http://lezgetreal.com/2012/06/keystone-pipeline-amendment-pulled/

Keystone Pipeline Amendment Pulled

Posted by: Linda Carbonell on June 22, 2012.

Rep. Lee Terry

It is always useful to read your bills and amendments before putting them on the House floor. That’s Rep. Lee Terry’s and Rep. Connie Mack’s take-away from the amendment they attached to the massive transportation bill. They didn’t review it and now they have had to remove it because the language did the exact opposite of what they intended.

Rep. Terry, a Republican from Nebraska, is a long-standing advocate of the pipeline, and has put forward four of the six bills and amendments relating to the pipeline.

Now that the unnecessary Keystone XL amendment is gone, maybe the House can get around to voting on the important part, the transportation bill that will save 1.9 million jobs immediately and possibly create another million, compared to the 6,000 temporary jobs that Terry is so hot to create.

TransCanada (the company that will build the pipeline from their oilsands operation in northern Alberta to the Texas coast refineries and then sell the refined oil on the international market), the Obama administration and a variety of geologists, hydrologists and environmentalists have been negotiating and reviewing the plans for the pipeline. The administration does not outright object to the pipeline, as the Republicans say, but wants to find the best route for it. TransCanada has no problem with delaying this until the best route is found. The only people getting hysterical over the pipeline are the Republicans who have been overinflating its impact on the American economy throughout the debate. The oil will not be American. It will not improve America’s oil supplies. It will not create 20,000 “good paying jobs.” There is even some question as to whether or not the oil would actually be refined in Texas, as the Texas refineries are operating at capacity and there are no plans to build new capacity there.

TransCanada had an alternative route for their oilsands oil, across British Columbia to the port at Vancouver. Funny thing. The First Nations have objections to the idea. There are currently several issues being investigated in Canada relating to the entire oilsands project, starting with its impact on water supplies in the region.