In a little noticed article on the CNN website last Thursday, Van Jones announced that the real scandal of the Obama administration is the impending decision to approve the Keystone XL pipeline.
Do you remember Jones? CNN described him as president Obama's "Green Jobs Advisor" in 2009. Not surprisingly, CNN does not mention that Jones was dumped after video of him was disclosed by Glenn Beck, of all people, in which Jones said that he was a Communist. The rest of the Jones' video was sufficiently revealing that he had to go. Jones, of course, denied everything even though he was there on video saying it.
Van Jones is, therefore, not a stranger to ignoring the facts. That is what he does in this latest article about the Keystone Pipeline.
Here is a good example: Jones announces that the pipeline will produce on 35 jobs. That's right, an enormous 2500 mile long pipeline is to be built along with pumping stations, depots and port terminals at a cost of billions of dollars, but it will produce on 35 jobs according to Jones. Now in fairness, Jones does say 35 "permanent" jobs. The tens or hundreds of thousands of jobs that come from the construction work would only last for the next five years or so. Those unemployed construction workers across the Midwest who get five years of employment are of no concern, of course, because the construction work would eventually end, or so says Jones. Even the 35 permanent jobs seems ridiculous. There will be half a million barrels of oil per day that will come to the refineries near Houston, get refined and the end products either sold in America or exported abroad. That will produce a great deal more than 35 jobs. Knowing Jones, one must assume that when he says "permanent" jobs, he is assuming that in a century or so the oil will run out and the jobs will disappear.
Jones also plays into environmental hysteria when he talks about leaks from the pipeline. Think about it. When is the last time that you heard of a leaking oil pipeline? These pipelines span the country in many locations, but when did you last hear of one that leaked. Jones talks about the addition of another pipeline as if it were something unusual. It is not. Keystone would just be another pipeline added to the thousands already in place.
It is unfortunate that the environmentalist crazies decided to focus on Keystone. There is no reason for the focus. This is just a big project that would help the economy and help America and lower our reliance on oil that comes from our enemies.
Here is one last point to consider about Keystone: Forty years ago, there was a similar controversy in connection with the building of another pipeline. The Trans - Alaskan pipeline was to run from the North Slope of Alaska to the ports in the south of that state. It was a pipeline that would be almost as long as Keystone, and it was to traverse areas that experience terrible winters with extraordinary cold. All those years ago, the environmentalist focus was on the harm that the pipeline would "inevitably" do to the caribou populations. The pipeline was built. In forty years, it has never ruptured; there have been no real leaks. And the caribou? Their populations have risen dramatically, all because of the pipeline. In the coldest winter, the caribou actually come close to the pipeline because it radiates heat from the oil being moved. The pipeline gets these creatures through the worst cold snaps.
It is time for president Obama to finally approve Keystone.
Do you remember Jones? CNN described him as president Obama's "Green Jobs Advisor" in 2009. Not surprisingly, CNN does not mention that Jones was dumped after video of him was disclosed by Glenn Beck, of all people, in which Jones said that he was a Communist. The rest of the Jones' video was sufficiently revealing that he had to go. Jones, of course, denied everything even though he was there on video saying it.
Van Jones is, therefore, not a stranger to ignoring the facts. That is what he does in this latest article about the Keystone Pipeline.
Here is a good example: Jones announces that the pipeline will produce on 35 jobs. That's right, an enormous 2500 mile long pipeline is to be built along with pumping stations, depots and port terminals at a cost of billions of dollars, but it will produce on 35 jobs according to Jones. Now in fairness, Jones does say 35 "permanent" jobs. The tens or hundreds of thousands of jobs that come from the construction work would only last for the next five years or so. Those unemployed construction workers across the Midwest who get five years of employment are of no concern, of course, because the construction work would eventually end, or so says Jones. Even the 35 permanent jobs seems ridiculous. There will be half a million barrels of oil per day that will come to the refineries near Houston, get refined and the end products either sold in America or exported abroad. That will produce a great deal more than 35 jobs. Knowing Jones, one must assume that when he says "permanent" jobs, he is assuming that in a century or so the oil will run out and the jobs will disappear.
Jones also plays into environmental hysteria when he talks about leaks from the pipeline. Think about it. When is the last time that you heard of a leaking oil pipeline? These pipelines span the country in many locations, but when did you last hear of one that leaked. Jones talks about the addition of another pipeline as if it were something unusual. It is not. Keystone would just be another pipeline added to the thousands already in place.
It is unfortunate that the environmentalist crazies decided to focus on Keystone. There is no reason for the focus. This is just a big project that would help the economy and help America and lower our reliance on oil that comes from our enemies.
Here is one last point to consider about Keystone: Forty years ago, there was a similar controversy in connection with the building of another pipeline. The Trans - Alaskan pipeline was to run from the North Slope of Alaska to the ports in the south of that state. It was a pipeline that would be almost as long as Keystone, and it was to traverse areas that experience terrible winters with extraordinary cold. All those years ago, the environmentalist focus was on the harm that the pipeline would "inevitably" do to the caribou populations. The pipeline was built. In forty years, it has never ruptured; there have been no real leaks. And the caribou? Their populations have risen dramatically, all because of the pipeline. In the coldest winter, the caribou actually come close to the pipeline because it radiates heat from the oil being moved. The pipeline gets these creatures through the worst cold snaps.
It is time for president Obama to finally approve Keystone.
2 comments:
Just a little expansion on construction jobs---there are a little over 4.3 million people employed in production, non-supervisory jobs in construction. Since every construction project, by definition, is eventually completed, Van Jones would apparently consider all these jobs as non-permanent. What a hack!
Obama no longer needs the environmentalist votes. I am sure He will approve the pipeline NOW, to placate his UNION BUDDIES who have been pissed off about it!
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