Keystone Pipeline

The American economy has been built on cheap energy, beginning with the mill dams in colonial days: cheap hydro. Hydro is still the cheapest source of power, but the challenge is to maintain the existing sites with new ones out of the question.

Inexpensive coal powered the factories of the Midwest, the heartland of America.

Cheap oil, less than $.19/gallon transformed America on wheels. The steam engine and the internal combustion engine made America.

Natural gas is clean and plentiful, but it's still a fossil fuel.

High priced aviation fuel is devastating to air transportation. Costly diesel fuel is a killer for the trucking industry.

President Obama believes expensive green energy is the future, often in the form of crony capitalism.

Billions of subsidies to promote green energy in the U.S., with production of the solar panels in China.

That is his vision. That is his dream – a green America.

How ironic therefore that if the Keystone Pipeline is not built in the U.S. from Canada, then Canada will export the oil to China as we remain dependent on Mideast Oil.

Does this Presidency, this Administration have any understanding of basic economics?

We don’t know because his vision is not driven by economics, but by the liberation politics of the Reverend Wright, the radicalism of Bill Ayers, and others. Remember, he was ranked the most liberal Senator during his short Senate stay, based on his votes, when he wasn’t abstaining. His Dream Team of economists has bailed on him.

President Obama is a true believer in the green economy of tomorrow.

In an interview with the editorial board of the San Francisco Chronicle prior to his election, he made clear his desire to shut down the coal economy. Any company that deigned to build a new coal plant would pay dearly for its foolishness.

His EPA is doing the best it can to destroy coal.

The EPA also issued a misleading report last month about the environmental effects of fracking, which is on the path of restoring energy independence to the United States, America’s dream for the past 40 years.

The Administration said it could not complete the necessary on Keystone in 60 days, so it would have to deny the permit. However, it jammed Solyndra through in 60 days. But that was a green project - not one of fossil fuels.

When gas shot up to $5/gallon 4 years ago, his response was not that it was unfortunate, but that it rose too quickly. He needs high energy prices to sustain his green economy, regardless of what it does to the American economy and the American consumer.

Thus, his decision to block the Keystone Pipeline and increase our reliance on imported oil from the Mideast. Inexpensive oil, even accompanied by thousands of American jobs, including union jobs, is too high a price for him; it threatens his green vision.

The Keystone Pipeline would be 1700 miles long, connecting Alberta to Texas. 833,000 barrels a day would flow through the pipeline.

The smart approach would be to encourage all forms of energy development, and then let the market and technology pick the winners.

That’s not the President’s approach. Flexibility is not his mantra; he’s rigidly wed to the green agenda.

The Keystone Pipeline will be built in spite of President Obama. The bipartisan support is too strong in the Midwest. Even the Washington Post found the decision to be absurd. Robert Samuelson, its columnist, declared the decision to be an act of insanity.

President Obama handed a major issue to the Republicans in the November election. It will cost him votes in the Blue States