Glenn Greenwald’s crusade against Obama is leading to a decline in support for Obama on the Left. In desperation, he has decided to pivot towards climate change to appease the Left. He is now telling the State Department to not approve of the Keystone pipeline unless it meets greenhouse gas emission standards.
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama will ask the State Department not to approve the construction of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline unless it can first determine that it will not lead to a net increase in greenhouse gas emissions, a senior administration official told The Huffington Post.
“Allowing the Keystone pipeline to be built requires a finding that doing so would be in our nation’s interest,” the president said in a Tuesday speech on climate change. “And our national interest will be served only if this project does not significantly exacerbate the problem of carbon pollution. The net effects of the pipeline’s impact on our climate will be absolutely critical to determining whether this project is allowed to go forward.”
The president has avoided weighing in on the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline for several years now, citing an executive order asking the State Department to make a determination on the project’s viability first. Environmentalists have called on him to spike the project entirely because of risks that it will contribute irrevocably to global warming and potentially contaminate drinking water if it leaks. Conservatives and even some labor groups have encouraged Obama to approve of the project because of its potential to create jobs.
The new Obama policy somewhat splits the difference — not killing the project outright, but ensuring that it meets a basic environmental standard.
This is an act of political desperation on the part of Obama. He thinks throwing bones to the left on the Global Warming scam will appease the Left. Instead it will cause more people to dislike him.
