The Obama administration has decided to block construction of the Keystone XL pipeline that would deliver close to 1 million barrels of oil per day from neighboring Canada to U.S. refineries. Construction of the pipeline would have produced tens of thousands of jobs during the worst economic conditions of the past 70 years. The pipeline also would have provided abundant and reliable oil supplies that would flow to the United States from a friendly nation regardless of any political or military crises in the Middle East.
President Obama’s decision sadly demonstrates how beholden his administration is to the far left and environmental extremists. With an extensive network of pipelines already crisscrossing the central United States (see this map of existing pipelines), the argument that this one additional pipeline poses too much of an environmental threat rings hollow. The decision to kill the Keystone XL pipeline has little to do with genuine environmental stewardship and everything to do with appeasing the anti-energy, anti-corporate, anti-growth agenda promoted by far left groups that are wielding increasing power over and within the current administration.
America needs abundant energy supplies and the Keystone XL pipeline would have been an economic and national security game-changer. Congress may yet find a way to outmaneuver President Obama on this issue, or perhaps a new administration will reverse Obama’s decision in 2013.
