Keystone

In the great American tradition that a small vocal group can influence government we see the environmentalist doing their thing in regards to the Keystone Pipeline. Polls show that the American people favor the pipeline 64 to 29. In other polls environmental issues rank near the bottom of importance. Last year the senate voted 62 to 37 to approve the project. The government has agreed that it will not adversely affect the amount of CO2 in the air. A long-awaited State Department environmental report on the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline indicates what the oil industry and its backers have been saying -- it won't have a big impact on carbon emissions that cause climate change. I believe the report should have gone further and explained the problems with not approving the pipeline. I say this because the oil is currently being used but it is shipped by rail to Alabama and then by truck to Louisiana. All this shipping is using up fuel and putting CO2 into the air. In addition shipping overland is more dangerous than piping. In addition the government is now requesting special shipping containers for this oil because it is more viscous than other oils and they deem this an additional hazard when in fact it is safer since it is much less volatile and would flow more slowly if a leak occurred Union groups are pushing for the approval since it will provide high paying jobs and a dozen democratic senators are asking for approval as it will improve the economy in their respective states. Since these environmental activist do not represent a large number of voters the question comes up as to why the administration wants to put this off until after the elections in November. Two theories have been put forth. One is that Warren Buffett has considerable financial interest in the railroads that haul the oil and the second is explained best by liberal billionaire Tom Steyer, a man who made his fortune by running one of those evil hedge funds, held a campaign rally in his home and it was attended by Senate Majority leader Harry Reed and Steyer said he would contribute 50 million of his own money and another 50 million from his friends to help defeat those are for the pipeline. He must be the liberal equivalent of the Koch brothers but Harry is not likely to mention that. If either of these theories have any merit it will just add to the mistrust that the people have toward government