By Alan Caruba
“Their goal is to stop any major project no matter what the cost to Canadian families in lost jobs and economic growth. No forestry. No Mining. No oil. No gas. No more hydro-electric dams.”
That was Canada’s Natural Resources Minister, Joe Oliver, speaking on January 9, 2012 and he might have been saying the same thing about special interests and the Obama administration in America. With refreshingly plain speech, Oliver criticized environmental organizations, both in Canada and in the U.S., saying they “threaten to hijack our regulatory system to achieve their radical ideological agenda.”
Canada is bringing common sense back into style. A June 3rd Washington Post article reported that “The government of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is rewriting the nation’s environmental laws to speed the extraction and export of oil, minerals and other materials to a global market clamoring for Canada’s natural resources.” Moreover, it has “added provisions to an omnibus budget bill that would revamp the way the government reviews the environmental impact of major projects, regulates threats to fisheries, and scrutinizes the political activities of nonprofit groups.”
What is instructive is the way Canada is now leading the way against the obstacles that the environmental organizations on both sides of the border have imposed on the development of energy and other sectors of the nation’s economy. The centerpiece of this development for the moment is the Keystone XL oil pipeline.
The Harper government has also proposed the repeal of the Kyoto Protocol Implementation Act, part of the global warming hoax that would require huge reductions in so-called greenhouse gas emissions. It is seeking changes to other federal laws such as the Fisheries Act, the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, and Species at Risk Act.
Also under scrutiny is the proper role of non-profit organizations and “charities” that engage in blatant political activities. In typical fashion, the Sierra Club website on Monday claimed that Harper is trying to “steal tax-exempt status from charities that stand up to Big Oil.” Another environmental organization, Friends of the Earth, devotes its website to efforts to block the construction of “the southern leg of the Keystone XL pipeline from Oklahoma through Texas to the Gulf Coast.”
Every effort in the United States to ensure the provision of energy, whether from coal, oil, natural gas or nuclear power, continues to be assaulted by the huge environmental propaganda machine that currently sees the defeat of the pipeline as crucial to its anti-energy agenda.
On January 18, Americans were astonished to learn that President Obama had formally rejected a bid by Canadian energy company, TransCanada, to build a $7 billion oil pipeline that would link the tar sands of Alberta to refineries on the Gulf of Mexico. In a time when the U.S. economy is suffering loss of jobs, the project would normally be a no-brainer.
However, opponents of the pipeline are a virtual who’s who of environmental organizations and a torrent of lies has poured forth from them regarding the project. The American Petroleum Institute estimates it will create 10,000 U.S. jobs next year with an anticipated 45,000 jobs by 2015 and close to 85,000 by 2020.
Among the lies put forth by militant environmentalists is that the environmental impact studies and securing the permits necessary for the pipeline were “rushed.” In truth, it took three years, four months, and five days up to the day TransCanada first filed the permit request to begin construction.
Obama repeated this lie, blaming Republicans for preventing “a full assessment of the pipeline’s impact, especially the health and safety of the American people, as well as our environment.” The Obama administration had, in fact, reviewed more than 10,000 pages of environmental studies and the State Department had twice concluded that all requirements had been met!
By contrast, in 1974, the TransAlaskan Pipeline was approved by Congress in just about a year and it was built in less than three years despite being more environmentally and technically challenging.
Congressional Democrats and Republicans have been so angered by the president’s decision against the pipeline that in mid-April the House passed a short-term transportation bill that would facilitate the next stage of the oil pipeline. The bill passed 293 to 127, with 69 Democrats supporting it. It was the fourth time the House had passed a measure to expedite the stalled project, one of which failed in the Senate by a narrow vote when the president personally lobbied some Democrats to vote against it.
Let’s tip our hat to the Canadians who have concluded that environmental lobbies, think tanks, and charities are doing more to harm Canada’s interests by means of the environmental treaties and laws they have worked so hard to impose on that nation and ours. We Americans could learn a valuable lesson from our neighbors to the north.
© Alan Caruba, 2012
Comment
Comment by Linny Redd on June 6, 2012 at 11:13pm Let us get this across on prime time TV!
Comment by Doug Nicholson on June 6, 2012 at 1:29pm @David Chaney: " (This) is about the Federal Government respecting states rights and delegating power down to the states." According to the Constitution, the only way power flows in this country is from the states to the Federal government, not vice-verse.
Comment by Guy Blanchard on June 6, 2012 at 12:43pm WOW,forget God now,,,we have IN OBAMA WE TRUST!!!!!!Mr Transparency is the most secret offical I can think of and his agenda for America is SOCIALISM.... Wake up voters...If you want socialism move to cuba or something....
Comment by Johnboy on June 6, 2012 at 4:33am This pipeline is being constructed right now. Do not think that this issue has not already been decided. The BS is just for public consumption, as both sides try to appease their base. Get an aerial photograph of Hwy 67 in Winfield, TX in about a week from now and see for yourself. Does anyone think that TransCanada would be spending that much money to put pipelines in the ground if they weren't sure this was going forward? Did I say that all of the verbiage is just for public consumption?
Comment by david chaney on June 5, 2012 at 10:46pm Noralee, That's right, we do purchase much of our oil from Canada. Since Canadian Oil doesn't reach port we pay less for gas. Currently gas is $3.30/gal and this is one of the higher priced areas of the state. We never saw $4.00/gal. The reason why, isn't lower taxes, but Canadian Oil sells for less because it doesn't reach port. The establishment doesn't want this getting out, so you get all the political B.S. in the media instead.
Comment by david chaney on June 5, 2012 at 8:42pm Nobody is stopping Big Oil from building the Pipeline. The state of Nebraska just doesn't want it built through certain areas of their states. The is about the Federal Government respecting states rights and delegating power down to the states. Not only that, but by delaying Canadian Oil from getting to port, reduces the price of oil in the midwest since oil must reach port to get the higher prices on the commodities exchange in Chicago. Farmers and Ranchers use oil in their businesses in the Midwest and lower oil prices increase their profits, so why would any state in their right mind want a pipeline built through their states that would hurt their economy? Be conservative and respect states rights. A pipeline around Nebraska would be longer and create more jobs too. Nebraska is one of the best run states in the country with the lowest state debt and a low unemployment rate and a healthy economy. We don't need big Government bribed by big oil lobbiests telling us how to run our state. The Federal Government is grossly incompetent and is the last organization to be telling states how to conduct their business.
Comment by Billy Bowlegs on June 5, 2012 at 7:12pm Let us repeal Obama in 2012 and then get on with the pipeline.
While repealing Obama we also should sundown the EPA. Bunch of idiots which think they are GODs.
Comment by JOHN DELASAUX on June 5, 2012 at 6:28pm With the State Department approval, the Keystone should already by under construction.
Only Premier Obama has the guts to lie to us face-to-face and claim that Keystone is an environmental problem. That is a blatant lie.
In addition, the Canadians agreed to move the route if it ran into any unforeseen environmental problems.
How can the US survive this jerk of a liar?
He is a dictator, and he has dire plans to destroy the US economy, while he flies around the country on our dime, gives lying speeches to our college kids, and collects even more money for his campaign against us.
We are the suckers of the world, and our world will soon go down in flames.
Comment by sharon ostwinch on June 5, 2012 at 6:01pm Obama will not enact anything that involves jobs especially now. He needs the votes for all those dependent on the welfare, food stamp, plans. sick as it gets.
Comment by Debrajoe Smith-Beatty on June 5, 2012 at 5:59pm Thanks. Obama has done everything to break the USA.
© 2013 Created by Judson Phillips.
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