Provision May Halt Pipeline, but Oil Is Still Likely to Flow

[WillowTree]

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration confirmed this week that if forced by Congress to quickly decide the fate of the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline from western Canada to the Gulf Coast, it would probably kill the project.

The tax and unemployment insurance extension approved by Congress on Friday included a Republican provision that requires President Obama to make a decision on the 1,700-mile pipeline within 60 days. The State Department, which has authority over cross-border pipelines, said that it would not be able to complete the required environmental review within that short a period and would be unable to recommend that the project be approved. White House officials said Mr. Obama would honor the agency’s advice.










http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/24/u...but-oil-is-still-likely-to-flow.html?_r=1&hpw











See? I told ya.


Remember that on your way to the polls.

 

[whitehall]

Can the guy ever tell the truth? The administration has been aware of the pipeline for it's entire three years in office. Barry just doesn't want to deal wth it until he consults with OWS organizer and former terrorist, Van Jones and the rest of the radical greenie socialist base.

 

[Chris]

Here's the real story....the pipeline threatens the Nebraska water supply...

The U.S. State Department is weighing whether to seek a rerouting of TransCanada Corp. (TRP)’s planned $7 billion Keystone XL pipeline away from the Sandhills region of Nebraska, a department official said.

The department is considering how to respond to concern among Nebraska citizens and public officials about the risk that TransCanada’s current plans may pose to the Sandhills, said the official familiar with the deliberations, who spoke on condition of anonymity yesterday about internal discussions.

Nebraska residents expressed opposition to the route during State Department hearings on the pipeline, calling it a threat to drinking-water supplies, and the department believes it must now consider how to be responsive to them, the official said. The state legislature is currently in a special session weighing measures to force a rerouting of the project.

The State Department, which has jurisdiction because the project crosses an international border, hasn’t made a decision on whether to require examination of a new route, the official said.

Nebraska State Senator Annette Dubas, who participated in negotiations with TransCanada and asked the company to change the route, said the department is listening to her state.

The 1,661-mile (2,673-kilometer) pipeline would deliver 700,000 barrels a day of crude from Alberta’s oil sands to the Gulf of Mexico by crossing Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.

The Sandhills are made up of dunes that rise as much as 300 feet (91 meters). Underneath them flows the Ogallala aquifer, which supplies drinking water to 1.5 million people.

TransCanada

 

[Chris]

Nebraska Governor David Heineman said in an interview on Bloomberg Television yesterday that he’d support the pipeline if it were moved away from the Ogallala aquifer. Nebraska lawmakers began committee hearings yesterday in Lincoln, the state capital, on five bills aimed at giving the state the power to reroute pipelines.

The State Department’s interest in the concerns that have surfaced is an encouraging sign, Senator Ken Schilz said in an interview after a full day of hearings.

“As we’ve gone through this process, we’ve always been under the assumption that it was up to the State Department to take on this decision,” Schilz said.

President Barack Obama acknowledged Nebraska’s concerns last week, saying in an interview with KETV, an Omaha television station, that jobs created by the project wouldn’t be worth it if drinking-water supplies were at risk.

“Folks in Nebraska, like all across the country, aren’t going to say to themselves, ‘We’ll take a few thousand jobs if it means our kids are potentially drinking water that would damage their health,” Obama said in the Nov. 1 interview.

TransCanada

 

[Lumpy 1]

Could you imagine if this country decided to actually be energy independent and cut the red tape on money grubbing lawyers and environmental wackcos...

This country would be rollin again...

 

[WillowTree]

Could you imagine if this country decided to actually be energy independent and cut the red tape on money grubbing lawyers and environmental wackcos...

This country would be rollin again...

It ain't never gonna happen. The Anti Anti super Anti Americans are in charge.

 

[WillowTree]

remember that on your way to the polls.

 

[Chris]

Could you imagine if this country decided to actually be energy independent and cut the red tape on money grubbing lawyers and environmental wackcos...

This country would be rollin again...

So the Republican governor of Nebraska is an environmental wacko?

 

[Mr. H.]

Here's the real story....the pipeline threatens the Nebraska water supply...

The U.S. State Department is weighing whether to seek a rerouting of TransCanada Corp. (TRP)’s planned $7 billion Keystone XL pipeline away from the Sandhills region of Nebraska, a department official said.

The department is considering how to respond to concern among Nebraska citizens and public officials about the risk that TransCanada’s current plans may pose to the Sandhills, said the official familiar with the deliberations, who spoke on condition of anonymity yesterday about internal discussions.

Nebraska residents expressed opposition to the route during State Department hearings on the pipeline, calling it a threat to drinking-water supplies, and the department believes it must now consider how to be responsive to them, the official said. The state legislature is currently in a special session weighing measures to force a rerouting of the project.

The State Department, which has jurisdiction because the project crosses an international border, hasn’t made a decision on whether to require examination of a new route, the official said.

Nebraska State Senator Annette Dubas, who participated in negotiations with TransCanada and asked the company to change the route, said the department is listening to her state.

The 1,661-mile (2,673-kilometer) pipeline would deliver 700,000 barrels a day of crude from Alberta’s oil sands to the Gulf of Mexico by crossing Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.

