Is the Keystone pipeline Obama’s line in the sand?
In one ear, he will hear the national security arguments for Keystone and the negative impact its rejection would have on relations with the Harper government; in the other, he will hear echoes of his own words as a senator. (He was non-committal on Friday after meeting Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird in Washington.)
Ultimately, Mr. Obama will decide. He has identified climate change as a major challenge and spoke in that inaugural speech about taking the “path toward sustainable energy sources,” a path that, by definition, would exclude or minimize the use of fossil fuels.
He once promised a cap-and-trade system for emissions, but that idea died in Congress even when the Democrats controlled both houses of Congress. It has no chance of being revived any time soon.
What’s left to him are executive orders that don’t need congressional approval. Did Mr. Obama mean what he said? Is Keystone his line in the sand?
Blowback
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Whether directly or indirectly, he’ll block Keystone. My bet is, as usual he’ll say one thing and then do another… such as give lip service support, then regulate it out of business.
petefrt on February 10, 2013 at 5:28 PM
Go ahead, jacka$$. When we’re back in the WH, building it will be a priority.
Blake on February 10, 2013 at 5:30 PM
Pat Caddell is on Fox now talking about what the president should say in his speech. This article is acting like the president has any intention of doing right by America. Why is it so hard to understand that he isn’t, doesn’t and won’t.
vityas on February 10, 2013 at 5:50 PM
That and oil and gas drilling/fracking. The next prez needs to build an energy supply and distribution infrastructure so strong that no Marxist can tear it down.
petefrt on February 10, 2013 at 6:00 PM
Where Obama’s concerned, I wouldn’t bet on that.
SagebrushPuppet on February 10, 2013 at 6:07 PM
Barky blocking the Keystone Pipeline looks more like big contributor Warren “Union Pacific” Boofay getting exactly what influence he’s paid for Barky to railroad the pipeline (pun intended).
viking01 on February 10, 2013 at 7:37 PM