EcoLiving Ideas

By Katie Carroll on Jan 20, 2012

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Big news and a decision materialized on Wednesday in Washington D.C.! After months of protests, petitions and people exercising their rights to free speech, the State Department recommended that President Obama decline the Presidential Permit for the Keystone XL pipeline. Finally, in the face of favoritism, the subtle-as-a-sledgehammer rhetoric from Stephen Harper and Big Oil, President Obama has made one strong leap into a future for clean energy, and for now ensured that the tar sands stay where the are – buried deep in the earth in Alberta, Canada. Bill McKibben, the driver behind 350.org and the White House Tar Sands Protests from late summer, likens Obama’s actions as David vs. Goliath. But when you look a little closer, this decision looks less like winning a fight with punches, and more like a technicality.

When President Obama announced that the Keystone XL pipeline application was denied, he all but forgot the words “for now.” TransCanada’s construction application should be considered temporary, for they will be allowed to re-file with a new proposed route (one that conceivably circumvents the Nebraskan Sand Hills and Ogallala aquifer). However, the most important things about Obama’s press release are the things he did not say.

The President did not say, we deny this permit because the carbon molecules in the atmosphere will skyrocket, or the risk of an oil spill in America’s heartland is too dangerous, or that most of the Texas refined oil is already guaranteed to the European, Latin American and Asian markets.

“As the State Department made clear last month, the rushed and arbitrary deadline insisted on by Congressional Republicans prevented a full assessment of the pipeline’s impact, especially the health and safety of the American people, as well as our environment…This announcement is not a judgment on the merits of the pipeline, but the arbitrary nature of a deadline that prevented the State Department from gathering the information necessary to approve the project and protect the American people." - President Obama, 1/18/12

Victory is sweet, but unfortunately short-lived. The primary reason the State Department and the President have denied the Keystone XL permit is because Congressional Republicans forced their hand. Republicans imposed a rider on the payroll tax bill that Obama signed right at the start of the New Year, which required a decision on the Keystone XL within sixty days. Sixty days was not nearly enough time for something as huge as this decision, so the answer – and excuse - was easy: not today, TransCanada.

What I’m wondering is this: if you make one right decision for the wrong reasons, is it still the right decision? Can you still make the right decisions in the future? Obama could have just as easily cited the many environmental concerns about the tar sands and the pipeline, disproved the overestimated number of jobs it would have created and presented an alternative energy plan, moving America forward into a greener twenty-first century. Instead, Obama left the door open for (dare I say encouraged) TransCanada to return with a new proposal, one that just might be meritorious enough for approval. Am I expecting too much of our president in an election year? I don’t think so. While we may have won the day, we all need to remember this is only a brief reprieve until TransCanada regroups. And this time, it won’t be as easy to win on a technicality. So let’s celebrate the early victory, everyone, because the saga of the Keystone XL is only just getting started.

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