Obama running out of excuses to stall Keystone XL pipeline

Dear Editor,

The president has been on the road lately, selling his latest economic plan and touting ways to create middle-class jobs. But in Oklahoma, which is on the route of the stalled Keystone XL pipeline, he downplayed the number of jobs that line is projected to create. In doing so, he’s going against job estimates floated by energy experts, Republican lawmakers, pipeline developer TransCanada and the U.S. State Department.

Additionally, he’s denying refinery and other good-paying jobs to workers in Louisiana and throughout the region.

Low-balling job projections is just the latest in a long line of maneuvers in which the President has attempted to derail the Keystone pipeline. He has repeatedly cited environmental risks that the project may pose and most recently he expressed concerns that the pipeline could pump more carbon pollution into the atmosphere. As those issues continue to be addressed or discredited, he’s now turned to insufficient jobs as a reason to stall pipeline construction.

In dragging his feet, the president is not only holding thousands of jobs hostage, he’s missing an opportunity to improve the energy security of our country. Importing more of our oil from neighbor Canada and less from Venezuela and unstable countries in the Middle East would strength US security and eliminate unnecessary risk dealing with unstable regimes. A recent report concludes that by 2020, we could be receiving all our energy from our own country and Canada, but that projection depends largely on approval of the Keystone pipeline.

Last week, Sens. Mary Landrieu, D-La., and John Hoeven, R-N.D., introduced a resolution in Congress declaring that the construction of the Keystone pipeline is in the nation’s interest and urging the president to approve it without delay. Will this resolution cause the president to move forward with pipeline? Probably not, but he’s running out of excuses for not getting the job done.

Artie Cole,

President, Louisiana Propane

Gas Association