Saturday, January 21, 2012

Three Birds With One Pipline

 This week President Obama officially cancelled the Keystone XL pipeline project, which would have created over half a million high-paying jobs in the next 20 years. Later in the week the President made a speech in front of Cinderella's castle promising to bring tourists from around the world to Walt Disney World, creating thousands of low-paying service jobs. The real tragedy of the Keystone pipeline cancellation is that in one fell swoop the President dealt a blow to job creation, energy independence and a long-standing relationship with a steadfast ally. This decision was taken to satisfy the extreme environmentalist in his base, whose goal it is, not to protect the environment but to destroy capitalism and wealth creation.
     The Canadian government is extremely disappointed and may now sell its oil to the Chinese, while we will have to be more dependent on Middle East, Russian and South American sources for our energy. But this is just one more slap across the face by the Obama Administration to a long-time ally of the United States. It started with returning the bust of Winston Churchill to the Brits, who had given us as the gift after the terrorist attacks on 911. Since then the Obama administration has broken agreements with the Czechs and Poles for missile defense, has continually abandoned Israel in the face of an ever-increasing radical Islamic terrorist threat and has supported the ouster of long-time ally Hosni Mubarak. President Obama missed a once-in-a-century opportunity to support the cause of freedom and liberty in the spring of 2009. When the Iranian people took to the streets to demand fair and free elections, the President provided no support. In fact, the President threw his support behind the tyrannical Ayatollah. The President seems to have a knack for alienating U.S. allies while siding with dictators and tyrants.
     The President talks about energy independence, but makes us more dependent on foreign sources. First by shutting down deep water drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, against the orders of two Federal judges, and then by cancelling the Keystone pipeline project. In a study last year by the U.S. Geological Society it was determined that there is five times as much oil in North Dakota reserves than in Saudi Arabia. That doesn't even count the reserves in Anwar and all the reserves along our coasts. If we had started to develop these sources to their full potential 3 to 4 years ago, we would already be reaping benefits from them. President Obama seeks to push green energy at the expense of traditional sources, and at the expense of jobs and economic growth. We have seen the effects of this kind of policy with a low growth economy that doesn't create jobs. An economy needs energy to grow, that's just an economic reality. The reason that the President gives for cancelling the Keystone project is that there has not been enough time to study the environmental impact. We currently have 650,000 miles of pipeline in the U.S. The Keystone project is nothing new, in other words, it's a no-brainer.
     In the final analysis it is fitting that the President would give a speech on job creation in front of Cinderella's castle. His belief that green energy will lead to job growth and economic prosperity is a complete fairy tale.

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