expected to vote against the pipeline this afternoon. Transcanada will however be allowed to reapply with an alternate route going through Nebraska. com/obama-to-deny-keystone-pipeline-2012-1#ixzz1jpV0l0Mp

Apparently, The One couldn't wait until February after he saw his latest polling score. The Greeniacs clearly have him by the shorts. Will be interesting to see union reaction.

President Obama’s jobs council endorsed a wide range of pro-growth proposals Tuesday that includes building oil pipelines and expanding drilling in the U.S., steps that House Republicans promptly noted are being blocked by Senate Democrats. “The Road Map to Renewal” submitted to Mr. Obama by his team of industry leaders embraces more domestic production of fossil fuels. The report doesn’t specifically mention the Canada-to-Texas Keystone XL oil pipeline on which the Obama administration has delayed a decision, but it does advocate building more domestic pipelines. “Policies that facilitate the safe, thoughtful and timely development of pipeline, transmission and distribution projects...

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper became the latest stakeholder in the Keystone XL debate to cite Iran’s threats to block the Strait of Hormuz as one justification for the U.S. to approve the controversial oil pipeline. Harper told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation yesterday he thinks it’s “pretty obvious what the right decision is, not just from an economic and environmental standpoint but also from an energy-security standpoint.” “When you look at the Iranians threatening to block the Strait of Hormuz, I think that just illustrates how critical it is that supply for the United States be North American,” Harper said....

When U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue proclaimed that the Keystone XL pipeline would create 250,000 jobs, he touched a nerve in the environmental community. “That’s just not true,” Susan Casey-Lefkowitz, director of the Natural Resources Defense Council’s international program, told reporters Friday, calling Donohue’s jobs estimate “wildly inflated.” It’s a familiar refrain from the environmental community, which has been working overtime in recent weeks to counter Republican and industry claims that the 1,700-mile pipeline would create a mini-job boom in the United States. The fight over the Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry oil sands crude from...

Politics: The day after the president announces he would reward businesses that bring jobs into the U.S., the Chamber of Commerce asks: What about the pipeline from Canada that would bring both jobs and energy? The irony was mind-boggling when President Obama addressed a group of business leaders at the White House last Wednesday on his plans to reward "insourcing." "There are workers ready to work right now," he told them. "In the next few weeks, I will put forward new tax proposals that reward companies that choose to bring jobs home and invest in America — and eliminate tax...

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper is heading to China next month for his second official visit, as his government looks to boost bilateral trade and ship more energy products to the Asian powerhouse. snip The Harper government is looking to increase petroleum exports to China, but those hopes are very much pinned on the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline project currently under review by the National Energy Board. Public hearings began this week on the pipeline, which would ship oilsands bitumen from northern Alberta to a marine facility in Kitimat, B.C., where oil would be loaded onto tankers for export...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congressional Republicans, who are urging President Barack Obama to give a permit to the Canada-to-Texas Keystone XL oil pipeline project, are working on a plan to take the reins of approval from the president should the White House say no. Senator John Hoeven of North Dakota, a state counting on TransCanada Corp's pipeline to help move its newfound bounty of shale oil, is drafting contingency legislation that would see Congress green-light the project, an aide told Reuters. After delaying the $7 billion project past the November 2012 election, Obama was compelled by Congress to decide by February...