Obama says he will veto the Keystone Pipeline if it comes to his desk. Scary stuff, pipelines. The first was built in 1862 and it covered 9 miles. Since then we have built 2.5 million miles of pipelines in the US. Over two-thirds of US energy is transmitted by pipe. Thank God there were no Obama’s between 1862 and 2008. The Obama thinking was present in the late 60’s and early 70’s. The Prudhoe Bay oil discovery occurred in 1968 but the Obama’s of the country blocked construction of a pipeline until the oil crisis of 1973 caused them to run into their caves. Gasoline lines, closed factories, high prices, and a tanking economy brought common sense to the country. Construction started on the Trans-Alaskan Pipeline and the first barrel of oil was shipped in 1977. Anyone with a lick of common sense knows what would have happened to this country if we hadn’t had the benefit of that Alaskan crude oil. Obama would have watched it happen as we kept getting cut off by the Middle East. Pipelines are scary things, all 2.5 million miles of them. Better to ship by rail, right? Or, not ship. Or, let the Canadians peddle that crude oil to China.
There is no clearer example of a government that is determined to block progress in this country than this. Jobs, secure Canadian crude oil coming to Texas refineries that can process the heavy crude. Combine that with our domestic oil production that is being done, despite Obama, and we are putting the hurt on the Saudi’s. They don’t like it and are striking back. It costs $15 a barrel to produce a barrel of crude in Saudi Arabia. It costs $30-40 a barrel in Canada or North Dakota. The Saudi’s are cutting prices to stop production in both places. But, the Russians are being hurt in the process. Will Putin do something to defend the Russian economy and save his country? Who knows, but the Saudi’s better watch their backs.
So, every American will get a $750 tax break with lower energy prices this year. What do the politicians want to do? Tax gasoline to get some money to waste and take away that dividend. Never fails. Our government has been on the wrong side of every energy decision in the past 50 years. Why should it change now?
