last fall the Congress tried to force Obma to make a decision on the Keystone pipeline before the final route had been decided upon. This was a calculated partisan political maneuver.
The problem is that in Nebraksa, the pipelines fianl route has yet to be decided. Nobody in their right mind would commit to a billion dollar plus business venture with a legislature of state not on board. Why? becuase th land the pipleine will be run on is worth alot of money to somebody. Whether it is purchased outright or leased long term? Somebody is going to cash in some chips. So, by setting a deadline to pass the keystone before the actual route is planned the GOP forced Obama to reject it. Not only is it a matter of business sense? It is matter of law, the aproval could not be processed without the final route in place. Now Canada is courting China to buy that oil. The GOP KNEW this had to happen. If the deadline had not been put n place/ The deal would still be PENDING aproval and th eCanadians would be stuck with waiting for Nebraska to decide the final route. I dunno if Obama would have aproved it, if he didn't? then there would be political consequences. But the way this has gone down? The GOP is just as much to blame as the Obama administration is.
Posted by CashCowMoo on :
I agree on that. The pipeline should go through, but more discussion is needed as it is a federal issue. The unions were even upset at Obama over this, but in the end, the love from the big unions to Obama will not be cut over this, and the administration knows this so thats why they didnt have a problem saying no.
Posted by glassman on :
cash, what part of Nebraska doesn't have teh route defined do yo not understand?
would you buy a peice of property with no access rights to it? cuz if you did you would be bending over asking for it. whoever holds the lands can charge whatever they want if the final routes are not agreed upon... the GOP knows this too and just did this to try to create a political situation...
emminent domain will be used to build this pipeline you know that too right?
Posted by CashCowMoo on :
Yes glass, I know emminent domain will be used. Its used ALL The time, did you know that? Ive seen it happen numerous times in my neck of the woods. I dont ever see Democrats taking strong stances on private property rights either. Emminent domain is a very very old law that was set up mostly for the Army back in the day.
Posted by glassman on :
so, th eway this works is some Nebraska insiders get the route on their land and have the Governor cut them a sweet deal on otherwise worhtless land-
the Governor of Ne is GOP and he is the one who changed the proposed route and then told everybody to "trust me"....
by law, the State Dept could not sign off until the route is finalised. the Nebraskan Governor has not finalisedt eh rights of way, he is the hold up, he is the one who will exersize emminent domain one way or another, but by law Obama was forced to sign yes or no. that's how this deal got effed up. Obama would have violated common business sense and the law by signing it before teh emminent domain rights have all been secured.