Rushing To a Full Stop: Obama Gets It Right When He Talks About the Keystone Pipeline

Rejecting the Keystone XL pipeline this afternoon, President Obama blamed a short-circuited process that didn't allow the State Department to gather all the information it would have needed to consider before approving the permit.

In a statement, Obama said that "the rushed and arbitrary deadline insisted on by Congressional Republicans prevented a full assessment of the pipeline’s impact, especially the health and safety of the American people, as well as our environment." Last November, he explained it this way:

"Because this permit decision could affect the health and safety of the American people as well as the environment, and because a number of concerns have been raised through a public process, we should take the time to ensure that all questions are properly addressed and all the potential impacts are properly understood. The final decision should be guided by an open, transparent process that is informed by the best available science and the voices of the American people."

Obama is exactly right on those points. At their core, agencies basically have one mission: to protect the well-being of the public. The regulatory process is supposed to be about collecting and evaluating public input and the best available evidence, then making the decisions which best achieve that core goal.

As we wrote on Jan. 10, congressional Republicans made this virtually impossible by slipping a provision into the payroll tax bill that demanded a final ruling on the pipeline permit within 60 days. This kind of obstructionism is just one in a string of examples of how political meddling in the regulatory process makes it harder for agencies to protect the American public.

(Jessica Randall 01/18/12)

Comments

by Clinique Bonus Time (not verified) on 02/21/12

Obama's comments - must think on

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by BrandStar Entertainment (not verified) on 02/20/12

Interesting

This is really interesting. Very informative. Obama is exactly right on those points. At their core, agencies basically have one mission: to protect the well-being of the public.

by Kyle Thomas Glasser (not verified) on 02/20/12

Very interesting.

This is really interesting. Very informative. Obama is exactly right on those points. At their core, agencies basically have one mission: to protect the well-being of the public.

by Jack Bosch (not verified) on 01/23/12

Who really is obstructing?

The idea that one more pipeline, in addition to the THOUSANDS that we currently have would somehow damage the environment is ludicrous. If that argument had any substantive merit - we would not have any pipelines to begin with. Think about it. It is not about helping the environment, it is about creating additional fuel crisis here in the United States (maybe to help sell more government motors electric cars?) which will only result in higher prices for all of us. This oil will STILL be used - only now it will be used to fuel China's economy instead of ours. The Gulf oil spill caused an uproar (seems it wasn't that bad in retrospect) and a moratorium was placed on all US companies. If drilling in the Gulf was really a concern, Why did President Obama grant permits for Brazil and other foreign countries to come in our waters and drill for oil? The argument does not hold up and is specious at best.