|
|
"A comprehensive, collaborative elections resource."
|
Obama's Keystone Conundrum: Union Jobs Vs. Environmental Jabs
|
|---|
| Parent(s) |
Candidate
|
| Contributor | Scott³ |
| Last Edited | Scott³ Nov 29, 2011 01:23pm |
| Logged |
1
[Older]
|
| Category | Opinion |
| Author | Larry Bell |
| News Date | Tuesday, November 22, 2011 07:00:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | "Facing a contentious decision that would split his political base, President Obama deftly drew upon his U.S. Senate experience. Essentially, he voted “present”, delaying and perhaps killing the planned $7 billion Keystone XL pipeline project until after the next election. As a result, an estimated 20,000 union job opportunities are likely to go elsewhere.
The president’s decision caught the many project developers and supporters off guard. Keystone XL had already invested $1.7 billion in steel pipe along with millions more to obtain right-of-way easements. Based upon three years of study and multivolume environmental impact statements, the State Department, which has jurisdiction over the project since it crosses U.S. borders, had previously determined that it would have “no significant impacts”. State had been expected to offer its approval by the end of this year. That self-imposed timetable provoked activists to ratchet up pressures for the administration to reject it.
This circumstance is reminiscent of U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar’s unexpected six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, which erased access to 7.5 billion barrels of oil and nearly 60 trillion cubic feet of natural gas along with tens of thousands of job opportunities they would have created. Many of those drilling rigs and jobs went overseas. By the time Federal U.S. District Judge Martin L.C. Feldman finally overturned the ban the damage had already been done." |
| Share |
|
|
2¢
|
|
| Article | Read Full Article |
|
| Date |
Category |
Headline |
Article |
Contributor |
|
|
