And, if so why?
By way of John Aravosis, we come across this interesting revelation about who would benefit from the approval of the Keystone-XL pipeline, which is widely opposed–because we need pipelines that have a habit of rupturing travelling over the Ogallala Aquifer (boldface mine):
What’s been left out of the ferocious debate over the pipeline, however, is the prospect that if president Obama allows a permit for the Keystone XL to be granted, he would be handing a big victory and great financial opportunity to Charles and David Koch, his bitterest political enemies and among the most powerful opponents of his clean economy agenda.
The two brothers together own virtually all of Koch Industries Inc. — a giant oil conglomerate headquartered in Wichita, Kan., with annual revenues estimated to be $100 billion.
A SolveClimate News analysis, based on publicly available records, shows that Koch Industries is already responsible for close to 25 percent of the oil sands crude that is imported into the United States, and is well-positioned to benefit from increasing Canadian oil imports.
A Koch Industries operation in Calgary, Alberta, called Flint Hills Resources Canada LP, supplies about 250,000 barrels of tar sands oil a day to a heavy oil refinery in Minnesota, also owned by the Koch brothers.
Flint Hills Resources Canada also operates a crude oil terminal in Hardisty, Alberta, the starting point of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline.
The company’s website says it is “among Canada’s largest crude oil purchasers, shippers and exporters. Koch Industries also owns Koch Exploration Canada, L.P., an oil sands-focused exploration company also based in Calgary that acquires, develops and trades petroleum properties.
The article suggests that the administration is unaware of how the Koch brothers, who have funded political opposition to, well, everything that’s halfway decent. I find it hard to believe that a State Department review would be unaware of how Koch Industries would profit.
A couple of years ago, lots of people made a big deal about how Obama, coming from Chicago, was a hard-nosed operator (crazy, I know). Well, either his people are incredibly ignorant, or this crew are not the hard-asses they believed themselves to be. The Kochs have been screwing you from day one–now you fuck these guys over. It’s not like Republicans or the Kochs are suddenly going to support you. Kick them while you have the chance.
How can one support someone who won’t even protect himself?
mikethemadbiologist