So what happened? “The administration,” reported the New York Times, “had in recent days been exploring ways to put off the decision until after the presidential election.” Exploring ways to improve the project? Hardly. Exploring ways to get past the election.
Obama’s decision was meant to appease his environmentalists. It’s already working. The president of the National Wildlife Federation told the Washington Post (online edition, November 10) that thousands of environmentalists who were galvanized to protest the pipeline would now support Obama in 2012. Moreover, a source told the Post, Obama campaign officials had concluded that “they do not pick up one vote from approving this project.”
Krauthammer also notes that the "State Department had subjected Keystone to three years of review — the most exhaustive study of any oil pipeline in U.S. history — and twice concluded in voluminous studies that there would be no significant environmental harm."
Also, in conjunction with this story, the US Department of Agriculture delayed a mineral lease auction for the Wayne National Forest in Ohio. Supposedly, this was done under the auspices of studying the effects of hydraulic fracturing or fracking as it more commonly known--never mind the fact that fracking has had a 60 year record of safety. The Washington Examiner notes that "one environmentalist group spokesman suggested that moving forward with drilling 'could turn the Ohio Valley into Ozone Alley,' even though Wayne National Forest already has nearly 1300 oil and gas wells in operation which this study does not affect."
And so Obama is the one getting away with charging Republicans with being obstructionists and putting "ideology" above country. Seems to me it is the other way around.
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