By Douglas Holtz-Eakin
The young drop coverage to avoid higher premiums
Canadian Ambassador Gary Doer is traveling the United States to promote the Keystone XL project as U.S. environmentalists threaten President Obama with civil unrest if he approves the proposed oil pipeline from Alberta to Texas.
House Republicans took the first step Tuesday toward forcing approval of Keystone XL pipeline, with a subcommittee passing a proposal that aims to green-light the massive project without President Obama's approval.
Canada is counting on its oil sands for sustained economic growth for the next few decades, but first it needs a reliable customer — preferably the United States.
Earlier this year, President Obama indefinitely postponed construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline. This project would have transported synthetic crude oil and diluted bitumen from the Athabasca oil sands in Alberta to numerous U.S. states.
As Democrats increasingly worry that rising gas prices could hurt President Obama's re-election effort, the White House on Tuesday lashed out at House Speaker John A. Boehner for renewing his call to build the Keystone oil pipeline.
President Obama recently decided to reject TransCanada Corp.'s proposal to build the Keystone XL oil pipeline. While it may have warmed the cockles of the hearts of his Hollywood buddies, environmentalists and various financial supporters, it could cause a devastating political and economic rift with the Canadian government.
President Obama is sticking by his policy of declaring the producers of trendy, impractical energy sources "winners," leaving taxpayers to be the losers. Take the case of the Keystone XL pipeline, which the administration is effectively shutting down in the wake of the scandal surrounding solar-panel maker Solyndra. Stubbornly clinging to environmental fashion over a practical boost to America's energy supply will further cloud America's economic horizon.
The State Department has ordered the developer of a pipeline that would carry oil from western Canada to Texas to reroute it from environmentally sensitive areas of Nebraska, possibly delaying a final U.S. decision until after the 2012 election.
The State Department is considering a plan that would reroute the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada away from environmentally sensitive areas of Nebraska, an action that could delay a final decision on the project until after the 2012 election.
More than a dozen congressional Democrats have asked the White House to wait until the State Department's Inspector General's Office finishes its environmental-impact review of the Keystone XL pipeline before making a final decision on the project, which would carry oil from Canada to Texas.
Canada, not the Middle East, is the No. 1 supplier of oil to the United States, a symbiotic relationship that has existed for decades. What's more, the Canadian province of Alberta is home to the world's third-largest petroleum reserves. Viewing America as the most logical market for its expanding production, the government of Alberta and the TransCanada Corp. are proposing a pipeline called Keystone XL to bring crude oil from Alberta to refineries along the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast.
One of two companies planning to build major natural gas pipelines in Alaska has dropped its bid, saying Tuesday that it didn't get the agreements necessary to justify continuing.
