Keystone Pipeline Decision Puts Mounting Pressure on Obama
Keystone Pipeline Decision Puts Mounting Pressure on Obama
This might seem like a big issue, but if chosen then Susan Rice could just divest the Keystone holdings. The other thing: we really don’t have many other viable options right now options besides the XL line since the competition for all energy resource is heating up along with our climate. In a perfect world we would use clean, carbon free sources, but we can’t realistically do that at present without harming a lot of people here and now.
Embarking on a second term, President Barack Obama faces mounting pressure on a decision he had put off during his re-election campaign: whether to approve the $7 billion proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline between the U.S. and Canada.
On its surface, it’s a choice between the promise of jobs and economic growth and environmental concerns. But it’s also become a proxy for a much broader fight over American energy consumption and climate change, amplified by Superstorm Sandy and the conclusion of an election that was all about the economy.
Environmental activists and oil producers alike are looking to Obama’s decision as a harbinger of what he’ll do on climate and energy in the next four years. Both sides are holding out hope that, freed from the political constraints of re-election, the president will side with them on this and countless related issues down the road.
“The broader climate movement is absolutely looking at this administration’s Keystone XL decision as a really significant decision to signal that dirty fuels are not acceptable in the U.S.,” said Danielle Droitsch, a senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council.