Cutting Off the Petroleum Business
Obama also declared that the age of petroleum was over, and his administration has issued a bare minimum of permits for oil exploration on federal land. But just as Obama was starting to squeeze the oil industry with a lack of permits, the whole fracking industry really took off and suddenly the United States was awash in oil and natural gas.
Fracking is the chemical process of going back to old or non-producing oil fields and finding ways to rejuvenate and extract oil that was previously inaccessible, and the U.S. has become the world expert in this technology. Suddenly the United States is among the largest producers of oil in the world!
The other project that was stymied by Obama was the Keystone XL oil pipeline designed to bring oil from Canada’s oil sands down to refineries on the Gulf Coast by pipeline, a project that promised to create thousands of good-paying jobs and add significantly to the world supply of oil.
Obama and his administration went through numerous contortions trying to prevent the project from being completed. Most were based on ginned up environmental and safety issues, as well as trespass or state access laws, but after seven years of postponing and creating alibis, Obama demonstrated that he is nothing short of a monarch and unilaterally rejected the project by presidential fiat. Now, however, it seems the battle will continue.
TransCanada, which proposed the pipeline project to connect Canada’s oil sands in Alberta with U.S. refiners on the Gulf Coast, on Wednesday filed a lawsuit in U.S. Federal Court in Houston, “asserting that the president’s decision to deny construction of Keystone XL exceeded his power under the U.S. Constitution,” according to the company.
“TransCanada’s legal actions challenge the foundation of the U.S. administration’s decision to deny a presidential border crossing permit for the project,” the company says. “In its decision, the U.S. State Department acknowledged the denial was not based on the merits of the project. Rather, it was a symbolic gesture based on speculation about the perceptions of the international community regarding the administration’s leadership on climate change and the president’s assertion of unprecedented, independent powers.”
According to the Washington Times, this actually threatens his Trans-Pacific Partnership deal as the consequences come into full view. The ability of a Canadian company to use international trade agreements to force changes in U.S. energy and environmental policy is beyond revolting to both parties:
This week’s Keystone pipeline lawsuit may deliver the death blow to a seemingly unrelated Asian trade deal, with environmentalists and labor unions saying a Canadian company shouldn’t be allowed to use international trade agreements to force changes in U.S. energy and environmental policy.
TransCanada, the company that had sought to build the Keystone XL pipeline to carry oil from Alberta into the U.S., filed a lawsuit Wednesday claiming Mr. Obama’s rejection of the plan violated the Constitution, and filed a separate notice of intent to complain under the 1990s-era North American Free Trade Agreement.
While some environmentalists said the trade complaint is a desperation move, others are taking it seriously, saying if the company is successful, it would be evidence that trade deals — particularly the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which Mr. Obama negotiated earlier this year — would allow international corporations to override the will of U.S. policymakers.“Here is exactly the attack on U.S. environmental policy that the president insisted could never happen under the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal,” said Lori Wallach, director of trade issues at Public Citizen, a watchdog.
The TPP was already on the ropes.
Just months after Republicans helped grant Mr. Obama fast-track negotiation powers to finish the TPP negotiations, GOP leaders said they were disappointed with the final deal the president won in the 12-nation talks. Democrats, meanwhile, have been overwhelmingly opposed from the start.
If the two parties join together, they could scuttle Mr. Obama’s chance to win approval of the legacy-building agreement.
Source: Washington Times
The TPP is not a trade deal at all, it is a means by which corporations become more powerful than governments. It is a death blow to any nation’s sovereignty who signs it. Obama is trying to sell our nation out to corporations.
This was exposed by Wikileaks just last year…more on that HERE.
Peewee here. Forget the Truth part they have.
Peewee here.there are always idiots out there that don^t know which end is up,kill the keystone pipeline, if not require the owners to put two billion dollars in escrow in case there is a spill and make them completely responslble for cleanup and damages.
Worth testing in court. Although I still don’t know why we need the pipeline. Before answering, look up the capacity of the existing pipelines and the change in domestic oil production
Will read later but Buffett (not Jimmy) has the exclusive shipping contract for 800B year. That is why! Fkn corrupt POS.