The first big political battle of the year in Washington is over the Keystone XL pipeline, which would extend a network of oil pipelines from Canada to the gulf coast. The project has come to symbolize the larger war between environmentalists and the oil industry.
Supporters of the pipeline say that it will create jobs in construction, manufacturing and refining. The U.S. Department of State estimates that up to 42,000 jobs will be created.
They also argue that boosting oil production from a friendly neighboring country, Canada, is good for the country’s economic and security interests.
Opponents argue that the environmental impact is just too large. The oil that would travel through the pipeline is extracted from tar sands, which create even more greenhouse gases than normal oil when burned.
They argue that construction of the pipeline would damage wetlands and other natural resources. Pipelines also leak, causing massive environmental issues.
I’m in favor of the pipeline. Anything that creates jobs and reduces our dependence on foreign oil is good. The route has been approved and even if the oil isn’t piped, it travels by rail so it still gets burned and trains often crash and spill too.
For his part, President Obama has consistently opposed the pipeline, blocked its progress through red tape and now has promised to veto any bill allowing it to go forward. With the House already approving a bill allowing the project (complete with 28 Democratic votes) and the Senate soon to follow, Obama is the only thing standing in the way of this project.
After promising compromise and humbleness would come from
his party’s overwhelming defeat in the November elections, the president plans
to get the new congressional session started by vetoing a popular bill.
Opinion polls consistently show the public is in favor of the plan, and ultimately this should have been a minor issue. After all, oil pipelines are built all the time without national political uproar.
Obama’s stalling tactics on the project have been
consistently knocked down. For years he
waited for his state department’s long-delayed environmental impact study, only
to see it come back positive.
He also blamed the Nebraska courts after they struck down the proposed route, only to see the Nebraska Supreme Court side with the oil company. Now it is all on his shoulders.
If Obama vetoes the pipeline, it probably won’t have much
impact on the country at all. But it
will signal that rather than working across the aisle on a popular project, he
is willing to litigate petty political fights to the bitter end.
That can’t be good for the country, whether or not we’re pumping more oil through the middle of it.