Big Government "This afternoon, the State Department
released a draft environmental assessment of the proposed Keystone Pipeline. The assessment concluded that blocking the pipeline would have little impact on stemming climate change nor curtailing the development of Canada's oil-sand fields. In other words, the State Department has concluded building the pipeline will have little impact on the environment.
....
"There is an old saw in media that the best stories are released Friday afternoon. Administrations release information then to try to bury the news over the weekend. The assessment is sure to enflame the hair-shirt wing of the Democrats. The left has been divided over the pipeline, with unions strongly supporting the construction against the environmental community. Today, it looks like Obama is siding with the unions."
"The report also destroys a key talking point by anti-energy groups who argue that stopping the pipeline would stop crude from Canadian oil sands from coming to market. “[A]pproval or denial of the proposed Project is unlikely to have a substantial impact on the rate of development in the oil sands, or on the amount of heavy crude oil refined in the Gulf Coast area,” it reads. It goes on to state that, “If all pipeline capacity were restricted, oil sands production could decrease by approximately 2 to 4 percent by 2030.” Alternative methods of moving oil would be used."