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The battle over the Keystone pipeline has become one of the foremost issues in Washington today.
That's the problem.
The great fallacy of the Keystone pipeline is that whether it gets built or not is much less important than craven politicians in Washington would have you believe.
For six years, TransCanada Corp. (NYSE: TRP) has sought approval to build the northern leg of the Keystone XL pipeline. The 1,179-mile project would bring crude oil from the tar sands of Canada to U.S. refineries on the Gulf Coast.
Both Republicans and Democrats have turned up the rhetoric on the Keystone pipeline mainly to serve selfish political interests.
"The political fight about Keystone is vastly greater than the economic, environmental, or energy impact of the pipeline itself," Robert N. Stavins, director of the environmental economics program at Harvard, told The New York Times. "It doesn't make a big difference in energy prices, employment, or climate change either way."
Keystone XL Pipeline Fight: What's Wrong with Washington
And this battle has dragged on for six years. All the time wasted debating the Keystone XL pipeline could have been devoted to dealing with some of America's more pressing problems. You know, stuff like tax reform, immigration, trade reform, the $18 trillion national debt, maybe some help for the struggling middle class.
But no.
In fact, the fight over the Keystone pipeline is a perfect example of what's wrong with Washington. Instead of a government that solves problems we have long, bitter partisan battles over the trivial.
A bill approving construction of the pipeline passed the House of Representatives Jan. 9. Now the Senate is working on its version. The bill passed a procedural vote Monday. But Senate Democrats are intent on adding multiple amendments, which will results in hours of floor debate.
And President Barack Obama's threat of a veto may make matters worse. The House could easily override a veto, but the Senate is four votes shy. A GOP crusade to override a veto could go on for weeks – or even months.
More wasted time.
To see how low our elected representatives have sunk, we're going to look at the all the claims and counter-claims they're making about the Keystone pipeline.
It's amazing they can keep a straight face when they're saying these things…
About the Author
David Zeiler, Associate Editor for Money Morning at Money Map Press, has been a journalist for more than 35 years, including 18 spent at The Baltimore Sun. He has worked as a writer, editor, and page designer at different times in his career. He's interviewed a number of well-known personalities - ranging from punk rock icon Joey Ramone to Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Wozniak.
Over the course of his journalistic career, Dave has covered many diverse subjects. Since arriving at Money Morning in 2011, he has focused primarily on technology. He's an expert on both Apple and cryptocurrencies. He started writing about Apple for The Sun in the mid-1990s, and had an Apple blog on The Sun's web site from 2007-2009. Dave's been writing about Bitcoin since 2011 - long before most people had even heard of it. He even mined it for a short time.
Dave has a BA in English and Mass Communications from Loyola University Maryland.
Fascinating discussion!
Do Not Stand and Block Progress!!!
Build The XL Pipeline!!!
While I agree with you that Congress always plays the politics game.I do think you may fall into that position concerning the American public.
We understand that the 40,000 construction jobs to build the pipe line are temporary, and once completed they move on,also on the environmental side we are taking the heavy crude from Venezuela , a country that is hostile toward the U.S. so actually it would be a trade off for a more favorable situation. This comment is pretty simplistic concerning a more complicated issue for sure but, my point is the American people are able to think through these things. So build baby build!
They are building pipelines all over. Duke Energy is going to build a 560 mile pipeline from Pennsylvania to North Carolina starting this year and nobody gives a damm. There are over 2,600,000 miles of pipelines now and there hasn't ever been any problems with them. Isn't it about time to tell the environmentalist's to get lost. And by the way all construction jobs are temporary, when the buildings done you move on to the next job. And carbon emissions, it is high in some parts of this country and low in other parts. Thats the way it is and nobody can change it only God.
The fact is We don't have an energy policy. The electrical grid system needs serious upgrading, no new refineries have been built in 30+ years, nuclear waste needs a final destination, and green projects keep staying in the red.
Please do not forget how much this pipeline would cost Berkshire Hathaway and their rail monopoly! Check out which party gets REALLY BIG donations from the Oracle of Omaha and come to your own conclusion.
Paul is right follow the money… He who has the money makes the decisions… It's the American way!! The only way politicians can keep their jobs is by spending as much time as they can arguing about making a decision instead of doing their job and make a decision. Would your boss keep you if you took 6 years to make a decision?
For those interested — the Keystone Pipeline would take the dirtiest Tar Sands oil from Canada all the way to the Gulf Coast to be refined in the US (US gets extra pollution from this dirty oil) and then the oil gets shipped outside the US mainly to Asia.
There are scenarios that make sense.
1) Originally Canada threatened to pipeline the Tar Sand oil to Canada's West Coast to ship to Asia, but Canada didn't want the pollution — end that.
2) Refining the Tar Sands oil in the US would be OK if we used the oil in the US. But the US is already a net exporter of refined oil — So we don't need it. We (the US) would be refining this oil so that a few oil companies could profit.