Friday, November 11, 2011

Obama Plays Politics on the Pipeline, Strains Canada Relations

The Obama administration is delaying a decision on the Keystone XL pipeline designed to carry Canadian crude to Gulf Coast refineries for 12 to 18 months, enough time to get past the election next year.  Had Obama allowed the pipeline it would have helped the consumer with cheaper energy but angered Democrat donors and possibly voters. It also would have been a great boon to our neighbors to the north.  Canadians feel betrayed.


"That a publicly traded Canadian company, with transparent governance and processes based in a free and democratic society can be subject to this kind of treatment does not bode well for companies from other countries seeking to invest in the U.S.

The U.S. companies with operations in Canada, especially those operating in the oilsands, should be feeling mighty betrayed that their own government doesn't appear to understand the economics behind the need for this kind of continental energy infrastructure."


Of course this will also curb oil sands development in North Dakota, an area that was also going to utilize this pipeline. The development in that area is enormous and right now there are 15,000 jobs of all kinds just waiting to be filled. 

This pipeline decision will turn that area into a ghost town within a year or two.

But Obama, voting "present" instead of making a decision, is much more concerned with gainin some sort of political advantage.






1 comment:

Anonymous said...

And now the administration has exposed its political motivations -- deferring to the enviro wackos instead of moving the US toward energy independence.