There’s lots of cheerleading going on from the environmental sidelines over this:
There will be a “supplemental” environmental impact statement — presumably one that isn’t rigged. It “could be completed as early as the first quarter of 2013.”
A SEIS completed in 2013. Hmm, what about that date might be important? Oh, I know – it’s the quarter after the 2012 general election. After Obama wins because environmentalists and others vote for him, convinced that he’s playing 11th-dimensional chess after all of his stunning successes in his first term. Or after he loses because the Teabaggers remain more motivated than the trod-upon Democratic base.
Either way, I fully expect the Keystone XL project to more forward starting in 2013. Bill McKibben can bluff all he wants: “The president should know that If this pipeline proposal somehow reemerges from the review process we will use every tool at our disposal to keep it from ever being built”. What leverage will McKibben or any other environmentalist have on Obama or his Republican Teabagger replacement in 2013?
A delay is not a victory, Bill & Joe. But keep cheering. I just know that will make all the difference in 2013 since climate change is one of Obama’s highest priorities.
