The [Democrat controlled] Senate on Friday voted 62-37 to approve the proposed Keystone XL oil sands pipeline in an amendment to Senate budget.
Sen. John Hoeven’s (R-N.D.) amendment was largely symbolic, but served as a clear statement that the Senate backs the pipeline.
“It puts the Senate on record in support of the Keystone pipeline project. And that’s just appropriate,” Hoeven said. “The Department of State has done four environmental impact statements over the last five years — four — and said there are no significant environmental impacts. And it’s time that we in the Senate stepped up with the American people.”
There’s many a slip ‘twixt the cup and the lip.
As Lawrence Solomon pointed out in the Financial Post (March 15, I think), Barry really doesn’t need to approve Keystone XL. The US is quickly moving towards energy self-sufficiency on its own and the private sector is once again creating jobs. Barry can argue that Keystone is simply not needed …. and keep his Hollywood pals happy at the same time. I think if Barry was inclined to approve Keystone, he would have already done so.
Canada is already moving beyond the need for Keystone towards world markets and we should accelerate in that direction. Getting the bitumen out to world markets means we won’t have to sell it at a discount to Americans. In the long run, we will be better off.
My greatest fear is that Keystone is approved and that approval blunts efforts for a pipeline to the West coast. It should be an national imperative that Canadian oil be shipped to SE Asia.
It simply stuns me that the Harper government does not make more of an effort to communicate basic financial realities to the country’s citizens. They might chose to ignore them but at least the effort would have been made.
I’m very surprised.
This is the first time I can think of a bill passing the senate that will put pressure on the president to make a decision.
Potus is cornered now.
I can’t believe Harry Reid allowed this vote.
Alberta should make it known publicly far and wide, that if Gateway and the East Coast pipeline does not happen, that Alberta will sit out the 2014 Equalization Negotiations, meaning we will be there but we will contribute 0 Taxdollars, as we have financial problems at home. Harper should make XL approval by Obama necessary or no more F35 deals a very publicly advertised no sale of American Military hardware to Canada. Buy Sukoi’s from the Russkies.
RFB, the one issue has nothing to do with the other. The quarrel is with POTUS, not other Canadian provinces. Or are you trying to make Harper’s life more difficult? Do you want Mulcair or Shiny Pony as PM?
And as for the F-35s, odds right now are we’re not buying that anyway. Far too many development problems.
I was in Midland TX the other day. The place looked like Ft. Mac in 2006. Wall to wall oilfield activity.
Talked to a guy I used to play hockey with here in AB. He works in the patch in TX. Said Midland is no anomaly. The problem is, according to him, that with fracking the initial results are spectacular but soon diminish.
In any event the U.S. is sitting on remarkable O&G reserves. Do they need Keystone? Maybe not but why not complete the deal? Nothing wrong with exports.
I know the ndp and other assorted jackasses want to build more refining capacity here in Canada. I’d like to see more jobs just like anybody would but the problem is, there is little market for finished product. The market is bitumen. ‘Build it and they will come’ is not the mantra of oilmen and their shareholders.
Harry Reid may have been just setting the table for Zero. The U.S. recovery is not as vigorous as many pundits would have us believe. Sure the housing market has moved off the floor but there is a long way to go and it ain’t over in europe.
Keystone pipe is wracked in a yard 10 miles from my camp. Must be 50 miles of it sitting ready to go.
If 4 environmental studies are ignored and the project is simply stopped because it is Canada, I foresee billions in remedies under the Free Trade Act.
Not a chance. Studies and departmental recommendations have no status in law. Decisions based on environmental considerations are not actionable under NAFTA. And before you ask, it was Canada put that into NAFTA along with the dispute panel mechanism.
The more probable outcome, as many have noted, is that Obama will change the EPA rules so that numerous nuisance suits and injunctions can be filed by his public supporters, thereby keeping his own hands clean.
RFB, RFB It is a tiresome myth that Alberta directly pays for equalization. Equalization is a federal program paid from your federal taxes. A taxpayer with the same income pays the same fed tax whether in Alberta, PEI or Quebec. The simplistic nattering that Alberta pays into this program or that program and gets nothing back is part of being in a federation with different parts having different needs. I want Alberta to be in the equalization negotiations demanding equal rules across the country and equalization just covering the basics. Unfortunately with our present premier we might as well send mcquinty.
I agree with your suggestion that we tie cross border trade issues to procurement or US foreign policy (you want us in Afghanistan? how about that softwood stuff?) Unfortunately PM Harper is too much of a lefty but he is the best we got.
