I'm sure Boehner won't be hurt too bad by this. to quote Mittens, "it wasn't much money, really".

Good.

However the administration will allow TransCanada to reapply after it develops an alternate route through the sensitive habitat of Nebraska's Sandhills.

Oh, good. So now it'll take a far less direct route and impact countless more landowners.

Once again, Boehner is playing ConnectFour, while POTUS is playing Kal-toh.

Pocket Ninja: However the administration will allow TransCanada to reapply after it develops an alternate route through the sensitive habitat of Nebraska's Sandhills.

Oh, good. So now it'll take a far less direct route and impact countless more landowners.

The problem with it wasn't that it affected land owners, but that it destroyed vast acres of environmentally sensitive areas across two countries.

Score one for the good guys.

No worries. Harper will have it all sold to China in a couple months. (new window). All Canada has to do is pipe the oil over to Prince Rupert port to the waiting Chinese tankers.

Brilliant move, Obama.

AmorousRedDragon: GaryPDX: All Canada has to do is pipe the oil over to Prince Rupert port to the waiting Chinese tankers.

So Americans WON'T benefit from all the cheap oil that was going to stay strictly in America due to this pipeline? Damn you, Obama.

Yeah, now they'll say that this is all going to go overseas. It was anyway, they just wanted to pretend that this was good for the country as a whole. It never was.

For all the friggin money this pipeline would have cost, why not just build a refinery at the source?

GaryPDX: No worries. Harper will have it all sold to China in a couple months. (new window). All Canada has to do is pipe the oil over to Prince Rupert port to the waiting Chinese tankers.

Brilliant move, Obama.

Seeing as that will prevent a 10-15 cent spike in gas prices in the North and Midwest, avert a price war with Gulf coast refineries over oil exports to South America and force a real environmental impact study to be completed, then yes, this is a brilliant move by Obama.

I'm glad to see him stand up on this. Of course it's only a rejection of the current plans. If they can come up with a way to run the pipe without it going through sensitive watershed he may revisit the decision.

Here's the thing with the pipeline: if they're going to be running oil tanker truck from Canada to Texas anyway, it's actually "greener" from an emissions standpoint to run a pipeline. Of course there's always the risk of a spill. I dunno, I'm on the fence about it.

markie_farkie: For all the friggin money this pipeline would have cost, why not just build a refinery at the source?

TransCanada's only motive here is to find a way to ship their tar-sand oil to South America, where they figure it will fetch higher prices than they currently get for it in the US interior states. Given it's relatively low quality (compared to light sweet crude), they can also sell it for a cheaper price than the Gulf producers can with their higher grade crude. So, not only can they boost profits, but undermine Gulf producers at the same time.

Pocket Ninja: Oh, good. So now it'll take a far less direct route and impact countless more landowners.

Hopefully in that case there will be more dissent due to the NIMBY landowners.

GaryPDX: No worries. Harper will have it all sold to China in a couple months. (new window). All Canada has to do is pipe the oil over to Prince Rupert port to the waiting Chinese tankers.

Brilliant move, Obama.

Where's your proof it wasn't going to China in the first place? Just because the oil was going to move through the US doesn't mean it would actually be sold here.

Just another thing that you're ignorant as sh*t about.

Grand_Moff_Joseph: TransCanada's only motive here is to find a way to ship their tar-sand oil

The sentence could have ended there. TransCanada probably cared that the construction of the new pipeline would have been cheaper and easier over flat land than over the Rockies, but apart from that, they don't really care who's buying.

cameroncrazy1984: GaryPDX: No worries. Harper will have it all sold to China in a couple months. (new window). All Canada has to do is pipe the oil over to Prince Rupert port to the waiting Chinese tankers.

Brilliant move, Obama.

Where's your proof it wasn't going to China in the first place? Just because the oil was going to move through the US doesn't mean it would actually be sold here.

Just another thing that you're ignorant as sh*t about.

None of that oil would have been sold to other countries. It's only a coincidence that the pipeline would end at the second busiest port in the US. Honest.

Inconsolable.

GaryPDX: No worries. Harper will have it all sold to China in a couple months. (new window). All Canada has to do is pipe the oil over to Prince Rupert port to the waiting Chinese tankers.

Brilliant move, Obama.

