President Obama vetoes Keystone pipeline bill

[Chef Ramsay]

United States President Barack Obama as promised has vetoed a bill from Congress that for now will halt construction of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline.

Defying the wishes of the Republican-led House and Senate, the president on Tuesday rejected the years-in-the-making would-be legislation that sought to pave the way for a 1,179-mile pipeline to carry crude tar sands oil from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.

Congress authorized the bill more than a week ago, and in recent days it was handed off to the White House.

"The president does intend to veto this pace of legislation, and we intend to do it without drama or fanfare or delay,” Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, said at a scheduled media briefing early Tuesday afternoon in Washington, DC. Later in the day it was confirmed that the president had, in fact, vetoed the bill.

Ahead of the president’s expected decision, House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell—top-ranking Republicans representing Ohio and Kentucky, respectively—published an op-ed condemning Obama’s intentions.

"The allure of appeasing environmental extremists may be too powerful for the president to ignore. But the president is sadly mistaken if he thinks vetoing this bill will end this fight," they wrote. "Far from it. We are just getting started."

More...http://rt.com/usa/235227-obama-veto-pipeline-bill/

[funtotry]

Damn, I am for the Keystone pipeline and its such a schame that it is being denied. It would create many jobs and add a couple billion to the GDP, so I have no idea why Obama is vetoing it. The environmental effects are not enough to outweigh all of the good that would come from this project.

[pedrog]

The owners of the properties where the pipeline will pass have already been expropriated?

[bryant.coleman]

Apart from the environmental concerns, I don't think that this pipeline will be viable economically. The crude price has hit the rock bottom. And with the current state of affairs, the US government won't be able to afford it.

[jaysabi]

Apart from the environmental concerns, I don't think that this pipeline will be viable economically. The crude price has hit the rock bottom. And with the current state of affairs, the US government won't be able to afford it.

Afford the pipeline? I assume TransCanada would be responsible for the building it, since they would own it. I don't think the US government being able to afford it has anything to do with the pipeline.

[girb16]

To me it looks like national protectionism. The US never does anything to benefit Canada!

[Mikestang]

Why don't we see massive solar projects or wind farms or tidal farms being proposed instead off "an old fashioned pipeline".  Many more jobs could be created with sustainable infrastructure.  It's 2015 for fuck's sake, can't we get off the oil already?

[jaysabi]

Why don't we see massive solar projects or wind farms or tidal farms being proposed instead off "an old fashioned pipeline".  Many more jobs could be created with sustainable infrastructure.  It's 2015 for fuck's sake, can't we get off the oil already?

It's not like solar is absent. There are major solar installations coming online in the US and elsewhere, not to mention companies like Solar City and First Solar installing in the personal and business space in the US. Solar is ramping up quickly, but it's not as cheap or easy as oil, which is why so much of the world still consumes it so heavily. Solar technology has only brought the price of power generation down to a competitive level recently, and it will take decades to supplant oil as the major energy source. It just can't be done overnight.

[grendel25]

Yah, just like he always said he would.  No big surprises here.  I don't really agree with it.  The fuel will be produced and sold no matter what so the environmental impact doesn't change.  If anything, the pipeline would have made it safer.