Keystone, Jobs, and Energy Independence

President Obama talks the talk when it comes to promoting job creation and economic growth, but he has not walked the walk, especially with regard to the Keystone XL pipeline.  As we have highlighted on numerous occasions, his obstruction of the Keystone XL pipeline seriously undermines his claim that he cares about jobs or the economy.  The construction of Keystone would be a boon to the economy, generating billions of dollars of economic activity.  It would provide many Americans with jobs and increase our energy independence.

Yet, the president has wastefully geared his efforts to helping his cronies in the so-called green energy industry, and taxpayers have been harmed in the process.  Dozens of these companies have failed and taxpayers have had to bail them out.  Yet, President Obama has the audacity to continue funneling taxpayer money to these types of companies.

The good news is that some members of Congress have called on the President to change his stance.  The Hill reports that “all 25 Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee urged approval of the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline in a Thursday letter to President Obama.”  A majority of lawmakers in both the House and the Senate support the pipeline, and they’ve made their support known to Obama.

On the flip side, President Obama is still being pressured by radical environmentalists concerned about “global warming.”  Are they not aware that Canadian tar sands oil will still be extracted whether Keystone is built or not?  Are they also unaware that the pipelines are proven to be the most environmentally safe way to transport oil?  Facts always seem to be a pesky nuisance to liberals, so they may have been successful at ignoring these realities.

But in light of strong support from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, President Obama’s obstinacy to the Keystone pipeline is all the more frustrating and unjustified.

Rather than being persuaded by “global warming” claims that cannot even muster unanimous consensus in the scientific world, President Obama needs to be impacted by the reality that Keystone XL would be a great thing for the American people.  And then he needs to act accordingly.