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| Jeff Bingaman (left) |
Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), who is chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee took a pass on the merits and drawbacks of the killing of the Keystone XL pipeline by President Obama yesterday. The pipeline has been studied for three years, all states involved are on board with the project, and billions of dollars in wages and economic development came along with the pipeline. Still Bingaman downplayed the implications of the kill when he said,
"I'm hopeful that once the necessary environmental studies are done, this project can be considered on the merits."
In now appears that an oil pipeline will be extended to the Pacific coast of Canada and the oil will be off-loaded to oil tankers bound for China. There, large Chinese refineries with few if any environmental restrictions. The consequences of the permit denial in the U.S. are:
1) pipeline jobs for Canadian workers instead of U.S, workers
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| Beijing Oil Refinery |
2) new petroleum tanker offload jobs in a Canadian port
3) risks of more ocean tanker oil spills
4) much more toxic discharges into the earth's atmosphere from Chinese refineries
5) job losses and layoffs in the U.S. as a result of the Keystone plan being scrapped
Pipeline supporters include several large construction trade unions.
These groups say the project would have created more than 20,000 initial jobs over the next three years. And ultimately the project would have provided more than 500,000 permanent jobs. Also lost to the U.S. was a chance for greater energy security from deals with politically friendly Canada.
American Petroleum Institute President Jack Gerard called the project the one featuring "shovel-ready jobs."
Both Congressman Ben Ray Lujan and Tom Udall have not yet released statements on the Obama decision.
Bingaman Ignores Three Year "Study" of Pipeline
NewsNM Swickard - My family homesteaded in the Three Rivers and the Lordsburg area. In the picture I am two years old and my father, as usual, got a ranch outhouse in the picture over my shoulder. He thought outhouses were photographically a hoot - From the Carlsbad Current Argus - The National Park Service is looking for New Mexicans who homesteaded land or whose ancestors did to help celebrate the 150th anniversary of the federal Homestead Act. Homestead National Monument of America in Nebraska is recruiting volunteers from the 30 states covered by the Act to carry their state's flag at events in May and June. A May 20 national commemoration event and a Homestead Day parade on June 16 are planned at the southeast Nebraska monument. The volunteer must carry the flag for a mile and a half. A different volunteer may be chosen for each event. More than 87,312 successful homestead claims were filed in New Mexico covering 25 percent of the state's land. Read more
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