When compared to some of his other failures, Obama’s endless delays on the Keystone Pipeline have barely made a blip on the radar. That could change in the coming months, however. Bloomberg has just released a damning article on the future of Canadian/American relations and how Obama’s stalling could be detrimental to our closest neighbor.
In fact, Bloomberg reports, Canada could be done waiting for the U.S. president to get his act together. Obama, facing continuous pressure from the environmental nutjobs in his party, has put pipeline authorization on the backburner. This, despite a major report last year that found the Keystone XL would have very limited effects on the surrounding environment. Experts thought the report would provide a way forward, but the project remains in limbo. This is bad for our continued reliance on Middle Eastern oil, bad for job growth, and bad for our relationship with our frosty neighbor to the north.
Bipartisan Support
This isn’t even a Democrats vs Republicans debate. Members of both parties are on record supporting the deal. But in the end, it all comes back to money. Liberal billionaires like Tom Steyer contribute endless sums of money to the Democrats, especially candidates who oppose global warming. Obama and other party officials worry that approval would drive away the base, leading to the inevitable decision to delay action until after the midterms.
Canada, though, may not be willing to wait around any longer. As profitable as this deal would be for America, it might be even more enticing for them. Unfortunately, Canadians see their country’s prosperity being endangered by elitist leftists who see a threat to their whacky ideology. If there was any evidence whatsoever that this pipeline could prove disastrous to the environment, caution would be expected. But those fears have been laid to rest.
A Missed Opportunity
According to Bloomberg, Canada is taking action, focusing their efforts on a new project – Energy East – that would develop a pipeline between Alberta and New Brunswick. This cuts America out of the equation, but one can hardly blame them for exploring new options. Sometimes it feels as though a very small number of liberal environmentalists can drown American business prospects without the slightest amount of evidence.
What’s worse is that we already have established reports that tell us that the development of the pipeline will have almost no effect on the amount of oil we import from Canada. Those who would like to villainize the pipeline claim that it merely reinforces our “dependency” on the oil industry. Those aren’t facts, though. Those are baseless arguments with no seat in reality.
Why support the pipeline if it makes no difference? One, this shouldn’t even be the government’s call. This is a matter of private enterprise, and it’s only because of outrageous federal regulation that Obama’s opinion is even necessary. Two, a victory here would be a major, lasting victory against nasty liberal ideology. Our country has allowed climate hoaxers and environmentalist idiots to shape the conversation. Approving the Keystone XL Pipeline would be a rejection of those imbeciles, and that alone makes it worth the fight.