Report from the bloggers' conference call with Sen. Barrasso on building the Keystone XL pipeline and jobs

Barrasso

There was news today other than Governor Rod Blagojevich getting his well-deserved 14 year prison sentence. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper visited the White House, and almost certainly part of his private conversation with President "We Can't Wait" Obama was the stalled Keystone XL pipeline.

Construction of the pipeline, which would transport petroleum from oil sands in Alberta, means 20,000 new American jobs. A few months ago, the president pleaded to Congress to "pass this bill." That legislation was his American Jobs Act. But Obama, kowtowing to his Hollywood environmentalist donors, decided to wait; he punted the decision on building the pipeline until after the presidential election.

Wyoming-Nebraska state line

This morning Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) held a bloggers' conference call about the pipeline. Wyoming's junior senator serves on the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and the Committee on Environment and Public Works.

In response to Obama's "waiting," three senators, Republicans Dick Lugar of Indiana, John Hoeven of North Dakota, and David Vitter of Louisiana, have introduced the Domestic Jobs, Domestic Energy, and Deficit Reduction Act of 2011, which among other things, would compel the State Department to grant a permit for the pipeline within 60 days.

Barrasso derided what he termed "presidential politics" in regards to Obama's delay. But what of those 20,000 jobs, most of them union and high paying? The senator drew reference from a recent Economist article, which said of the president and his indecision, "He appears to have calculated that unions would back him regardless, and that the business lobby was probably lost to him, whereas environmentalists would respond to appeasement." Well, in my opinion, that's a hell of a way not to run the nation.

What about the current high jobless rate? "The unemployment numbers would be improved significantly," Barrasso said. But it's not just 20,000 jobs, the senator explained. "We're talking about over 100,000 jobs generating in ancillary areas."

The national unemployment rate is 8.6 percent. "It sounds like the president willing to say 'the heck with all of that' just so he will not be offending the environmentalists--who have basically been critical of him--and said they are not going support him if he doesn't oppose the pipeline," Barrasso added.

Nebraska Sandhills

As I've stated before, Canada will be selling this oil to someone. Should it be us or China?

One of the enviromentalists' criticisms of Keystone XL, a spurious one I believe, is that the original route of the pipeline passed through the Nebraska Sandhills and the area of the Ogallala Aquifer; the enviros claim that the pipeline could harm both. But a new route bypasses them. I asked Barrasso if the environmentalists would object to the new passageway. "It's hard to know what they'll object to next," he replied. In regards to Nebraska, Sen. Mike Johanns, a former governor of the Cornhusker State, is a co-sponsor of the Domestic Jobs, Domestic Energy, and Deficit Reduction Act.

Do you remember President Obama's "shovel ready" talk of 2009--and of course it turned out that his $862 billion stimulus wasn't shovel ready.

As for the Keystone XL pipeline, "It's the largest shovel ready project that exits today," Barrasso told us.

We can't wait.

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