A couple of thoughts:
1. I was surprised by Mr. Obama’s “vague” pre-vote remarks, as characterized by the Republicans interviewed by The Hill: this is overblown, that is overblown, this is really what’s going to happen to the oil. They seem to me to have a Jeffrey Simpson-style detached armchair know-it-all “been-there-done-that” commentator whiff about them. I would have thought, in light of what subsequently happened (yesterday’s vote), that it would have been better for him, if he planned to make a decision either way on the question, to have conveyed that he was actively grappling with the issues involved, that he was trying to establish the right tests and criteria, etc., and that he would have a decision in short order, with rationale attached.
2. This is the first time I have seen a 60+ vote majority in favour of Keystone. On a normal binding motion, that would be enough to tie the President’s hands on the matter, as I understand it. In the last session (before the election), the Republicans tried (when they had more seats than they do now) to gain that position at least once, as far as I know, but ultimately fell short by a couple of votes, on account of the White House arm twisting some Dems to give the President “more time”. In this regard, Sen. Boxer’s proposal for more study and more delay went down in flames by an even wider margin than the affirmative vote, so obviously both sides have determined that the time for talking is about over.
3. It seems to me that the anti-Keystone crowd is not likely going to be able to hold their line for much longer. Given the cast of characters, I’d say that their attention span and perseverance is too limited to make a decisive difference — I’m sure that it is pretty much inarguable that they’ve given their best shot, and that one post-election crowd of 25,000 or less, organized as it was through Obama-associated constituency networks, has proven less than persuasive, despite media hype to the contrary. So maybe the President’s play is to let the Senate make the decision for him, as Indiana has implied above, rather than risk a substantial fight within his own party, which currently holds the majority, on an issue that he has concluded that he cannot ultimately win. Which play would still allow him his usual reprise — “Blame Congress.” (In this respect, and if true, he has learned well from his predecessor, Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was certainly prepared to allow Congress a leisurely pace when considering “Lend-Lease”, as Britain was burning by night under the hail of German bombs).
4. It’s ironic, don’t you think, that a project of such importance to Canada garners the votes of 100% of Senate Republicans, whereas Canadians, according to the polls, identify more closely with the Democrats and Mr. Obama.
David, the point you raise in 4 is truly ironic and true for a very long time. Except for Richard Nixon, and there were extenuating circumstances there, Republican administrations have usually been much better for Canada than Democrat.
with respect to your point 3, one thing to consider is that Obama is reluctant to have Congress decide anything for him. Oh Marvelous Me has to be the focal point of all decisions made in America. After all, the only substantive piece of legislation it’s passed in five years was Obamacare, drafted at his orders. Congress on its own hasn’t managed a single budget in five years, and Obama shows no sign, interest or ability to break the deadlock, unlike virtually every President before him.
So there’s a conflict. On the one hand, passing Keystone off to Congress means he doesn’t lose personal credit with his green friends. But on the other hand it breaks his record of “nothing gets done in this country unless I do it personally”.
So which is it wins out, his cowardice or his ego?
I got the rumble that Alibama has opened the door to years of litigation allowing the enviros to block the XL for years to come with all manner of lawsuits….leaving his hands clean…technically…he has given the enviros veto power…
What election issue could be better for PMSH than a USA decline on Keystone? This one pipeline does not solve the oil sands bottleneck. Alberta could be producing 5 million bpd by 2020. Keystone does not guranttee world price for this oil.
It is in Canada’s national interest to have the capacity for exporting oil from both the west and east coast. Anything less is a threat to national security. I also support a world class refinery in Prince Rupert but only with private money. It appears our ‘nuttier each day’ premier thinks it might be a good provincial government investment.
Canada should not trust the US. What if the pipeline is actually built and Canada does not have an alternative by pipeline or rail for export to Asia. Obama or the next progressive clown orders the pipelpine to be shut on a technicality and then where is Canada?
Personally, I like rail even though it is more costly. Railroads can go virtually anywhere and they are not subject to the environazis and their nonsense.
I hope the construction will never be approved by the president. It worries me a lot that we want to be a nation that protects the environment but on the other hand we allow these big corporations to destroy all our efforts in this particular area. I actively participate in a project called the Greenest City 2020 Action Plan introduced here in Vancouver whose aim is to eliminate the negative impact that our actions often have on the environment. But I think if such projects as the Keystone Pipeline are approved all those efforts will be useless.