Keystone pipeline delay is the wrong call
The Obama administration's decision to postpone a ruling on the fate of the Keystone XL pipeline till 2013 is a poorly disguised political punt. The ruling has 2012 presidential politics written all over it, despite the environmental reasons given.
By delaying a decision on the $7 billion project, which is "shovel-ready" and would immediately produce an estimated 20,000 well-paying jobs in this country, Obama has avoided offending environmentalists on his party's left, a key fund-raising and voting bloc. We understand that. In a close election, these votes could make a crucial difference for the president. But the administration's attempts to cover this self-evident situation with a variety of fig leaves are utterly disingenuous.
We are among those who have had environmental questions about the project, which would bring heavy oil from Canada for refining on the Texas Gulf Coast. But over the weeks and months, those have been well and exhaustively addressed and satisfied. In our view, the response to the pipeline by the environmental community has been a myopic overreaction; it was wrong to put the president in this political vise.
Category: Articles
