House passes Keystone XL bill; now, on to the Senate

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From the Los Angeles Times:

WASHINGTON – The Republican-controlled House on Wednesday passed a transportation bill that would advance the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, defying a White House veto threat and stoking an election-year fight over what Congress can do about gas prices.

The 293-127 vote to extend highway and transit funding through September sets up contentious negotiations with the Democratic-led Senate. The Senate rejected an effort to include the Canada-to-Texas pipeline project in its two-year $109-billion transportation bill.

The Obama administration also warned that the president’s advisors would recommend he veto the House bill, if it reaches his desk, because it “seeks to circumvent a long-standing and proven process for determining whether cross-border pipelines are in the national interest” and for assessing Keystone XL’s environmental impact.

That’s odd. I seem to recall that this so-called “study” has been percolating for the past three years. One cannot draw any kind of conclusion in three years? If so, clearly, this is your federal government not at work — in truth, your federal government in sloth. Witness the GSA.

An interesting note from the Demorat Camp:

Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) called Republican assertions that the pipeline would bring down fuel prices “hooey.”

“What’s going on here is political,” he said.

“Political.” Imagine that. As in Obama saying he will simply veto whatever crosses his desk. But when Mr Obama politicizes, that’s not “politics.” When Republicans do, that is “politics.” As in refusing to even plan for the future of petroleum in America because — after all — petroleum is not going away.

A final note:

But Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., called the pipeline a scheme to export oil to China that will do little or nothing to lower gas prices in the U.S. He said most of the oil that arrives in Port Arthur winds up being exported.

Representative Markey is incorrect. We don’t export oil. Our Number One export, this year and in 2011, has been refined gasoline, diesel and jet fuel — not crude oil. The oil has been processed by the Chemical Coast refineries for shipping in export.

The Demorats would have you believe that instant energy conversion is possible. It is not. They would have you believe that once we’re all in electric cars, we won’t need oil any more. That is wrong. And the Demorats would have you believe that because we can’t produce an immediate increase in oil yield by drilling and enabling pipelines and transportation, then attempting to do so now is pointless. That is also wrong.

It’s a fight. And I’m not giving up.

BZ

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11 thoughts on “House passes Keystone XL bill; now, on to the Senate”

  3. TF and NFO: and that is my point. We are NOT giving up and going away. I am GLAD to see that it keeps sticking its oily little topic head into the public venue time and again.

    Obama only wants to stop drilling, storing and moving oil in order to placate the Religious Left, plain and simple. This dovetails with his belief in the necessary lessening of American Power and the bringing of this nation into line with any other second or third world country.

    As per Cloward-Piven: in order to rebuild in the Socialistic fashion you wish, first you must DEMO the nation.

    BZ

  4. 11 Democrats defected last vote with Obama on the phone. 2 more and it passes. It bears mentioning that this is a filibuster vote with the majority Democrats forced into a minority position.

    A fun article by a progressive website on the history and perceived detriments of the filibuster.

    http://thinkprogress.org/yglesias/2009/02/15/191761/the_new_filibuster/?mobile=nc

    Now the shoe is on the other foot.

    2 of the 16 Democrats seeking reelection have already shifted.
    I think two more will move and Obama will be stuck between big labor and environmentalists.

    Since P.M. Stephen Harper decided the end product will be sold to China, I am not in favor of this venture. We can create just as many jobs drilling and refining our own oil. Bear in mind that once the project is permited (i.e. paper legal) eminent domain of U.S. private land is given to TransCanada. No bueno.

    I hope it get’s through and gets vetoed; but I’m willing to bet it goes all the way. When Harper dedicated the product to China we should have shut the door.

  6. ∞ ≠ ø: that’s a good point, there WERE defections from the Demorat side.

    RT: yes, it’s a work in progress. But the other side of the coin is this:

    Once the pipeline is in place, it will be MUCH EASIER to drill and extract oil from the Bakken Fields/tar sands and ship THAT oil south to refineries. That’s a DOUBLE negative for Mr Obama — he certainly cannot allow those fields easy access to the movement of oil to our refineries!

    BZ

  8. A friend of mine just bought a Nissan Leaf. It will go about 90 miles on a charge.

    That is the claim, anyway.

    I wonder if my friend will get stranded in mid-route if something fails to hold a charge.

  9. He did, in that he signed the trade agreements with the Chinese. Frankly I find it shocking. Parliament has to approve the deal (which also includes a lot of uranium for China).

    I do not think this is a bluff. If so, Harper weakens his position for the sake of the bluff which makes no sense. His cornflakes got whizzed in by the E.U. which deadlocked on a vote to label the Tar-sands oil as a high pollutant followed by the Obama dithering on the pipeline. Harper says eff all you all and pens deal with China, end of chapter.

    We are living in amazing and frightening times.

  10. Ever look at the word “demolish?
    DEMO-lish
    DEMO-crat
    Both words describe something that destroys something.
    That is why I hate all demorats!
    Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt,
    Bill Clinton, Barak Obama.
    All destroyers of our beloved USA.

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