The word as reported by Politico.com is that the Obama administration will announce at 3 pm today that it will not allow the permit for the controversial XL pipeline.
But Republicans were unsparing in concluding that Obama had chosen to assuage his environmental base instead of creating U.S. jobs. They also said the responsibility for the decision rests with the president, not anyone else in his administration.
Read more.
This is a big, big deal. Those of us who have been highly critical of Obama are behind him on this one, says the environmental writer and activist Bill McKibben:
"Assuming that what we're hearing is true, this isn't just the right call, it's the brave call. The knock on Barack Obama from many quarters has been that he's too conciliatory. But here, in the face of a naked political threat from Big Oil to exact 'huge political consequences,' he's stood up strong."
McKibben's blog.
UPDATE: The thing is, you have to really parse the stuff Obama says, and read between the lines.
"This announcement is not a judgment on the merits of the pipeline, but the arbitrary nature of a deadline that prevented the State Department from gathering the information necessary to approve the project and protect the American people," Obama said in a statement.
What I'm getting from this is that he's going to approve the pipeline, but not until after he's re-elected. That's called "politics." He's simply refusing to play the stupid games the Republicans are trying to run. That's politics too.
Bill McKibben's celebration is premature.
No stars.
No comments:
Post a Comment