You really are gullible. I've worked in and around the Alberta Oil Sands for the last 30 years, have supported pipeline activity for the last 15, and Transcanada is a client of mine right now. So maybe let me help you out:

This is a straight up bluff to force the US government's hand, to leverage the fear of people (frightened people just like you) into put pressure on your government to acquiesce. On behalf of all Canadians, thanks for taking the bait.

There is no pipeline to Rupert from Fort Mac. There will likely eventually be one, but today there isn't. Hint: It's a substantial ways to go, across several ranges of the Canadian Rockies, and will be very expensive to build.

Pipelines get re-routed all the time. You should see the map of pipelines going to the US- the routes make no sense, until you overlay them on Caribou migration routes and wolverine habitat. This little Sand Hills diversion is a meaningful exercise environmentally, but in the grand scheme of things, will likely only delay the project about 6 months, tops.

Trust me, you'll get your dose of sweet, sweet crude soon enough. You're our #1 customer, and we want to keep you happy, eventually.

You can unbunch your scooby doo panties now, lil fella.

GaryPDX: No worries. Harper will have it all sold to China in a couple months. (new window). All Canada has to do is pipe the oil over to Prince Rupert port to the waiting Chinese tankers.

Brilliant move, Obama.

By the way: If I were in charge, you motherfarkers wouldn't get one goddamned drop until you recognized our legitimate arctic sovereignty claims. If you can't be a supportive neighbour, then fark you. Maybe the Chinese would appreciate a new friend.

You wanna make nice with Canada and have access to our resources? Be a better friend.

Most are missing the point that all that happened was kicking the can down the road until after the election Obama is trying to avoid answering the language of the bill. Obama is required from HR 3630 to state in writing that the keystone pipeline would not serve national interests and submit a report that provides a justification for determination, including consideration of economic, employment, energy security, foreign policy, trade, and environmental factors within 15 days after rejection. Obama signed the bill and par for the course decide just to ignore the Congress and the pesky thing called rules. If trying a loop hole or procedural ploy what does that say after ignoring the rules for appointments.

unyon: GaryPDX: No worries. Harper will have it all sold to China in a couple months. (new window). All Canada has to do is pipe the oil over to Prince Rupert port to the waiting Chinese tankers.

Brilliant move, Obama.

By the way: If I were in charge, you motherfarkers wouldn't get one goddamned drop until you recognized our legitimate arctic sovereignty claims. If you can't be a supportive neighbour, then fark you. Maybe the Chinese would appreciate a new friend.

You wanna make nice with Canada and have access to our resources? Be a better friend.

Don't make us come up there...

eurotrader: Most are missing the point that all that happened was kicking the can down the road until after the election Obama is trying to avoid answering the language of the bill. Obama is required from HR 3630 to state in writing that the keystone pipeline would not serve national interests and submit a report that provides a justification for determination, including consideration of economic, employment, energy security, foreign policy, trade, and environmental factors within 15 days after rejection

Sounds to me like he has two weeks to provide the written evidence. Do you have proof that he is not working on this as we speak?

eurotrader: Obama is required from HR 3630 to state in writing that the keystone pipeline would not serve national interests and submit a report that provides a justification for determination, including consideration of economic, employment, energy security, foreign policy, trade, and environmental factors within 15 days after rejection. Obama signed the bill and par for the course decide just to ignore the Congress and the pesky thing called rules.

Based on the rules, it would appear that he doesn't have to submit that report until February 2, 2012. Since it is currently January 18, 2012, I don't see how you can say that he has "ignored the Congress and the pesky thing called rules."

It's all good, we'll just sell your "domestic" oil to China. F*ck you, f*ck you very much, 'merica.

swaniefrmreddeer: It's all good, we'll just sell your "domestic" oil to China. F*ck you, f*ck you very much, 'merica.

Like you weren't going to anyway?

Damn, that beatdown was exceedingly efficient.

make me some tea: I'm glad to see him stand up on this. Of course it's only a rejection of the current plans. If they can come up with a way to run the pipe without it going through sensitive watershed he may revisit the decision.

Here's the thing with the pipeline: if they're going to be running oil tanker truck from Canada to Texas anyway, it's actually "greener" from an emissions standpoint to run a pipeline. Of course there's always the risk of a spill. I dunno, I'm on the fence about it.

