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Subscribe to RSSMSNBC host Lawrence O'Donnell and guests discuss green initiatives in light of the new Keystone route proposal.
The energy hot potato known as the Keystone XL pipeline was back to the State Department, which announced Friday that it had received a new application from developer TransCanada that includes a reworked route through Nebraska.
Environmental groups and industry quickly lined up on opposite sides, while the Obama administration said a final decision is not likely before next year.
In Nebraska, Republicans had joined Democrats in objecting to an initial proposal of routing the $7 billion natural gas pipeline from Canada through the sensitive Sandhills region and over the Ogallala Aquifer.
TransCanada last month released a new proposal that shows the proposed route now east of the Sandhills, but environmentalists question how the map was drawn as well as the overall pipeline, which would start in Canada's "tar sands" region, where extracting the gas includes heavy mining.
"TransCanada is still pushing the same dirty tar sands pipeline over the Sandhills, over the Ogallala Aquifer, and endangering Americans' drinking water,” Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune said in a statement. "They think that if they redraw the map they can fool the people whose land and livelihoods would be threatened by this dangerous pipeline."
A senior executive at the American Petroleum Industry told msnbc.com that he expected Nebraska to approve the new route as part of its ongoing state process.
CNBC's Brian Sullivan speaks to Alex Pourbaix, TransCanada, regarding its revised proposal to build its Keystone XL pipeline project.
"We expect to see strong support" in Nebraska, API Vice President Marty Durbin said. "From our standpoint there are no more excuses."
The State Department, which is involved because the pipeline would cross a U.S. border, said in a statement that it would hire a third-party consultant to review the application, and noted that Nebraska itself doesn't expect to finalize its own decision on the new route for six to nine months.
The controversy has also become a campaign issue between President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney.
Obama has emphasized that he's for increased energy production, and even traveled to an existing stretch of the Keystone pipeline in Oklahoma to show his support.
But the administration also blocked the northern section of the pipeline earlier this year due to the issues in Nebraska.
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Tell TransCanada to go to hell!!!!
Yeah! Obama can just promise to give us all tax dollars to fill our tanks when the price goes to $9 a gallon - until the election that is. After that he will be totally unaccountable for his lies!
@ Watermoon: you've commented a lot, regarding this post. And pretty much every single one of your responses is to blame Obama. Do you have any other thoughts, or blaming one person for everything pretty much you're only thought?
Seriously dude, lets grow up and start having a real discussion here.
LR Lucas
Wait too long and that is exactly what Canada will say to you. They are changing the process up there to make it easier to built a pipeline to the west coast, so the Oil can be sold to China.
BTW All that gas in Alaska, the plan it will get here via a pipeline, that has to go through Canada, or at least that was the plan, I wonder what will become of it.
This whole issue is being used very cynically as a political weapon against Obama by people who know better in an attempt to manipulate people who don't.
Oil is priced on an international market. The presence of that pipeline would not increase some sort of stockpile of cheap oil for Americans, wouldn't contribute to our oil supply in the least. That pipeline would go from Canada, to refineries in Mexico, over US soil, to be sold onto the international market - it would be on its way to China. Just because we would have it going over our land, our aquifers does not mean we get any more of it; it would be high risk for little benefit.
I don't think most Americans understand the fact that one of our biggest exports from this country is gasoline. We don't have a shortage - we just don't get to keep it, no matter how much oil we pump, no matter how much we refine, so the "drill baby drill" mentality is simplistic and it's a lie. There's only one way around that, and that is to nationalize our oil production, like Venezuela did. The same people who promote the "drill baby drill" mentality, who never met a pipeline they didn't love, who try to convince Americans that the Keystone pipeline would contribute to American oil supplies and lower the price of their gasoline, would scream bloody murder at the thought of nationalizing an industry the way Hugo Chavez did, but if they want to believe that drilling in North America means more oil for North America and less dependence upon the international market, they're sadly mistaken.
But that is not relevant to the issue. This is about creating jobs and not having to buy our oil from terrorists. Should we add jobs by constructing the line, as even the unions begging Obama to do, pipe it in from Canada and refine it here or should we purchase it from terrorists? No one is suggesting it will lower the cost of oil. That can only be accomplished by increasing the supply - by drilling and producing more. That is another issue altogether and another prong of the Obama madness caused by his reliance on the Environment lobby. A reliance that is far more destructive to this country and any that Bush ever had on big oil!
What part do you not understand that this is not an issue of supply? We're refining more oil than ever, pumping more than ever, regardless of how a bunch of craven politicians and talking heads who have it out for Obama try to spin it, but we're EXPORTING it. We don't get to keep it. We can't make an agreement with Canada or put a little line in the bill that says we get to keep it, like some people have been posting, because that's not how the oil market works. Oil is on an international market - all of it is poured into a giant international bucket, no matter where it comes from. The "terrorists" are pouring their oil into the same bucket that we're pouring ours into. The only way around that is to pull ourselves entirely out of that market, to nationalize our oil, which would mean taking it out of control of the multi-national oil companies, and that of course would be "socialist," so obviously that would make at least half of America have a hissy fit too if they actually understood what they were advocating, which they don't. No matter how much we pump, no matter how much Canada pumps, no matter how much we refine, it's not staying here. That's not how it works, and that has nothing to do with Obama. The multi-national oil companies are far more powerful that the US government, far more powerful than any government. Obama isn't making the rules, but he is trying to make sure that a pipeline that isn't going to add a drop to some mythical non-existent American private stash of oil doesn't contaminate the groundwater of the people who would have to host another country's pipeline. You can't drink oil, and you can't produce any more water. The planet isn't making any more of it, and the Ogalala aquifer is the source of drinking water for most of middle America. That water is far more precious over the long haul than that oil, or the temporary jobs created by building a pipeline to transport dirty Canadian tar sands oil to Mexico so it can be shipped to China.
