In the last few weeks, so much has been happening that I haven't commented on the decision by the Corps of Engineers to refuse a permit for the Dakota Access Pipeline to traverse a local river. There have been major protests at the site of the pipeline construction on the supposed reason that it "threatens" local water supplies and could disturb local sites of a particular Indian tribe.
The first reason, safety of the water supply, is nonsense. There are literally tens of thousands of pipelines that cross rivers in this country. None are leaking into those rivers. In fact, the plan for this pipeline is to run the pipeline under the river, something that would reduce the chance of there ever being an accidental rupture of the pipes. That is supposedly the issue on which the Corps of Engineers was reviewing the application, so there is no way the permit should have been denied.
The second reason is also bogus. The area in question is near, but not on the local reservation. On reservation land, the tribe ought to be involved. Once the issue pertains to land that is not on the reservation, then the decision about local sites should be left to the state. There is no reason why the Army Corps of Engineers should be getting involved in local social issues; it never was and ought never be within the purview of that agency.
The real reason for the decision is another triumph for environmental hysteria. Some of the true believers in the church of global warming think that anything that results in production of fossil fuels has to be stopped. The pipeline is just the latest target. They are wrong, however, if they think that this decision will reduce the use of fossil fuels or help lower carbon emissions. In fact, the opposite is true. Right now, much of the production of the prolific fields in North Dakota is moved by trains or trucks to refineries. The pipeline would take literally hundreds or thousands of trucks off the highways and trains off the tracks. Transporting oil to a refinery by pipeline results in essentially no pollution. Transporting the same oil to the same refinery by truck releases a whole batch of pollution into the air. In essence, the enviro-protesters are fighting to keep pollution higher.
The sad thing about all this is that president Obama surely understands the actual facts in this issue. Nevertheless, his administration bowed to the protesters and their far left ideology. The result is a decision which helps no one and hurts many.
It's really good that Obama has only about six weeks left. The sooner he is gone, the better.
The first reason, safety of the water supply, is nonsense. There are literally tens of thousands of pipelines that cross rivers in this country. None are leaking into those rivers. In fact, the plan for this pipeline is to run the pipeline under the river, something that would reduce the chance of there ever being an accidental rupture of the pipes. That is supposedly the issue on which the Corps of Engineers was reviewing the application, so there is no way the permit should have been denied.
The second reason is also bogus. The area in question is near, but not on the local reservation. On reservation land, the tribe ought to be involved. Once the issue pertains to land that is not on the reservation, then the decision about local sites should be left to the state. There is no reason why the Army Corps of Engineers should be getting involved in local social issues; it never was and ought never be within the purview of that agency.
The real reason for the decision is another triumph for environmental hysteria. Some of the true believers in the church of global warming think that anything that results in production of fossil fuels has to be stopped. The pipeline is just the latest target. They are wrong, however, if they think that this decision will reduce the use of fossil fuels or help lower carbon emissions. In fact, the opposite is true. Right now, much of the production of the prolific fields in North Dakota is moved by trains or trucks to refineries. The pipeline would take literally hundreds or thousands of trucks off the highways and trains off the tracks. Transporting oil to a refinery by pipeline results in essentially no pollution. Transporting the same oil to the same refinery by truck releases a whole batch of pollution into the air. In essence, the enviro-protesters are fighting to keep pollution higher.
The sad thing about all this is that president Obama surely understands the actual facts in this issue. Nevertheless, his administration bowed to the protesters and their far left ideology. The result is a decision which helps no one and hurts many.
It's really good that Obama has only about six weeks left. The sooner he is gone, the better.
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