Keystone decision delayed yet again

[MindMover]

Last edited Sat Apr 19, 2014, 08:48 PM - Edit history (1)

The Obama administration says it is indefinitely extending its long-awaited review of the Keystone XL pipeline — providing a Good Friday jolt to one of the president’s most wrenching environmental decisions.

The move could easily push President Barack Obama’s final decision past the November election.

The State Department declined to specify how long the delay will last, saying only that it needs to extend its review because of an ongoing dispute in front of the Nebraska Supreme Court that could affect the project’s route inside the state. “We are moving ahead very diligently with all the other aspects that are necessary for the national interest determination,” a senior State Department official told reporters on a conference call.
(Full POLITICO coverage of the Keystone XL decision)

But legal experts have said that the fight over the Nebraska route could drag out for a year or more.


http://www.politico.com/story/2014/04/keystone-xl-pipeline-decision-delayed-105825.html#ixzz2zIKqiQcy

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We know who is still in control of the steering wheel ....

[blkmusclmachine]

1. XL is going to be rammed down on everybody. The 1% <<OWNS>> this Country, and Washington D.C., and

the other 99% are just so many useless, dirty-dog, teat-sucking moochers that TPTB have to ignore, to continue raping the Country and the Planet to line their already overflowing off-shore, tax-free bank accounts with more of our hard-earned money. Wash, rinse, repeat.

Yay! "Change!"

[newfie11]

3. Your right

More money for the oil oligarchs. To hell with the environment. Money money money is all important and to hell with everyone else.

This should never have even been considered! Why is Obama dragging this decision out!

[mgcgulfcoast]

2. i want it approved

canada is our good friend and it helps us as well.

[razorman]

4. I tend to agree. While I have some problems with the idea of approval,

the fact is that, regardless of the president's decision, Canada is going to sell the oil. If not to us, then it will go to China by ship, which is even more dangerous to the environment.

[karynnj]

7. It may not be less dangerous to have the pipeline

1) The cost of transporting the oil is higher for all alternative methods. This means that the if the cheaper way is not allowed, the point where it is economically not profitable is reached faster - thus less tar sands oil is used.

2) A major break (or a slow leak) could occur anywhere on the pipeline - and it may well be that the ecological disaster could be far greater than if a tanker had a problem. (Not to mention, if there is an ecological disaster because of the pipeline, Obama will be blamed -- and possibly the life long environmentalist John Kerry, if he gives his approval. ) I suspect that the experience with some of dirty oil elsewhere causing ecological nightmares may be what Boxer is speaking of as health issues -- that she said Kerry is committed to considering.

3) Most articles have indicated that after the oil flows to Texas and is processed there, it will be sent to China. It is not the grade of oil the US uses. So, the argument that shipping it to China might be more of a problem is real if it will be sent after processing to China anyway.

[JayhawkSD]

5. Whether one approves of the pipeline or not...

How can anyone approve of the open acknowledgement that the approval process is blatantly political?

How could there possibly be a more open admission that the administration considers the chances of Democratic success more important than the enviornmental issues surrounding the building of this pipeline?

[Sunlei]

6. Most of the pipeline is built. The hold-up are2? landowners in Nebraska courts.

Not much the President can do if all the proper permits are completed. And the Courts are done with the land disputes. Personally I think all the permits should be reviewed for fraud/corruption before it is to late! IMO, this (lies, deception, fraud) are common in the Federal permit system.


Many of we 'the people' who don't want a 'spill' of tar sands..called 'bitumen' on one of the largest aquifers in the central USA.

All the pipeline will do is move those 'tar sands' to Texas, where it will be refined (a very dirty process) and then exported to foreign countries.

Personally, I wish Canada would let China refine that sludge right on the Canadian Tar pits. It's several miles of land strip mined, ruined already. Or perhaps China would go to their good buddie Russia and mine and refine their 'tar sands'.

If there is an accident (remember this is not even poor quality crude oil) they will never be able to clean it up. Very toxic.

REF.
""Oil sands, tar sands or, more technically, bituminous sands, are a type of unconventional petroleum deposit.

The oil sands are loose sand or partially consolidated sandstone containing naturally occurring mixtures of sand, clay, and water, saturated with a dense and extremely viscous form of petroleum technically referred to as bitumen (or colloquially tar due to its similar appearance, odour and colour). Natural bitumen deposits are reported in many countries, but in particular are found in extremely large quantities in Canada.[1][2] Other large reserves are located in Kazakhstan and Russia.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_sands
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitumen

[karynnj]

8. Because it crosses the international border, the President can reject it

However, there will be a huge uproar if he does because of the people invested in doing it and the fact that t hey have already spread the lies on the need to do this and the jobs (not likely) that it will create.

What was political was the approval to build any of this before the entire project was approved. I suspect that Obama did it to signal that he had not yet decided to reject it. In addition, the previous SoS agreed to ground rules for the report that eliminate the fact that the tar sands oil is extremely dirty by assuming that it is extracted, processed and used with or without the pipeline.

What I wonder is whether the private companies can sue the government if it rejected. You would think that they took the risk by building before final approval.

[Sunlei]

9. good to know. perhaps republicans will drag this out for a 2016 election issue.

maybe by then China will make some kind of deal with Russia for their tar sands.

Russia's economy is so horrible, I hope China takes advantage of Russia. Buy their sludge and dump any deals with USA exports. Both countries can even use their slave labor and don't care about their environments at all.

[Sunlei]

10. be very cool if they could take flood waters from one part of the country and pipe it to the drought

Now that is a pipeline all Americans would benefit from-directly!

[davidpdx]

11. The political slant to the article makes it not even worthy of print

Here is a much better article. In fact the article states another key reason why the decision was delayed. Wait for it...wait for it:

The State Department announced that officials need more time to review some 2.5 million public comments, and to assess the impact of a pending lawsuit in Nebraska that could change the route of the pipeline.

snip

In its statement, the department, citing an "unprecedented" number of public comments on Keystone, did not provide a specific date for the end of the review.

"The permit process will conclude once factors that have a significant impact on determining the national interest of the proposed project have been evaluated and appropriately reflected in the decision documents," the statement said, not providing a specific deadline. "The Department will give the agencies sufficient time to submit their views."

(more at the link)

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2014/04/18/obama-keystone-xl-pipeline-congress-canada/7874199/

The Politico article said nothing about the 2.5 million public comments. The State Department even said the number of comments were "unprecedented".