Save your breathe kimber for there are none so blind as those who will not see!!
Kimber Lee
Your facts are not factual. That oil is set to replace Oil from expiring Mexican, and Venezuelan Oil contracts. Refineries are set-up touse certain type of oil, you can't just put any old oil. If the refineries, do not get this oil, which is to replace oil for the American market, then they will be forced to ship it in from the middle east. Thos are facts.
"Watermoon"
President Obama did not kill the Keystone XL pipeline. The pipeline route needed to be revised because of it's threat to water aquifers. That had already been decided by the people of Nebraska and the State of Nebraska and Pres. Obama. Instead of allowing the the pipeline company to map a new route and have the proper review, the Congressional Republicans attached a measure to a tax cut bill to force Obama to approve the pipeline by a February deadline without time for the review process.
It would be irresponsible to approve a newly rerouted pipeline without the review process, which, by-the-way, is required by law. TransCanada Corp. has now reapply with the new route. The State of Nebraska, the federal government and the U. S. State Department will have the time to review the new route. The process will take place with the new prudent route and the proper review. The process should be completed by early next year.
This pipeline will not change the price we pay for oil here in the U.S. because those prices are determined on the world market. The oil companies want this pipeline because it will link the Alberta Oil Sands with the Gulf Coast refineries and Gulf seaports from which oil and refinery products can be shipped/exported worldwide. These same refineries are already producing and exporting 400,000 barrels of refined fuels per day to various countries around the world. SEARCH: "U.S. Exports Refined Fuels."
The Keystone XL project will create up to 5000 temporary pipeline jobs for about two years during the construction of the pipeline, according to data from TransCanada, the pipeline company. The claim which is being asserted about the pipeline creating 20,000 direct construction and manufacturing jobs is unsubstantiated. For the report by Cornell University SEARCH: "Pipe dreams? Jobs Gained, Jobs Lost by the Construction of Keystone XL."
OK, All this BS about this pipeline. Who benefits after disrupting the US. We sell the oil to china. Really!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sorry lets try this again.
When they said no the route had already been withdrawn, so there was no northern route, it would be impssible to pass it by the deadline if niether the company nor the President knew where it was going, so he did the only thing he could.
The Keystone pipeline will be approved before the election. It was never doomed to fail. The Chinese disident will leave China safely. He was never going to be held. The pipeline "validated" the White House to environmentalists by denying it and it's meaningless route revision, labor will be appeased by it's approval. Chen was released from the US Embassy which was not necessary other than to increase the drama and more importatnly to take focus off of the high level discussions taking place with Geitner. The US will give up dramatic economic concessions to China that will not be known until after the election while the world will marvel over the administration's ability to negotiate the release of Chen.
Enviromentalist? What environmental issues? Has the Alaskan pipe line destroyed the environment? NO!
You know that Obama wouldn't want to create jobs. That would make less people that mite spend money to help more people get jobs. Couldn't have that...
God save America.
Right now that very same oil is being moved by rail. (trains) Which is the higher risk of a spill environmentalist?
A minor side note Warren Buffet just happens to own those trains.....
Some of you who are for this pipline obviously don't know what stopped the Black Blizzards of the 1930s it was partly due to the discovery of the Ogallala Aquifer and stopping the obsolete farming techniques that had been used and destroyed the topsoil. This is what created such a bounty in growing grains and how the area got its Bread Basket of the World title. At this time this aquifer is less than half full from useing it for farming on a large scale. Once Contamenated it is not replaceable. It came from the melting glaciers after the last ice age, it doesn't matter if there is rain or not which in that part of the country normally doesn't have that much rain. You want to risk that? so some oil company in another country can make more money. From the beginning they have already lied about the amount of jobs it would create. They said 50,000 jobs but then once we started doing independant research on it, Oh guess what? only 2000 to 2500 temporary jobs. Thats what they admitted to and for risking our county becoming like Africa with constant droughts and the middle of the country with giant Duststorms. Just like the disaster in the Gulf pipline that broke and they had no plan to midigate the damage. They said they did but we found out differently, same thing here. We all need to pay much more attention to history. It does repeat itself always.
for those interested in learning about the true cost of developing this "dirty oil" check out National Geographics quite telling article; "Pipeline through Paradise" . . .
This is chess,or stratego.We do not want the chinese having any more influence in this hemisphere than they already do.Let's keep them out of here.Not rep not dem but America.Get this going,however shortsighted we think fossil fuels are
Here is a link to a map of current US pipelines. Also, 25,000 workers built the Alaska pipeline.
The Minneapolis Koch refinery is already using tar sands oil. Much of the oil imported in the US is a heavy crude, so refineries can run the Canadian Oil.
I guess all of us are supposed to really phucking stupid and believe that it is going to take til after the election for the President's State Department to determine whether or not to approve this pipeline.
There is a really simple solution to this problem. The only part of this pipeline that needs the State Department approval is where it crosses the Canadian U. S. border. Just get the States involved with approval to OK it with exception of 50 miles from the border. Then the unions can go to work. The pipeline construction can begin. Obama can stick one thumb in his A$$ and the other in his mouth and play switch to after the election.