ITS HARD FOR THE CONGRESSMAN TO BE GREEN
IL Sixth District Congressman Peter Roskam issued a statement blasting President Obama for denying TransCanada's application for expansion of the Keystone XL Pipeline. In so doing, Roskam scored high on the hyperbole meter, linking the the denial to calamitous events ranging from killing creation of 20,000 new jobs, preventing the marginalizing of hostile foreign powers, and even, get this, dividing the country.
It's easy to make such inflammatory charges when the Congressman leaves out the shameful politics that House Chief Deputy Majority Whip Roskam himself helped engineer that sparked the denial. The President, heeding State Department concerns regarding the environmental impact of such a potentially hazardous undertaking, was strongly on record that he would need till 2013 to make a reasoned decision. Roskam helped infuse the recently passed Payroll Tax Cut Extension Bill with a senseless provision that the President MUST make a decision on XL within 60 days. Forcing an unacceptable ultimatum on the President was sure to bring about the application denial which could instantly be turned into the aforementioned statement. As Congressman Roskam demonstrates repeatedly, that may seem like good politics, but it is terrible governance.
And those 20,000 lost jobs? The State Department states the number is likely just 2,500 to 6,000. Even more ominous, Bold Nebraska, an anti pipeline advocacy group, worries that a spill could actually cause net job losses in Nebraska's delicate agricultural sector. Maybe Congressman Roskam missed hearing about all those lost jobs from the Gulf Oil Spill.
Come on Congressman, fossil fuel development is so 19th century. Stop carrying the Koch Brothers water, I mean oil, and help turn this fossil fuel addicted country green
It's easy to make such inflammatory charges when the Congressman leaves out the shameful politics that House Chief Deputy Majority Whip Roskam himself helped engineer that sparked the denial. The President, heeding State Department concerns regarding the environmental impact of such a potentially hazardous undertaking, was strongly on record that he would need till 2013 to make a reasoned decision. Roskam helped infuse the recently passed Payroll Tax Cut Extension Bill with a senseless provision that the President MUST make a decision on XL within 60 days. Forcing an unacceptable ultimatum on the President was sure to bring about the application denial which could instantly be turned into the aforementioned statement. As Congressman Roskam demonstrates repeatedly, that may seem like good politics, but it is terrible governance.
And those 20,000 lost jobs? The State Department states the number is likely just 2,500 to 6,000. Even more ominous, Bold Nebraska, an anti pipeline advocacy group, worries that a spill could actually cause net job losses in Nebraska's delicate agricultural sector. Maybe Congressman Roskam missed hearing about all those lost jobs from the Gulf Oil Spill.
Come on Congressman, fossil fuel development is so 19th century. Stop carrying the Koch Brothers water, I mean oil, and help turn this fossil fuel addicted country green
posted by Walt Zlotow at 7:57 AM
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