The TransCanada pipeline is a scam. Keystone XL is an export pipeline that bails out Canada’s risky tar sands investment while using Nebraska as a middle man to get foriegn oil to foreign markets. Farming and ranching families have seen their livelihoods pushed to the sidelines for Big Oil profits.
Meanwhile, Speaker Boehner stands with Big Oil while turning his back on the middle class and Nebraska families. These past two weeks in Washington have made one thing crystal clear, hard-line Republicans only care about defeating President Obama.
It is no surprise to anyone who reads our blog that Bold Nebraska opposes the TransCanada Keystone XL pipeline. We also oppose arbitrary deadlines on projects as massive and risky as this tar sands pipeline.
In their effort to deliver for Big Oil and to do their best to make President Obama look bad over “jobs,” the House GOP may have killed the pipeline.
You can agree or disagree with environmental laws, like NEPA, but you can’t ignore them.
To that end, we want to thank Rep. Boehner for putting in a pipeline rider, attached to the middle-class tax bill, that will likely mean denial of Keystone permit.
Yes, we want to thank Speaker Boehner for providing the shovel to bury the pipeline in the grave for good.
On December 13th when we got word that Gov. Heineman, Sen. Johanns, Rep. Terry and Rep. Smith all supported Boehner’s “rush the pipeline” rider, we were in the “bring it on” camp. People expected us to protest saying, “Oh no, don’t attach the rushed timeframe to a bill for middle class tax cuts.”
Nope. We continue to say bring it on.
I imagine the call that TransCanada probably made to Rep. Boehner once they heard their pipeline was the latest political football went something like this:
Imaginary TransCanada: “What are you thinking?! This will surely get the pipeline denied, giving Obama a clear path to say no to a rushed timeframe and arbitrary deadline.”
Imaginary Boehner: “I didn’t really think about your pipeline. I was busy planning a TV ad that the RNC can run against Obama saying he doesn’t care about jobs and to drive a big wedge between labor and environmentalists. We care about creating TV ads, not jobs.”
Despite the facts about jobs and risks to land, water and health, hard-line Republicans continue to mislead Americans with inflated job numbers and false energy security claims. TransCanada has to be worrying a little bit that we have all caught on to their Big Oil ripoff games.
As TransCanada and their Big Oil buddies make billions off toxic tar sands, the rest of us get unecessary risks to our water, higer gas prices in the MidWest and a bag of unfufilled promises about big tax revenues for our communities.
As noted in Politico, Boehner said if the pipeline rider was included, then the House could pass the bill. Without the rider, he was unsure if the bill to extend the payroll tax cut for 160 million Americans would pass.
A few days later, media all across the spectrem stated the obvious, Boehner’s pipeline rider will most likely kill the pipeline.
Now that Boehner realizes he overplayed his hand, he is trying to find a way out. He is trying to find a way to pull the “Keystone bailout” out of the bill without looking like he knows he made a huge strategic mistake. I am betting he will find a way to pull the rider out and somehow blame that on President Obama, too.
This Christmas, I hope Boehner actually gets what he asked for; a pipeline rider attached to whatever bill finally gets signed by President Obama. Because it turns out, he will actually be giving all of us treehuggers, ranchers, environmentalists, farmers, grandmoms, church goers, artists and conservationists in Nebraska what we want too…#noKXL!
