Charles Pierce--Keystone XL? Not so fast!

[eridani]

http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/26808-a-ray-of-light

asting about for a reason to get out of bed for the next two years, I found a reason to put at least one foot on the floor. It was out in Nebraska's Second Congressional District. Republican incumbent Lee Terry, who is perhaps the Keystone XL pipeline's BFF 4-ever, got skunked by his Democratic challenger, a state senator named Brad Ashford. Terry didn't help himself much, either. He went public about keeping his congressional salary during the 2013 government shutdown. And then, late in the game, he set aloft perhaps the most mendacious, race-baiting television advertisement of the past 25 years. (Terry also likely did not profit by a last-minute endorsement in court from the crazy killer whom he'd dragooned into his campaign.) But there is no question that the people who have been organizing on the ground against the pipeline in Nebraska organized against Terry. There is no question that, come January, Lee Terry will be an ex-congressperson. (He'll be an extraction industry lobbyist about 11 seconds after he hands over the keys to his office.) I choose not to believe that this is coincidence.

I mention this to highlight the fact that anyone who believes that the fight against the death-funnel ended on Tuesday night, either because the Republicans have the clout to force the issue now, or because the president will use it as a bargaining chip, are sadly mistaken. Ordinarily, I don't have a lot of patience for not-in-my-backyard issues. The one exception I make is when people's actual backyards are at stake. There is a constituency in Nebraska that does not want this pipeline built because it will endanger their health and their personal economies. This constituency also has grown tired of being lectured by pundits and by oil-soaked and money-fattened politicians through whose backyards no pipeline will ever run. TransCanada, the multinational behind the death funnel, has progressed from threatening individual landowners to threatening the entire country, largely because the efforts of this constituency have been effective in those places where the pipeline actually will go, if not in Arlington or Bethesda, or the downslopes of Capitol Hill. Lee Terry got crossways with this constituency, and Lee Terry no longer has a job. This is not a coincidence.

[n2doc]

1. Those constituents who actually are affected will be steamrollered. n/t

[BeyondGeography]

2. Keystone doesn't create jobs, hurts the environment and gas prices have already come down without it

So this sounds to me like "don't hold your breath, Republicans," from the President the other day:

So, let me just pick up on Keystone. There’s an independent process. It’s moving forward. And the -- I’m going to let that process play out. I’ve given some parameters in terms of how I think about it. Ultimately, is this going to be good for the American people? Is it going to be good for their pocketbook? Is it going to actually create jobs? Is it actually going to reduce gas prices that have been coming down?

And is it going to be, on net, something that doesn’t increase climate change that we’re going to have to grapple with? There’s a pending case before a Nebraska judge about some of the sighting. The process is moving forward. And I’m just going to gather up the facts.

I will note while this debate about Canadian oil has been raging, keeping in mind this is Canadian oil, this isn’t U.S. oil. While that debate has been raging, we’ve seen the -- some of the biggest increases in American oil production and American natural gas production in our history.

We are closer to energy independence than we’ve ever been before, or at least as we’ve been in decades. We are importing less foreign oil than we produce for the first time in a very long time. We’ve got a 100 year supply of natural gas that if we responsibly tap, puts us in the strongest position when it comes to energy of any industrialized country around the world.

When I travel to Asia or I travel to Europe, their biggest envy is the incredible, homegrown, U.S. energy production that is producing jobs and attracting manufacturing, because locating here means you’ve got lower energy costs.

So, our energy sector is booming. And I’m happy to engage Republicans with additional ideas for how we can enhance that.

I should note that our clean energy production is booming as well. And so Keystone, I just consider as one small aspect of a broader trend that’s really positive for the American people.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/transcript-president-obamas-remarks-on-midterm-election-results/2014/11/05/491a02b2-6524-11e4-9fdc-d43b053ecb4d_story.html

[PatrynXX]

4. that oil was never going to be used by US

even after all the money we spent refining it , it will still be too dirty to run here. It's supposed to go to China. where nobody can breath

[rhett o rick]

3. Our Pres Obama says he will let the process "play out." He thinks we are idiots and

those that think "play out" is good news, should really rethink it.

[KoKo]

5. as usual the cautious, pragmatic Obama will wait until

he's overwhelmed and with Repubs holding both House and Senate...it won't be his fault if Keystone is pushed forward ...with a change in location and some other modifications..as he stated in his After Election Press Conference.

He also said he was waiting for the State Department Report. So......he has many outs he can take.... and still look like "he tried."

[rhett o rick]

6. Not sure if you are being factious or not saying he is "cautious" and "pragmatic".

I wouldn't give him that much credit. I think he will use it as a bargining chip. He will agree with the pipeline if the Republicans promise to support the Chained CPI.

[KoKo]

7. yes...that might well be the "Compromise."

Or another "Trade Off" tucked into a bill...that we aren't suspecting until it's done.

"Immigration Reform"..."Workers Rights" and revising the "Student Loan Debt".......So Many Bargaining Points ....so little time.

But....we shall see what he is when he doesn't have the "Threat" of Elections because in 2016....he's Outta There. What does he want his LEGACY to be.....

That's the question with him.

[rhett o rick]

9. Good point. What will Obama's legacy be? Maybe the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

[sabrina 1]

8. Excellent!

for getting them at the Local Level. THIS is the way to go!!

[freshwest]

10. Terry lost? Great news.