COMMENTARY | Reuters is reporting that Congress has come to yet another standoff on budget issues with the bill extending the payroll tax credit. This time however, the Democrats and Republicans agree on the basics of the bill; it’s the side issues that have the process sitting at a standstill.
Republicans want to force the Obama administration forward on building an oil pipeline from western Canada to the American Gulf Coast refineries.
Democrats are timid on the project and want to delay it a few years so the impact on the environment can be studied.
The Canadian oil pipeline will connect the northern Alberta oil sands directly to the United States refineries. The Alberta oil sands contain over 170 billion barrels of proven reserves and will be the third-largest oil reserve in the world behind Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. Having this resource in our own backyard is an enormous boon for our national security by shortening our supply lines for oil and lessening our dependence on Middle Eastern and South American oil. Also, early estimates claim that the pipeline construction project would mean 20,000 instant construction jobs.
Environmental groups have voiced concerns over the route of the pipeline since it will pass through the sensitive Sandhill and Ogallala aquifer regions of Nebraska. In an effort to appease these groups and help ensure their vote and dollars for the 2012 election, President Barack Obama shelved a decision on the pipeline project until 2013.
This position has frustrated the Canadians who are eager to get started immediately. According to an article in the Washington Times, they are so eager that they have agreed to move the route of the pipeline to avoid the sensitive areas thereby removing any obstacles. Also, the New York Times reports that the US State Department has given the green light to the project saying that the pipeline would have minimal effect on the environment. Yet, because the United States’ delay, Bloomberg reports that Canada is courting Asian countries to send their oil to instead. If this should occur, it would be a tremendous blow to our nation.
The Canadian pipeline is one thing that will help our economy in immediate fashion by putting Americans to work. It will increase our strategic standing as we reduce our dependence on oil from unstable or hostile parts of the world. This pipeline is something that we need and there is no reason for President Obama to hold this up except to appease the environmental activists in an election year.