Tens of thousands of American jobs and oil independence for the U.S. That’s what the proponents of building the Keystone XL Pipeline from Canada to the gulf promise in exchange for the inevitable oil spills polluting waterways and aquifers to say nothing about accelerating climate change and sea level rise due to burning the exceptionally carbon-laden heavy crude.
Votes last week in the U.S. Senate made it very clear that neither of these promises is true.
As Dave Johnson lays out in his blogpost, the Senators supporting the pipeline voted against an amendment to Keystone legislation that would have required American made “steel and other supplies” be used in the pipeline. All those Senators who fanned out in their districts recently bragging about locally made products to be bought for the pipeline construction refused to put their vote where their mouths were. If China, Korea or any other country can make the steel or products cheaper, that’s where the Canadian oil company will spend their construction money.
These same Keystone Senators also refused to back up their insistence that the oil from the pipeline will make our nation less dependent on foreign oil. To do that would require the oil produced to be sold here in America. But the Keystone Senators also voted against an amendment to do that.
And to make sure that the public doesn’t find out if our elected leaders might be supporting the pipeline because of oily campaign contributions, the Keystone Senators also voted “NOT to require campaign finance disclosures for politicians benefiting from tar sands development.” Dave Johnson lists what else the Keystone Senators voted for:
- NOT to require tar sands companies contribute to a government fund for oil spill cleanups like the one now underway in Montana after a 50,000-gallon spill,
- NOT to ensure private property cannot be seized through condemnation or eminent domain for the private gain of a foreign-owned business entity,
- NOT to tax this oil as petroleum is usually taxed,
- NOT to impose an 8-cent-per-barrel tax.
The “Keystone Cops” silent films of yore were hilarious for their portrayal of incompetent policemen. The real-life Keystone Senators are neither funny nor incompetent. They have been steadfast in their desire to sellout our environment for empty promises, campaign contributions and partisan victories.