There wasn’t much news created during Jackie Calmes and Michael D. Shear’s interview with the president. But I did notice a few tea leaves related to the XL Keystone pipeline.
NYT: A couple other quick subjects that are economic-related. Keystone pipeline — Republicans especially talk about that as a big job creator. You’ve said that you would approve it only if you could be assured it would not significantly exacerbate the problem of carbon in the atmosphere. Is there anything that Canada could do or the oil companies could do to offset that as a way of helping you to reach that decision?
MR. OBAMA: Well, first of all, Michael, Republicans have said that this would be a big jobs generator. There is no evidence that that’s true. And my hope would be that any reporter who is looking at the facts would take the time to confirm that the most realistic estimates are this might create maybe 2,000 jobs during the construction of the pipeline — which might take a year or two — and then after that we’re talking about somewhere between 50 and 100 [chuckles] jobs in a economy of 150 million working people.
NYT: Yet there are a number of unions who want you to approve this.
MR. OBAMA: Well, look, they might like to see 2,000 jobs initially. But that is a blip relative to the need.
So what we also know is, is that that oil is going to be piped down to the Gulf to be sold on the world oil markets, so it does not bring down gas prices here in the United States. In fact, it might actually cause some gas prices in the Midwest to go up where currently they can’t ship some of that oil to world markets.
Now, having said that, there is a potential benefit for us integrating further with a reliable ally to the north our energy supplies. But I meant what I said; I’m going to evaluate this based on whether or not this is going to significantly contribute to carbon in our atmosphere. And there is no doubt that Canada at the source in those tar sands could potentially be doing more to mitigate carbon release.
NYT: And if they did, could that offset the concerns about the pipeline itself?
MR. OBAMA: We haven’t seen specific ideas or plans. But all of that will go into the mix in terms of John Kerry’s decision or recommendation on this issue.
It might seem like President Obama is sending a warning to Canada that he needs to see some additional efforts on carbon capture before he’ll approve the pipeline, but don’t forget that this question was unsolicited. And his words and tone show him to be deeply skeptical that the pipeline is worthwhile. For a long time, the vibe I’ve been getting from the White House has been that the left needs to prepare itself to lose this battle over the pipeline. But the vibe the president sent out here is completely different. He may be giving false hope, but he’s given himself no cover for approving the project.
If the project is going to create a literally laughable number of permanent jobs in this country and quite possibly drive up energy prices in the Midwest, while obviously increasing substantially the carbon in the atmosphere, then there just isn’t much left to justify it. All he points to on the other side of the ledger is a “potential benefit” of coordinating with Canada.
The decision, as the president mentioned, will ostensibly be made by Secretary of State John Kerry. But it seems clear that the president doesn’t approve of the project as things currently stand.