A pipeline makes all the sense in the world. Transporting it any other way is crazy talk. Risk assessment and pipeline analysis and maintenance schedules have made light year leaps over the last decade. Companies now know what they have, how to monitor, and what's at risk. I know, I support all the backline systems for a company that exclusively does pipeline risk assessment modelling for guys like BP, Transcanada, and Cenovus.

The regulatory and compliance framework has been beefed up in recent years, which has forced the industry to have to pay attention to aging pipelines in a way that they never had before. Provided that the route is a sound one, this is something worth supporting. And I say that even as a filthy hippie.

unyon: GaryPDX: No worries. Harper will have it all sold to China in a couple months. (new window). All Canada has to do is pipe the oil over to Prince Rupert port to the waiting Chinese tankers.

Brilliant move, Obama.

You really are gullible. I've worked in and around the Alberta Oil Sands for the last 30 years, have supported pipeline activity for the last 15, and Transcanada is a client of mine right now. So maybe let me help you out:

This is a straight up bluff to force the US government's hand, to leverage the fear of people (frightened people just like you) into put pressure on your government to acquiesce. On behalf of all Canadians, thanks for taking the bait.

There is no pipeline to Rupert from Fort Mac. There will likely eventually be one, but today there isn't. Hint: It's a substantial ways to go, across several ranges of the Canadian Rockies, and will be very expensive to build.

Pipelines get re-routed all the time. You should see the map of pipelines going to the US- the routes make no sense, until you overlay them on Caribou migration routes and wolverine habitat. This little Sand Hills diversion is a meaningful exercise environmentally, but in the grand scheme of things, will likely only delay the project about 6 months, tops.

Trust me, you'll get your dose of sweet, sweet crude soon enough. You're our #1 customer, and we want to keep you happy, eventually.

You can unbunch your scooby doo panties now, lil fella.

cameroncrazy1984 [TotalFark]
Sounds to me like he has two weeks to provide the written evidence. Do you have proof that he is not working on this as we speak?

If you believe Obama will out right reject it you are more delusional than I thought. Fine Obama could provide a report and the flying monkeys could be putting landing lights on my a** to be able to land after they fly out. Obama is a politician that only cares about reelection and the money to get there. The unions have no choice but to give him money the eco wackos would just pout and not put boots on the ground or money in Obama's pocket.

unyon: The regulatory and compliance framework has been beefed up in recent years, which has forced the industry to have to pay attention to aging pipelines in a way that they never had before. Provided that the route is a sound one, this is something worth supporting. And I say that even as a filthy hippie.

None of which addresses why we should even allow this to be built. There's little to no economic benefit for us. All it will do is ship oil across our borders to sell outside the US. It's not built to sell oil to us.

Way to go Obama! You've successfully postponed an issue that would have put you at odds with your base in an election year! What courage!

eurotrader: cameroncrazy1984 [TotalFark]
Sounds to me like he has two weeks to provide the written evidence. Do you have proof that he is not working on this as we speak?

If you believe Obama will out right reject it you are more delusional than I thought. Fine Obama could provide a report and the flying monkeys could be putting landing lights on my a** to be able to land after they fly out. Obama is a politician that only cares about reelection and the money to get there. The unions have no choice but to give him money the eco wackos would just pout and not put boots on the ground or money in Obama's pocket.

So no, you have no evidence that he is NOT working on the report that he needs to complete.

Thank you very much for your, uh, input. The rest of your post is complete gibberish.

unyon: make me some tea: I'm glad to see him stand up on this. Of course it's only a rejection of the current plans. If they can come up with a way to run the pipe without it going through sensitive watershed he may revisit the decision.

Here's the thing with the pipeline: if they're going to be running oil tanker truck from Canada to Texas anyway, it's actually "greener" from an emissions standpoint to run a pipeline. Of course there's always the risk of a spill. I dunno, I'm on the fence about it.

A pipeline makes all the sense in the world. Transporting it any other way is crazy talk. Risk assessment and pipeline analysis and maintenance schedules have made light year leaps over the last decade. Companies now know what they have, how to monitor, and what's at risk. I know, I support all the backline systems for a company that exclusively does pipeline risk assessment modelling for guys like BP, Transcanada, and Cenovus.

The regulatory and compliance framework has been beefed up in recent years, which has forced the industry to have to pay attention to aging pipelines in a way that they never had before. Provided that the route is a sound one, this is something worth supporting. And I say that even as a filthy hippie.

