Crude Keystone Lite

To most people, 20,000 construction jobs, $7 billion in private investments and one million barrels of North American oil sounds like a good trade for allowing 1,700 miles of pipeline to be built across the United States.

Unfortunately, President Barack Obama does not see it this way.

Instead of garnering these benefits for the American people, Obama has decided to let these million barrels of oil per day be shipped off to China and have the United States continue to pay $36 billion dollars annually to foreign regimes for imported oil.

In a purely political and cowardly move, Obama tried to delay the decision until 2013 to postpone the GOP’s success on this matter.

In retaliation, the GOP gave him an advanced deadline on the decision. Because of the deadline, Obama blames the GOP for a “rushed and arbitrary deadline” that did not give his administration the time it needed to fully evaluate the proposal of the Keystone XL pipeline.

The rejection of the proposal and blaming of the Republican Party is purely political.

By rejecting this proposal, Obama was able to make the GOP look desperate to create jobs and incapable of getting things done, while pleasing left wing liberals and environmentalists.

Obama’s biggest “concern” of the pipeline was its environmental effects and the health and safety of the American people.

But the reality is that numerous scientists and engineers testified to the safety of the pipeline.

This sentiment would have some merit if it were not for the estimated 700,000 miles of sanitation piping across our country that is massively outdated and presents its own health and environmental dangers.

When you compare the 1,700 miles of piping proposed for Keystone XL and the grand total of 55,000 miles of oil pipelines in the United States to the 700,000 miles of sanitation pipelines, the environmental risks do not even compare.

Additionally, the 1,700 mile Keystone XL pipeline would only represent 3 percent of all crude oil pipelines in the United States.

Not only does the Keystone XL proposal pose fewer risks than other pipelines that receive no attention at all, it also has environmental benefits.

By producing more oil domestically, greenhouse gases will be reduced because the oil will be piped rather than transported by tankers and barges.

Also, 90-95 percent of water used in refining of the “tar sands” can be recycled or recovered, making the processing more efficient than most people realize.

The truth is: Oil is like Batman. Dressed in black and everyone is afraid of it, but we all know we need it.

In denying the proposal for the Keystone XL pipeline, President Obama has made a selfish mistake.

Rather than agree to a proposal that would stimulate the American economy through job creation and investments, Obama has used this proposal to his political advantage to please liberals and environmentalists, while taking a ‘win’ away from the GOP prior to the 2012 elections.

­— wfgryna@indiana.edu