Deep Tar

I have always felt a bit queasy about the proposed Keystone Pipeline. I fail to see the wisdom of routing a gigantic pipeline through the Ogallala aquifer so that North American crude could be more easily transported to global markets.

People like to trumpet the need for national energy independence but research has shown that Keystone production will hardly cause a blip in our gasoline and oil costs. Of course, the unions love it as a make work project and the drillers are on board because there is a lot of money to be made. Seems like the environmental risk is a bit high for me.

In any case, the State Department has been a real cheerleader for the project since inception. The U.S. ambassador in Canada was practically on their payroll last year with  unfettered arm twisting. Read Blue Heron Blast - Keystone Kapers 12/17/11 for my early take on the pipeline.

Today I read an interesting article at The Hill, Liberals blast Susan Rice's 'outrageous' investments in Canadian pipeline firm by Julian Pecquet. Apparently the embattled United States Ambassador to the United Nations and the apparent heir for the soon to be vacant job at State has a sizable holding in TransCanada Corp, somewhere between 300k and 600k. The State Department, in a strange twist, not the EPA, is the final arbiter of this project and required to sign off on it.

OnEarth.org say the Rice family owns more than $1 million in stock in four of Canada's top oil-producing companies.

No wonder they are pushing so hard for this project. Give it a read.

Green groups are pressing the White House to require that any nominee for the position divest themselves of any stock in TransCanada or other oil sands companies.
“It's indefensible that Rice has millions of dollars invested in oil companies and banks that will make huge profits if the State Department gives approval to the XL pipeline,” reads the petition from RootsAction.org, which claims almost 200,000 members.
“As a high-ranking administration official — and a potential replacement for Hillary Clinton early next year to run the State Department — Susan Rice shouldn't have any stake in corporations that are doing all they can to plunder tar sands in Canada and send carbon emissions soaring even faster.”

Senate Republicans have had questions about Susan Rice's honesty and demeanor and now there is also uncertainty from the left. One would hope that the merits of the Keystone XL project would be judged honestly on its impact and not be approved merely as a politically expedient out for the state department or even worse, to enrich its public servants.