Update (Hat Tip to TJ for pointing out Obama flip-flopped on this):
UPDATE 2-Obama to push US agencies on south Keystone line
http://www.reuters.com/...
WASHINGTON, March 21 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will send a memo to federal agencies on Thursday directing them to prioritize permitting for TransCanada's southern leg of the Keystone oil pipeline, a senior White House official said on Wednesday.
Oh Obama, rejecting a pipeline then sending a memo to move forward with it? I guess since Texas was not going to vote for you, you sold us out to corporate interests?
You put more value in placating Republicans than families whose land will be soiled by the oligarchy and their lust of money?
Seriously? I hope the rest of the country realizes when you start one part of a pipeline, you obviously intend to finish said pipeline.
Your rook of a move in 13-dimensional chess has been seen for what it is.
Still getting my vote, but man, what a dick move.
______________
Color me confused as I found out the Koch Brothers-backed Keystone Pipeline was carving a path right through the virgin greenbelts of East Texas. Last I heard, the President, supposedly the chief executive of this country, had rejected the pipeline saying new studies were needed before moving forward.
I guess the Koch Brothers and their moneyed-interests are truly above the law.
Just to make sure I was not mistaken, I looked it up.
Should Washington Block the Keystone Pipeline?
No Byline, Wall Street Journal, 5 Oct 2012
http://online.wsj.com/...
President Obama rejected the Keystone XL pipeline early this year, saying it needed further study amid concerns about the possible environmental impact. It is expected to be months from now, at least, before a fresh application from TransCanada Corp., the company that would build the pipeline, completes the review process and is acted on.
In the meantime, Republicans have used the president's January decision as fodder to attack his commitment to job creation, economic growth and energy independence for the U.S.
Opponents of the Keystone XL project worry about the environmental impact of the mining of tar sands, the pipeline itself and the burning of the oil it would carry. They are also concerned that it would throw the U.S. off track in its pursuit of cleaner, renewable forms of energy.
Supporters of the pipeline say that it would be foolish for the U.S. to turn away a secure, expanding source of oil, and that the pipeline wouldn't hinder the development of alternative forms of energy.
Sure enough, it is blocked, so what in the hell is going on in Texas?
To begin with, Kelo vs City of New London is mute because the government has not approved the project and cannot be cited for the eminent domain land grab by TransCanada Corp. Not to mention TransCanada is a foreign company and would require a state department permit to claim eminent domain. So who is behind this?
Koch Brothers Positioned To Be Big Winners If Keystone XL Pipeline Is Approved
By David Sassoon, Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/...
What's been left out of the ferocious debate over the pipeline, however, is the prospect that if president Obama allows a permit for the Keystone XL to be granted, he would be handing a big victory and great financial opportunity to Charles and David Koch, his bitterest political enemies and among the most powerful opponents of his clean economy agenda.
The two brothers together own virtually all of Koch Industries Inc. — a giant oil conglomerate headquartered in Wichita, Kan., with annual revenues estimated to be $100 billion.
A SolveClimate News analysis, based on publicly available records, shows that Koch Industries is already responsible for close to 25 percent of the oil sands crude that is imported into the United States, and is well-positioned to benefit from increasing Canadian oil imports.
Yep, the Koch Brothers, who have long viewed themselves above the law of this land, are now moving forward without the approval of the government and against the President himself.
Eminent Domain Fight Has a Canadian Twist
By LESLIE KAUFMAN and DAN FROSCH, New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/...
Randy Thompson, a cattle buyer in Nebraska, was informed that if he did not grant pipeline access to 80 of the 400 acres left to him by his mother along the Platte River, “Keystone will use eminent domain to acquire the easement.” Sue Kelso and her large extended family in Oklahoma were sued in the local district court by TransCanada, the pipeline company, after she and her siblings refused to allow the pipeline to cross their pasture.
“Their land agent told us the very first day she met with us, you either take the money or they’re going to condemn the land,” Mrs. Kelso said. By its own count, the company currently has 34 eminent domain actions against landowners in Texas and an additional 22 in South Dakota.
A government official with knowledge of the permitting process who would address the issue only on condition of anonymity said, “It is presumptuous for the company to take on eminent domain cases before there is any decision made.”
An East Texas landowner, Eleanor Fairchild, said that a TransCanada representative arrived at her house a few days before her husband died of Alzheimer’s in 2009. At first, she considered the $42,000 offer — later raised by $18,000 — for a 50-foot easement on her 425 acres. But she said that the more she learned about the pipeline, the less she wanted it on her land.
“It was a hard decision whether I wanted to fight and spend all this money even though I could lose the thing,” Ms. Fairchild said in a weary drawl. “But somebody needs to fight them. I decided it would be me.”
So, how did Ms. Fairchild do against the Koch Brothers-backed machine?
Yeah, that would be Darly Hannah with Ms. Fairchild.
Texas grandma Eleanor Fairchild arrested for "tresspassing" as her own land is siezed for TransCanada tar sands pipeline, actress Daryl Hannah also arrested
Kevin Gosztola, The Dissenter
http://www.sott.net/...
On the eleventh day of action against TransCanada's demolition of forest, land and family farm property in East Texas, actress Daryl Hannah joined Eleanor Fairchild to defend her farm from the heavy machinery TransCanada is using to prepare the environment for the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. The two ran out and put their hands up in front of the machinery.
Fairchild, who the Tar Sands Blockade describes as a "feisty 78-year-old great-grandmother," put her hands up in the air, along with Hannah, to say, "Stop!" While standing in the way of an excavator there to clear trees, she declared:
...Get off my land, period. And, I don't want tar sands anywhere in the United States.
I am mad. This land is my land and it's been our land since '83. Our home is on it. They're going to destroy the woods and also they could destroy the springs.
It is just devastating but it is also not good to have that tar sands anywhere in the United States. This is not just about my land. It's about all of our country.
It needs to be stopped...
The two were arrested. Fairchild was charged with "trespassing" on her own land. Hannah was arrested for "trespassing" on Fairchild's land. And the machinery continued into the night, clearing away trees and destroying the land for TransCanada's tar sands pipeline.
So Mr. President, how is that rejection of the Keystone Pipeline working out for the people of this country?
I guess the Koch Brothers do have more juice than you, which means all that talk about oligarchies wasn't just talk.
It was plain facts.