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cali

(114,904 posts)
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 07:58 AM Apr 2013

From The New Yorker: Playing Pipeline Politics (Will Obama approve Keystone?)

During times like these—a still-fragile economy; unemployment persistently, unacceptably high; the prospect of a midterm election with dynamics that work against the Democrats—the environment always takes the hit. That’s just the way things are. Put up against their jobs and their retirement accounts, or the jobs and retirement accounts of their friends and family, it’s hard to convince people that they really should care about some trees somewhere, or, say, an impending catastrophe with consequences including but hardly limited to drought, fires, devastating storms, and melting ice and rising seas. As a species, we’re just not that good at seeing the long-term consequences of our actions, much less caring about them, especially when we have more immediate concerns.

Given all that, it was no easy thing, what President Obama had to do over the past few days: walk into the home of important people who care very much about environmental issues, explain the political reality to them as gently as possible, and then relieve them and a hundred of their guests of a few thousand dollars.

<snip>

There was one word Obama didn’t say, at least not in his public remarks: Keystone. He didn’t need to. The fundraiser at which he was speaking was held at the home of Tom Steyer, a hedge-fund billionaire who has lately turned his attention and considerable resources toward fighting against approval of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline and those politicians who support it. Most recently, Steyer has gotten himself involved in the special election to replace John Kerry in the Senate, taking sides in the Democratic primary against Representative Stephen Lynch because of his position on Keystone.

Obama and his Administration—technically, the State Department has final say—have a few months left before they have to announce a decision. But the early signs point toward approval: a draft economic-impact analysis, put together by State and released last month, said that the pipeline wouldn’t contribute to climate change in any significant way. (Not helping environmentalists’ case on this is that the tar sands that would be the source of oil transported through Keystone are likely to be developed with or without the pipeline; the oil would just be exported by a different method.) And though the pipeline would not lead to the tens of thousands of new jobs that supporters claim—even the company that wants to build it, TransCanada, admits it would directly employ about six thousand five hundred people a year for two years of construction, and then only a few dozen after that—it’s hard to argue against any new jobs right now, and Republicans will make that task much tougher by citing the inflated estimates. That the Democrats’ allies in organized labor favor the pipeline doesn’t help, either.

<snip>

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2013/04/playing-pipeline-politics.html?mbid=gnep&google_editors_picks=true

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From The New Yorker: Playing Pipeline Politics (Will Obama approve Keystone?) (Original Post) cali Apr 2013 OP
he will approve it madrchsod Apr 2013 #1
I'm afraid so. cali Apr 2013 #2
And after its built newfie11 Apr 2013 #3
Yes, it's a done deal. n/t Autumn Apr 2013 #4
He'll approve it Nite Owl Apr 2013 #5
Obama's worried about the politics of it? Broward Apr 2013 #6

newfie11

(8,159 posts)
3. And after its built
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 08:11 AM
Apr 2013

They can employ a multitude of folks to attempt to clean up the mess from the future oil spills.

Wow what a great way to add jobs to the economy. Then of course there is the lasting health problems from working in the environment of spills. That will help the fat cat insurance companies.

What a way to go!

Broward

(1,976 posts)
6. Obama's worried about the politics of it?
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 09:47 AM
Apr 2013

Whose politics is he worried about? Dems in 2014? If that's the case, then why would he propose
cutting SS benefits?

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