The Keystone XL pipeline is one of the nation’s most vexing problems because whatever happens is not likely to be good. On Tuesday, the national interest got mixed up with the U.S. Senate runoff election in Louisiana on Dec. 6, a complication that postponed the day of reckoning.
With one eye on the fate of Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu, the Senate blocked a plan that would have approved the 1,700-mile, $7.6 billion project. The 59-41 vote fell one short of the 60 needed to advance the bill under procedural rules.
In deference to her constituents who seek the project’s economic advantages, Ms. Landrieu supported the pipeline motion, but only 13 Democrats backed her position. In January, the Senate will return with more Republican senators and the bill will no doubt pass. But it is not clear whether 67 votes can be mustered to overturn a possible presidential veto.
The overall quandary will not change. Approving the plan to let Canada export oil from the Alberta tar sands to the Gulf Coast mocks every effort to curb the carbon pollution associated with climate change. But rejecting the project does not stop it — the oil would end up on tanker trains, with all their proven risks of calamity, and the dirty fuel’s use would add to climate change.
President Barack Obama’s policy has been one of coy procrastination. Between not wishing to offend environmentalists on one hand and wishing to be pro-jobs on the other, he basically decided not to decide. Last year, fed up with the foot-dragging, this newspaper urged him to approve the pipeline for all its faults.
While procrastination has inflated the symbolic significance of the pipeline for both sides, the delay has helped to clarify the issue. The threat of climate change has increased, the claims about the pipeline creating lasting jobs have diminished. As for the energy argument, the United States is now exporting much petroleum, and gasoline is becoming cheaper at the pump.
In short, the great political argument about the Keystone XL pipeline is coming to a head just when it’s harder to make a case for it.
First Published: November 21, 2014, 5:00 a.m.
