Keystone Pipeline Viewpoints

Oh, the annoyance. Freedom Connector still isn't working. (That's where the political content of this web site was supposed to go.) So what'm I supposed to do with press releases from our elected officials? Sit on them? File them as spam? Sorry...I know major shareholders in the Internet, e.g. Al Gore, want to keep all "conservative" political content off the'Net, but I don't support that effort.


At least this post is balanced. First, from Senator Tim Kaine:


"

11.18.14 Why Keystone XL Is Not In Our National Interest Dear Friends, Today, I will go to the Senate floor to make the case for why approving the Keystone XL Pipeline is not in our national interest. This pipeline would transport Canadian tar sands oil, which is 15-20% dirtier than conventional oil. We need to continue the transition from dirty energy to cleaner energy – quickly enough to preempt serious harm to the climate, while allowing enough time for our economy to adjust. This is particularly relevant in Virginia where drastic increases in sea level rise pose a serious threat to the Hampton Roads economy and the center of American naval power. Keystone XL would take us in the opposite direction of where we need to go, which is generating cleaner energy tomorrow than we do today.  We can do better. You can watch my Senate floor speech here at 4:15 PM. Sincerely, Senator Tim Kaine

"


Now, from Congressman Morgan Griffith:


"Monday, November 17, 2014 –         
                      
Keystone XL Pipeline – Solutions

On Friday, November 14, the House of Representatives again passed legislation (H.R. 5682) to approve the application for the Keystone XL pipeline, which has been slow-walked by President Obama and the State Department for more than six years.  This is despite other pipeline projects requiring a Presidential Permit having taken 18 to 24 months to review and approve.

The House has now voted nine times to advance this landmark jobs and energy project.  31 House Democrats voted in favor of this bill, and the Senate is now expecting to consider a similar measure.

At a recent press conference in Myanmar, President Obama is reported as having said that his position hasn’t changed on the Keystone pipeline.  As far as I am aware, however, he has not taken an opinion publicly, only saying that the proposed pipeline should be studied more.  According to the New York Times, the President said in a major speech on the environment in the summer of 2013 that “…he would approve the pipeline only if it would not ‘significantly exacerbate’ the problem of carbon pollution.  He said the pipeline’s net effects on the climate would be ‘absolutely critical’ to his decision.”

Of course, the State Department in late January found – again – that the proposed Keystone XL pipeline would not significantly worsen carbon pollution.  And yet the President has not made a decision.

The pipeline has been studied, and the facts are in.  It is time to build Keystone XL pipeline, creating jobs and a more energy-independent North America.

The House knows a solution to create jobs and energy is to work with our friends in Canada, and we have voted repeatedly to do so.  Because there is a runoff election in Louisiana, the Senate may finally join the House in agreeing to this solution for jobs and energy.  Then we’ll see what the real opinion of the President is when he gets his chance to use his pen and veto this pro-jobs bill. "


Which one does this web site support? Actually, the position of this web site is that good things may come out of the debate.