Keystone XL Pipeline Sinks Deep on Horizon

I find it ironic that yesterday’s rejection by the U.S. Senate of the proposal to expedite the Keystone Xtra Long pipeline comes on the heels of BP’s $7.8 billion Deepwater Horizon lawsuit settlement announcement four days ago.

It is especially ironic because the proponents for the rush to build the 1,700-mile-long pipeline—without even having a finalized route plan or having made a thorough investigation into the potential environmental effects of a leak from a pipeline transporting a particularly dirty form of crude oil—appear to have amnesia regarding the disastrous effects of the 2010 Deep Horizon catastrophe that took 11 lives, did untold environmental damage and disrupted the livelihoods of people from five Republican coastal states from Texas to Florida.

Of course, the politicians who are bottom-feeding for anything they can find for political gain have loudly proclaimed the transcontinental pipeline rejection as “out of touch,” “lobbying for sending North American energy to China and lobbying against American jobs,” and “unbelievable.”

Maybe they are looking to unseat the biggest oil disaster in U.S. history with an even bigger one. Here’s a question: Who’s going to pay to clean up the leaks, and deal with the resulting explosions? Other than U.S. taxpayers? If Halliburton is involved, extra caution is called for. Halliburton was just cleared of liability in the Deep Horizon disaster.

To all of those bemoaning the loss of potential jobs they say that the pipeline would create, how about the potential jobs that wind and solar installations would create, especially if Congress votes to extend the renewable energy production tax credit (PTC)? (Congress, pass the PTC!)

I can’t remember the last time I heard about a solar energy spill, geothermal explosion, or a wind energy toxic leak disaster.