Alaska's Lesson For Keystone Pipeline Opponents

by JASmius



If, of course, Keystone XL pipeline opponents' opposition was a factor of anything that required them to learn anything (via Newsmax Insider):

The Obama administration has delayed a decision on construction of the 1,200-mile Keystone XL pipeline, citing environmental concerns.

But critics of the proposed pipeline should look at the example of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS), which has proven ecologically benign since it was completed 37 years ago.

"The lesson of the Trans-Alaska pipeline is that we can build pipelines in ways that protect the environment while yielding large economic benefits," according to Stephen Moore, chief economist at the Heritage Foundation, and Joel Griffith, a senior research associate at Heritage.

Of course we can.  We've been able to do so for half a century.  Pipelines are safer and more stable than tankers that have to ply the oceans and are vulnerable to piracy and terrorist attacks and accidents.  Pipelines can be made to withstand the strongest earthquakes, as the Trans-Alaska pipeline already has (a 7.9 temblor in November of 2002).  And pipelines can transport billions and billions of barrels of oil, as the Trans-Alaska has over the past half-century, all without incident, accident, or the slightest environmental impact.  Case in point: There are now four times as many Western Caribou (325,000) in the Trans-Alaska pipeline area as there were before its construction.

The Regime's passive-aggressive ban on Keystone XL has nothing to do with any legitimate "environmental concerns" and everything to do with cutting off a rich, efficient, economical source of fossil fuel energy to the American people because the Obama Regime long ago declared a fatwa against rich, efficient, economical energy sources.  It's the same reason why they must stamp out the middle class: a regimented, collectivized society cannot allow its people to have the capability to think and live independently of the central government's dictates, and cheap energy is a major enabler of the latter.

To twist a phrase, if the flesh is incapacitated, it doesn't matter how willing the spirit is - and eventually, the spirit will give up as well.

And since the power over Keystone XL's fate rests not on Capitol Hill but entirely in the hands of Barack Obama, it's safe to say Keystone XL is dead, dead, dead, and American energy independence right along with it.