Hagan backs Keystone Pipeline

[Freddie Stubbs]

Source: News & Observer

Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan is President Obama to approve construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline, saying it will help create jobs and provide energy security.

Hagan was one of 53 senators who signed a letter urging Obama approve the $7 billion project that would carry oil from Canada to the Texas Gulf Coast.

Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman has approved a revived route for the pipeline through his state, putting the decision for the delayed project back in the hands of the federal government.

"Setting politics aside: Nothing has changed about the thousands of jobs that Keystone XL will create," Hagan said in a letter signed by Hagan and the other senators sent in November. "Nothing has changed about the energy security to be gained through an important addition to the existing pipeline network built with sound environmental stewardship and the best modern technology.''

Read more: http://projects.newsobserver.com/node/26810

[marble falls]

1. The people do not want it. When the pipeline goes through her backyard feet from her home ..

I'll give her a listen. Bet she loves fracking, too.

[NorthCarolina]

8. Unfortunately, "the people" have no say in the matter.

Our elections are just a highly controlled and choreographed illusion that nets the same results, more or less, regardless of which candidate and/or party gets the nod. Sen. Bernie Sanders is quite correct when he says that America has become an Oligarchy. The proof is clearly evident for anyone who chooses to see the truth.

[Freddie Stubbs]

9. What percentage of 'the people' don't want it?

[iamthebandfanman]

2. "saying it will help create jobs and provide energy security"

to bad it does neither!

[formercia]

3. I will create a few jobs, temporarily, and a few more for maintenance jobs, long-term.

The energy security part is utter Bullshit. That oil is just passing through the US on the way elsewhere. I understood the concept of seizing land under color of Public Domain as being for the Public Good, Like Highways, Utilities and such. The Keystone Pipeline is for Private Profit, not the Public Good, and anyone who defends it on that basis is talking out of their ASS.

[fasttense]

4. Well of course she is.

Our political system is broken. It stopped working when the Dancing Supremes elected our president for us.

We CAN NOT create change from within the system. It is so dysfunctional that despite vast evidence that austerity does NOT work (England may be headed for a triple dip recession.) Obama is still talking about paying off the debt by reducing spending on social programs. Despite the evidence of the earth going through destructive weather periods brought on by corporate pollution and burning fossil fuels, Democrats are calling for even more burning of fossil fuels.

PROTEST in the streets, factories and workplace, regularly, is the only thing that will cause change.

[John2]

12. Hagan will not

have much of a problem opposing the gun issue in North Carolina but her issue is jobs in North Carolina because of the state's high unemployment. That is the main reason McCrory won. It is also the reason the Koch brother's found a foot hold in North Carolina. McCrory is promising jobs in North Carolina and have their backing. He favors drilling off North Carolina's sea coast also. The people of the state are desperate for jobs. What the Democratic Party needs to do is give alternate employment ventures in North Carolina. It is one of the biggest reasons Obama lost traction in the State. The Republicans just took advantage. That is why these people keep voting for Republicans in these Red States. Democrats need to quit ignoring the South.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

5. That's my senator!

I can't wait to see what strong stand she takes on fracking in NC.

[alp227]

13. She must be an oil industry stooge Dem a la Mary Landrieu.

[SaveAmerica]

6. "sound environmental stewardship'? Ugh, that's what we're hoping for when

we say no to the pipeline. I'm so over cars that need gas and Congresspeople who say their Dems and care about the environment but don't do anything to help it.

[primavera]

7. And "nothing has changed about the" environmental devastation it will cause either - n/t

[mountain grammy]

10. Ok, Mr. President, it's time to "respond to the threat of climate change"

and say no to this disaster waiting to happen. When the dirty energy from hell people get mad at you, you know you've made the correct decision. Time to come up from the underground, into the light and into the world of clean energy. Sun and wind provided free of side effects, a gift from God. No digging, drilling or frackin' fracking required.

[Bainbridge Bear]

11. This "thousands of jobs" claim

is probably an exaggeration. What is not an exaggeration is the fact that most of this sludge oil will be sold to foreign countries and will have nothing to do with U.S. energy independence. It will also be part of the carbon bomb that we are lighting and a decision that will make the future of our children and grandchildren increasingly tenuous. This is just another way that energy companies pump money out of the ground with little or no regard for the consequences of global warming. Hagan is just another of the hacks who help to keep this ruinous cycle going. "Sound environmental stewardship" is a cynical lie.

[politicaljunkie41910]

14. What I recall about job creation back when the topic was being debated before was

that the pipeline would create at most 6000 jobs initially for the building of the pipeline, which would run from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico to be exported. The project would have taken about 18 mos to 2 years to complete, and with it would go the vast majority of the jobs with it. Those jobs would not be required to maintain the pipeline at most a small percent of that required to build it. And then the oil is not even intended for US consumption, it's headed out of the country.