The Sandhills are made up of dunes that rise as much as 300 feet (91 meters). Underneath them flows the Ogallala aquifer, which supplies drinking water to 1.5 million people.

TransCanada

The REAL real story is that agriculture has been polluting that aquifir for decades.

The aquifer is being wasted and polluted. Wasted, that is, on corn, a thirsty crop that requires over 20 inches of irrigation water in parts of the Plains. And polluted with pesticides and nitrogen fertilizers.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/01/opinion/polluting-the-ogallala-aquifer.html

 

[kyzr]

Could you imagine if this country decided to actually be energy independent and cut the red tape on money grubbing lawyers and environmental wackcos...

This country would be rollin again...

So the Republican governor of Nebraska is an environmental wacko?

He approved the Keystone pipeline. There are no objections, except the DC clowns.
Nebraska governor signs bills to reroute Keystone pipeline | Reuters

 

[Chris]

Could you imagine if this country decided to actually be energy independent and cut the red tape on money grubbing lawyers and environmental wackcos...

This country would be rollin again...

So the Republican governor of Nebraska is an environmental wacko?

He approved the Keystone pipeline. There are no objections, except the DC clowns.
Nebraska governor signs bills to reroute Keystone pipeline | Reuters

He approved rerouting it.

Now an environmental study has to be done.

Those things take time.

But the Republicans want to ram it through because they represent Big Oil, Wall Street, and the super rich.

 

[kyzr]

So the Republican governor of Nebraska is an environmental wacko?

He approved the Keystone pipeline. There are no objections, except the DC clowns.
Nebraska governor signs bills to reroute Keystone pipeline | Reuters

He approved rerouting it.

Now an environmental study has to be done.

Those things take time.

But the Republicans want to ram it through because they represent Big Oil, Wall Street, and the super rich.

How about if we don't take the Canadian oil the Chinese will, eh?
How stupid are the DC morons?

 

[Lumpy 1]

Could you imagine if this country decided to actually be energy independent and cut the red tape on money grubbing lawyers and environmental wackcos...

This country would be rollin again...

So the Republican governor of Nebraska is an environmental wacko?

I don't know, Republicans care deeply about the environment but their hands aren't tied to inaction like our Democrat friends...

 

[konradv]

Could you imagine if this country decided to actually be energy independent and cut the red tape on money grubbing lawyers and environmental wackcos...

This country would be rollin again...

I agree! When was the last time we had a good river fire? Damn, Greenies.

 

[konradv]

remember that on your way to the polls.

Remember what? There's nothing to worry about because the 1%ers get their water from FRANCE?!?!

 

[konradv]

He approved the Keystone pipeline. There are no objections, except the DC clowns.
Nebraska governor signs bills to reroute Keystone pipeline | Reuters

He approved rerouting it.

Now an environmental study has to be done.

Those things take time.

But the Republicans want to ram it through because they represent Big Oil, Wall Street, and the super rich.

How about if we don't take the Canadian oil the Chinese will, eh?
How stupid are the DC morons?

They've got the money. Get them to fund the pipeline.

 

[konradv]

Could you imagine if this country decided to actually be energy independent and cut the red tape on money grubbing lawyers and environmental wackcos...

This country would be rollin again...

So the Republican governor of Nebraska is an environmental wacko?

He approved the Keystone pipeline. There are no objections, except the DC clowns.
Nebraska governor signs bills to reroute Keystone pipeline | Reuters

He approved rerouting it. That proves that environmental concerns ARE important and begs the question of "are there anymore problem areas?" That's something we wouldn't find out until too late, if the Reps "60-day" plan were in effect.

 

[Mr. H.]

So the Republican governor of Nebraska is an environmental wacko?

He approved the Keystone pipeline. There are no objections, except the DC clowns.
Nebraska governor signs bills to reroute Keystone pipeline | Reuters

He approved rerouting it. That proves that environmental concerns ARE important and begs the question of "are there anymore problem areas?" That's something we wouldn't find out until too late, if the Reps "60-day" plan were in effect.

Until "too late" for what? Nebraska has been underlain with pipelines for decades.
And for decades the aquifir has been polluted by....

...agriculture.

Why are there never "environmental concerns" expressed when it comes to agriculture?

 

[Ernie S.]

He approved rerouting it.

Now an environmental study has to be done.

Those things take time.

But the Republicans want to ram it through because they represent Big Oil, Wall Street, and the super rich.

How about if we don't take the Canadian oil the Chinese will, eh?
How stupid are the DC morons?

They've got the money. Get them to fund the pipeline.

The pipeline is privately funded. It will provide private sector jobs and provide revenue in the form of taxes to government at zero cost, unlike public sector jobs and stimulus spending where the IRS only gets about 15% back in taxes.

 

[bripat9643]

He approved rerouting it. That proves that environmental concerns ARE important and begs the question of "are there anymore problem areas?" That's something we wouldn't find out until too late, if the Reps "60-day" plan were in effect.

It only proves that politics are important. State governors are not environmental experts.

There is no natural limit to the gullibility of liberals.