Why are Republicans so desperate to get the Keystone XL pipeline built?

[Riot]

Why should we endanger permanently destroying the biggest aquafier providing water to the middle third of the United States?

"Follow the money" - Mark Felt

The main beneficiaries of the Keystone pipeline will be the Koch Brothers, who will use it to ship their American oil south rather than to Illinois via the current pipeline (raising oil prices to citizens in the midwest); and Saudi Arabia, who own most of the Texas refinery where the oil sands will be shipped to, and who will take most of the prpocessed oil out of the US to be sold at a greater profit than selling it here.

The main points in this briefing paper can be summarized as follows:

» The industry’s US jobs claims are linked to a $7 billion KXL project budget.
However, the budget for KXL that will have a bearing on US jobs figures is
dramatically lower—only around $3 to $4 billion. A lower project budget means
fewer jobs.

» The project will create no more than 2,500-4,650 temporary direct construction jobs for two years, according to TransCanada’s own data supplied to the State Department.

» The company’s claim that KXL will create 20,000 direct construction and
manufacturing jobs in the U.S is not substantiated.

» There is strong evidence to suggest that a large portion of the primary material input for KXL—steel pipe—will not even be produced in the United States. A substantial amount of pipe has already been manufactured in advance of pipeline permit issuance.

» The industry’s claim that KXL will create 119,000 total jobs (direct, indirect, and induced) is based on a flawed and poorly documented study commissioned by TransCanada (The Perryman Group study). Perryman wrongly includes over $1 billion in spending and over 10,000 person-years of employment for a section of the Keystone project in Kansas and Oklahoma that is not part of KXL and has already been built.

» KXL will not be a major source of US jobs, nor will it play any substantial role at all in putting Americans back to work. Even if the Perryman figures were accurate, and all of the workers for the next phase of the project were hired immediately, the US seasonally adjusted unemployment rate would remain at 9.1%—exactly where it is now.

» KXL will divert Tar Sands oil now supplying Midwest refineries, so it can be sold at higher prices to the Gulf Coast and export markets. As a result, consumers in the Midwest could be paying 10 to 20 cents more per gallon for gasoline and diesel fuel. These additional costs (estimated to total $2–4 billion) will suppress other spending and will therefore cost jobs.

http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/globallab..._Reportpdf.pdf

The new axis of evil for what's left of this country:

Koch Brothers, Grover Norquist, and Karl Rove. Need one more for the Republican Mt. Flushmore.


Ocala Mike

[Danzig]

Democrats in the Senate have increasingly come forward to say that they would support the Republican strategy.

“I personally think the pipeline is absolutely in the national interest. It’ll help us reduce our dependence on foreign energy, at least foreign sources that are hostile to our interests,” Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D., said on the Senate floor earlier in the week. “I, for one, on this side would hope that this could be part of a final package.”

“I am proud to again offer my support for the Keystone XL pipeline and the jobs it will create,” said Sen. Jon Tester, D-Montana, on the Senate floor. “We need a quicker decision, based on the merits of this project.”

Tester and other Democrats supporting the plan have said in the past that they care about Native American interests, but they have ignored that American Indians have played a major role in protesting the proposed pipeline path, saying it would harm the public health and cultural fabric of Indian country. Tribal leaders have also noted a lack of consultation on the 1,700 mile TransCanada project.



http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwor...a-reject-68152


The legislation passed the Senate Saturday in an 89 – 10 vote.


Given the Democratic signals of support for the plan in the Senate, Obama’s threat becomes all the more noteworthy because the GOP leadership likely has had enough votes in the House to pass the Senate plan.

Some Indians are especially concerned by the Democrats’ positions, given the fact that Democrats tend to count on Natives more than Republicans for votes.

One of the biggest concerns is perhaps that Obama will cave on his promised rejection. A tendency to over-compromise has been widely cited as a shortfall of his leadership skills during his presidency to date.





....i didn't realize that the senate had 89 republicans.


also, the state dept already signed off on the pipeline months ago. and therein lies the rub; obama is taking heat from a lot of folks because they figured he was about to approve it. he is-but he wants to wait til after the election so as to placate voters. well, avoid their wrath actually.
so, once again, workers held hostage due to politics. the state dept is saying they would need more time, but that's to study alternate routes, not because the initial plan hasn't been approved.

[hi_im_god]

it splits two key democratic constituencies. labor and environment.

duh.

why do you think the white house wants to push it out beyond the election?

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by hi_im_god

it splits two key democratic constituencies. labor and environment.

duh.

why do you think the white house wants to push it out beyond the election?

i know why they want to. i said that in my post above.

[hi_im_god]

Originally Posted by Danzig

i know why they want to. i said that in my post above.

sorry, danny.

i was responding to the question riot posted in the thread title and didn't realize you had already said as much.

[clyde]

Originally Posted by hi_im_god

sorry, danny.

i was responding to the question riot posted in the thread title and didn't realize you had already said as much.

Oh she deserves to be whacked in the back of the head every now and then.

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by hi_im_god

sorry, danny.

i was responding to the question riot posted in the thread title and didn't realize you had already said as much.

oh, sorry.

[clyde]

Originally Posted by Danzig

oh, sorry.

Feel...doorknobish, do ya?

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by clyde

Feel...doorknobish, do ya?

nope.

[clyde]

Perhaps you should.

[clyde]

Honula....I think I have hurt Danny's feelings.




Give her a nice kissy-poo.

[Riot]

Originally Posted by hi_im_god

sorry, danny.

i was responding to the question riot posted in the thread title and didn't realize you had already said as much.

Fealty to Big Oil doesn't know party boundaries. Plenty of owned Dems to go around on this one. Yes, we know Obama wanted to delay this until after the election (why State give him cover). He'll have to say no now, btw, a good thing, considering the Republican governors of the states are against it for environmental reasons.

My point was that the cries of "this will help us get independent via 'ethical oil' versus oil from the middle east" are outright lies. Whether it's GOP saying them, or Dems. We won't get much of this oil if any. We won't get jobs. We will get local price increases.

Once again, it's all smoke, mirrors and outright lies to the citizens, as corporate-owned politicians do the bidding of their masters. That's the point. There are no jobs. There is no benefit of giving us "ethical" oil, it will be shipped elsewhere. There is a real threat to our water supply. This is a pipeline that will benefit a couple of private oil companies, one an international (yes, we suck up to the Saudies here, over American citizens) period. And our entire political process serves those masters.

But hey, keep deriding Occupy for pointing this out, and refusing to play along any more.

[Cannon Shell]

http://ce.frontlinethoughts.com/CT00013702NDExNTIz.html