The Financial Times reports:
Mr Obama’s environmental reputation is on the line, said [Clean Air Watch’s Frank] O’Donnell, especially as it is widely considered inevitable that the president will approve the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline linking Canada’s tar sands to the American refineries on the Gulf of Mexico.
“When Obama took office, there were claims he was going to be our greenest president,” he said. “Now people are saying that he’s among the three most environmental [US] presidents of the 21st century.”
so how many presidents have we had (of all stripes and persuasions) in this 21st century that he would now be among the “top 3”?
(answer: 3)
ws this a backhanded compliment or what?
This isn’t an anti-pipline issue. There are over 300,000 miles of gas pipelines and 55,000 miles of crude oil pipelines in the US already.
This is simply a mindless ideological war against the “evil” petrochemical industry, without which we would be storing corncobs in the outhouse and cleaning septic tanks every few months – EVERYWHERE. (Imagine the aromas…)
I can’t understand how we could slap our good friend, Canada, in the face.
Do the pipeline objectors differ from the vaccine nuts? I think not.
One good answer would be to subsidize enough nuclear power plants to offset the CO2 from the oil sands. That would generate jobs in America. The uneconomic cost of the plants comes from grotesque over-regulation. The plants themselves, like Indian Point, have terrifically good performance records.