Six advocacy groups have asked the State Department to prepare a new environmental review of the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline, saying that evidence has emerged showing it will hurt the environment. The demand, contained in a 48-page letter, comes as President Obama has pledged to block the project, which would carry heavy crude from Canada to the Gulf Coast, if it would "significantly exacerbate the climate problem."
How convenient. Now he can kill it "for the children".
The letter sent Monday says that several new analyses show that the project will speed heavy crude extraction in Canada's oil sands region. The State Department is currently responding to more than 1.2 million comments on a draft environmental assessment issued in March, which suggested that denying a permit to the pipeline firm TransÂCanada would have little overall climate impact because the oil would be extracted and shipped out anyway.
Duh!
"Limitations on pipeline transport would force more crude oil to be transported via other modes of transportation, such as rail which would probably (but not certainly) be more expensive," the assessment said.
I like trains as much as the next guy, but pipelines do not whack stoopid drivers at grade crossings.
The advocacy groups said that the Marxist EPA has suggested that the State Department played down the amount of greenhouse gas emissions linked to the project's construction. The groups called on State Department officials to take into account the higher "social cost of carbon" the Marxist administration is now using, which is intended to reflect the negative climate impact of activities that release carbon into the atmosphere.
Like breathing. |