Senate’s Approval of Keystone: A Shameful Demonstration of Misplaced Priorities
Statement of David Arkush, Managing Director, Public Citizen’s Climate Program
Note: Today, the U.S. Senate approved by 62-36 the controversial Keystone XL pipeline. The bill now must be reconciled with a U.S. House of Representatives version before going to President Barack Obama.
The Senate’s passage of Keystone pipeline legislation today is a shameful demonstration of the new Republican majority’s misplaced priorities. Rather than respond to the climate crisis by fostering a quick transition to renewables – a policy that would reduce greenhouse gas emissions, save consumers money and create jobs – the majority’s first goal in this Congress has been to deny that humans are causing the climate crisis and pass a bill for a single fossil fuel company. What’s more, it is all for show, as the president has made clear he will veto the bill, and the fossil fuel caucus does not have the votes to override a veto.
Once he vetoes this bill, the president still must make a decision on Keystone – and he should reject it. The pipeline remains bad policy. It will endanger the U.S. natural environment, contribute to climate change and raise U.S. prices by shipping oil overseas, all to line the pockets of a foreign corporation.
February 1, 2015 @ 4:18 pm
Oh my——–can this Congress be any more insane about Climate Changes that are headng this way? Possibly not. However, I would like to show them what happens when I follow their logic to a really ridiculous degree. This hare – brained idea cuts a necessary federal department, which so many of the new Congress seem to truly adore. So here’s the plan.
Cut FEMA! Yes, cut the money that FEMA gets . WHY? Well, if certain Senators and House members truly believe that Climate Change is not real——-then why waste any money on their state help to restore their state in the event of a climate disaster. If, as they believe, climate change is not caused by humans and there is no problem, then they should put their bahookies on the line and save money by telling the Federal government that they soooooo believe in austerity so strongly that they will decline participating in any need for FEMA money! Hypocrisy can be a money saver!
See—smaller government for some who love that, but those states that believe in Climate Change will of course keep their FEMA money. ; )
February 2, 2015 @ 1:36 am
They say lemmings commit mass suicide by rushing to the sea. Humans commit mass suicide by causing the sea to rush to us.
February 3, 2015 @ 6:37 pm
It’s inevitable that all empires decline and fall — the shame is that we’re taking the rest of the planet along for the ride. Our leaders aren’t content with just fiddling as the world burns, they’re throwing gasoline on the fire. These are the people who want to protect the rights of the unborn but care nothing about what world they will be born into. If they’re truly religious, shouldn’t they be more than a little worried about appearing before the creator of the world they’ve degraded? Unless, of course, the only god they trust is the one worshiped at the alter of the Federal Reserve.