Today, January 18th, amidst the blackout of many
information pages, our president announced the rejection by his Administration of
the Keystone XL pipeline project. Those of us that protested, signed petitions
and mobilized to stop this environment assault to our country are justifiably
rejoicing, at least momentarily, from this good news.
The President of the United States of America, Barack
Obama, announced in not uncertain ways, the rejection of this project and
clearly stated the reason for his decision:
“I have determined, based upon your recommendation,” [the
Secretary of State] “including the State Department’s view that 60 days is an
insufficient period to obtain and assess the necessary information, that the
Keystone XL pipeline project, as presented and analyzed at this time, would not
serve the national interest.”
I am so proud of our President for listening to us in this
so very important cause! This project, regardless of what Republicans and the
oil industry have to say, represents a clear and imminent danger to our
wildlife, water supply, our land and our environment.
In the official Statement from The White House also released
today, the President said, “I’m disappointed that Republicans in Congress
forced this decision, but it does not change my Administration’s commitment to
American-made energy that creates jobs and reduces our dependence on oil” – so
far so good. Bravo Mr. President!
My enthusiasm took a turn downwards when in that same
statement, Obama makes clear that he is for other similar and equally dangerous
ventures, when he said: “ – including the potential development of an oil
pipeline from Cushing, Oklahoma to the Gulf of Mexico”; even though the
aforementioned pipeline will cause less damage than the Keystone XL pipeline,
it will still represent a danger to our environment.
As it was expected, the Republicans are raising hell over this
rejection by the President. The rhetoric that this pipeline will create much
needed jobs, which up to a point and not in the numbers they claim it could be
true, the claim that it will reduce in any way our dependence in foreign oil is
ludicrous. To begin with, this dirty oil is not ours it belongs to Canada and once
it’s refined in Texas, it will leave our shores to be sold somewhere else, the
taxes of this sale will be abroad so this nation will not receive a penny from
it, as usual, and the citizens of this country will not save a penny at the
pump – the financial benefits will only be seen by TransCanada and their
allies, the oil magnates that have never looked out for our benefits or that of
our nature. One needs only to see what their greed had done in the past to our
shores to recognize that all that moves these companies is the profit they can
obtain with complete disregard to the environment.
According to Steve Hargreaves from CNN Money, the President
of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Thomas Donohue, said in reference to the
President’s decision of rejecting the Keystone XL pipeline project that “The
president’s decision sends a strong message to the business community and to
investors: keep your money on the sidelines, America is not open for business.”
I find this statement offensive. Our nation has been ripped, raped, abused,
neglected and usurped by corporations for decades. Foreign companies have been
allowed to merciless annihilate our manufacturing industries by allowing them
to import their cheap junk to our land, by exporting jobs (that’s the only
thing they export), by avoiding fiscal responsibility which has rendered this
nation almost bankrupt and as of lately, the greatest insult for the citizens
of this country, the Supreme Court even have granted these companies the status
of ‘personhood’, something never done anywhere else in this world… but
rejecting ONE project is sending a message that “America is not open for
business”? Really? Maybe that could be the best thing that will happen to
this country, that these ‘people’ leave and we can return to being an
industrialized nation instead of a consuming nation which only purpose is to
line with our blood and sweat the pockets of these greedy corporations, sorry, “people.”
To read the complete CNN article, click here
To read the complete Memorandum for the Secretary of State, click here
To read the complete Statement by the President on the Keystone XL Pipeline, click here
Wow, this is a great article! I can't wait to share! Good job!
ReplyDeleteThese days it's not "follow the money." It's follow the pipeline. Sure, the GOP wants a blank check of support for a project that both enables the national gasoholism and crosses every major tributory stream west of the Mississippi.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Douglas, we have seen proof of it, now that we know the interest that Boehner had in the pipeline was not precisely the jobs... well, maybe now it is, his own.
ReplyDelete