President Obama ruled to reject construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline project.
Despite bipartisan support from both houses of Congress and the endorsement from the president’s own Council on Jobs and Competitiveness that the pipeline would provide significant jobs, he cited environmental concerns, particularly risks to the Ogallala Aquifer. He also denounced a “rushed and arbitrary deadline” set by congressional Republicans, ignoring the fact that he’s already had a year to render his decision.
According to a map provided by the Heartland Institute, a free market think tank, the Keystone Pipeline would be only one more of many others already in place. If completed, the pipeline would transport almost 1 million barrels of crude oil each day from Hardisty, Alberta, Canada through Saskatchewan, Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and on to Port Arthur, Texas to refineries.
Enviromentalists from the Heartland Institute, have said, “The Obama administration has confirmed the fears of everyday Americans that it is more interested in paying off environmental extremists and other far-left groups than it is in laying the foundation for a growing economy. America needs to increase the amount of energy we produce ourselves and import from friendly neighbors. America needs the tens of thousands of jobs that construction of the Keystone XL pipeline would provide during the worst economic conditions of the past 70 years.
“The Obama administration’s decision to block construction of the Keystone XL pipeline demonstrates as poignantly as a slap in the face that President Obama is either completely out of touch with the American people or is callously indifferent about our ongoing economic woes. I suspect that in the November elections voters will severely punish President Obama for this foolish decision.”
Congressman Kevin Yoder (R-Kansas) made the following statement regarding the President's decision: "It is disappointing that the President would not listen to the advice of his own bipartisan jobs council, to members of both parties in Congress and to the American people who overwhelmingly support measures to grow our nation's lagging economy. While unemployment remains still much higher than what was promised when the Stimulus bill was passed, the Keystone Pipeline project presents an opportunity to add tens of thousands of jobs to our nation's payrolls, and to do so with the newest and cleanest technology available. I urge the President to reconsider his decision."
GOP House Speaker John Boehner accused President Obama of playing politics and of destroying tens of thousands of new jobs. "This is not the end of the fight," he said.
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