About the Keystone XL Pipeline …
Mark Green
Posted February 1, 2013
A sampling of recent editorial opinion and commentary on the Keystone XL pipeline project:
… regarding the Keystone pipeline, the administration should face down critics of the project, ensure that environmental standards are met and then approve it. … By approving Keystone, Obama can bolster his credibility within industry and among conservatives. The president can also take advantage of rising domestic oil and gas production to defuse concerns over energy security.
President Obama has run out of reasons to block expansion of the Keystone XL Pipeline. With the sign-off by Nebraska's governor on a new route for the pipeline that avoids environmentally sensitive areas in the Cornhusker state, the president should give the project the green light. … The Department of Transportation's Website describes pipelines as "the safest and least costly ways to transport energy products." After all the study and restudy, who knows, Keystone may turn out to be the safest one of all. … Construction of the pipeline will bring thousands of well-paying jobs for welders, pipe-fitters, engineers, heavy-equipment operators, electricians, truckers and other workers. It is also a welcome step - one of many ahead, we hope - that will result in the eventual creation of a formal North American energy coalition. This is an idea whose time has come. Among themselves, this country, Canada and Mexico have abundant resources that could bring a manufacturing renaissance to the entire continent while insulating us from dependence on energy from unstable areas and unfriendly regimes. The president has called for an energy using "all of the above." An expanded Keystone Pipeline will help deliver on that promise.
Black Hills (S.D.) Pioneer op-ed
U.S. Sen. John Thune: Pending before President Barack Obama is a true economic stimulus plan. Unlike the $833 billion stimulus bill, this stimulus plan is privately funded and would not waste taxpayer dollars on yet another duplicative government program. Instead, this plan would bolster private sector job creation, would help secure America’s energy future, and would generate tax revenue and stimulate growth in South Dakota and throughout the country. This pending plan is the approval of the Keystone XL pipeline.
President Obama has a new lease on the Oval Office, but he faces an old conundrum: what to do about the Keystone XL pipeline. This time, he should do the right thing and give the job-creating project a thumbs-up. … Keystone XL would transport 830,000 barrels of black gold daily from the oil sands of Alberta, Canada, southward to refineries on the Gulf Coast, supporting 20,000 jobs and billions of dollars for state economies along a 1,700-mile route. Reducing our dependence on the Middle East while simultaneously reducing our unemployment problem ought to be a no-brainer. … By signing off on Keystone XL, Mr. Obama would bolster his lagging credibility in claiming to pursue an “all of the above” national energy policy.
San Angelo (Texas) Standard-Times
One by one the Obama administration's objections to the $7 billion project, which would carry 800,000 barrels of crude oil a day from Canada's tar sands to refineries on the Gulf Coast, have been met. … House Speaker John Boehner said Nebraska's approval of the route "means there is no bureaucratic excuse, hurdle or catch President Obama can use to delay this project any further." Actually, there is one: the State Department is reviewing the project, which was first proposed in 2008. The study is expected to approve the project in March, which would leave the administration truly out of excuses.
After years of federal review, there was little question last year that construction of the pipeline, which would transport heavy, oil-like bitumen from Alberta to the Gulf of Mexico coast, should proceed. Thousands of miles of pipeline already crisscross this country. An environmental analysis had concluded that the risks of adding this new stretch were low. An economic review had found that Canada would get its bitumen to the world market — if not via pipeline to the gulf, then very likely by ship to China. Supply would make it to demand, one way or another. … Mr. Obama should ignore the activists who have bizarrely chosen to make Keystone XL a line-in-the-sand issue, when there are dozens more of far greater environmental import.
About The Author
Mark Green joined API after a career in newspaper journalism, including 16 years as national editorial writer for The Oklahoman in the paper’s Washington bureau. Previously, Mark was a reporter, copy editor and sports editor at an assortment of newspapers. He earned his journalism degree from the University of Oklahoma and master’s in journalism and public affairs from American University. He and his wife Pamela have two grown children and six grandchildren.