That's all well and good, but what about 20 years hence when they cut back on maintenance to save money?

I see both sides of it, but I'm leaning slightly toward building it as long as there are guarantees that it will be responsibly done.

make me some tea: I see both sides of it, but I'm leaning slightly toward building it as long as there are guarantees that it will be responsibly done.

And as BP showed us with the Deepwater Horizon platform, oil companies are always responsible and fill out safety reports with due diligence and care.

GaryPDX: No worries. Harper will have it all sold to China in a couple months. (new window). All Canada has to do is pipe the oil over to Prince Rupert port to the waiting Chinese tankers.

Brilliant move, Obama.

Stupid Obama. Now Canada will have to risk its own environment to make $billions instead of risking America's.

As a Canadian, I would like to thank GaryPDX for his concern for the Canadian environment and not giving a shiat about his own. God bless.

Contrabulous Flabtraption: Way to go Obama! You've successfully postponed an issue that would have put you at odds with your base in an election year! What courage!

One way looking at it.

Another is that the Conservative has become so obstinate toward's Obama's administration, there is absolutely no motivation to do anything to appease them anymore. He has no alternative but to appeal to his base and energize them for November. I'll work too.

Wendy's Chili: GaryPDX: No worries. Harper will have it all sold to China in a couple months. (new window). All Canada has to do is pipe the oil over to Prince Rupert port to the waiting Chinese tankers.

Brilliant move, Obama.

[cdn.head-fi.org image 640x359]

F*cking commodities, how do they work?/big>b>

C'mon, give mercantilism a chance.

eurotrader:

You know that this isn't the telegraph, so you don't have to pay extra for punctuation marks, right? .

Angry Drunk Bureaucrat: I thought we were actually throwing our weight behind you to keep the Russians out?

That would make sense, wouldn't it? The first step would be to, you know, acknowledge that the arctic archipelago actually belongs to Canada. But you guys are hedging your bets, so that you might have direct access to the resources as they become available. Meanwhile, the Russians are pushing back on our sovereignty as well.

We'll sort out our issues with the Danes, but the Russians detect weakness in your position, and hence ours.

MaudlinMutantMollusk: unyon: GaryPDX: No worries. Harper will have it all sold to China in a couple months. (new window). All Canada has to do is pipe the oil over to Prince Rupert port to the waiting Chinese tankers.

Brilliant move, Obama.

By the way: If I were in charge, you motherfarkers wouldn't get one goddamned drop until you recognized our legitimate arctic sovereignty claims. If you can't be a supportive neighbour, then fark you. Maybe the Chinese would appreciate a new friend.

You wanna make nice with Canada and have access to our resources? Be a better friend.

Don't make us come up there...

It's -30C where I am right now. Good luck firing up that diesel Abrams. Even we don't go outside in this. Canada has built-in defenses.

mrshowrules: Contrabulous Flabtraption: Way to go Obama! You've successfully postponed an issue that would have put you at odds with your base in an election year! What courage!

One way looking at it.

Another is that the Conservative has become so obstinate toward's Obama's administration, there is absolutely no motivation to do anything to appease them anymore. He has no alternative but to appeal to his base and energize them for November. I'll work too.

...Plus it makes the GOP look even more like whiny petulant children than they already do.

AmorousRedDragon: unyon: By the way: If I were in charge, you motherfarkers wouldn't get one goddamned drop until you recognized our legitimate arctic sovereignty claims. If you can't be a supportive neighbour, then fark you. Maybe the Chinese would appreciate a new friend.

You wanna make nice with Canada and have access to our resources? Be a better friend.

You know what happens to Canada if we get into a fight with China, right? Ever play Fallout?

No matter who you get in a shiatshow with, we're farked. Hell, your economy goes down the drain, we've got a ringside seat on the edge of the bowl. You're 80% of our trade. Frankly, diversifying our client base for energy (and everything else) makes a lot of goddamned sense from a Canadian perspective.

BTW- Canada has not a single nuclear warhead on its soil (any longer), but I live within 400km of a whole host of Montana missile installations. We'd be the first innocent bystander to take a bullet if shiat got real. Fortunately, you guys have a taste for proxy wars, so it's usually yellow or brown kids that get to play soccer with unexploded cluster bomblets.

Anybody know if there's a refinery in Port Arthur that can refine this sludge?

Good.