No on the pipeline but yes on negotiating with Iran?

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As promised, the new Republican-controlled Congress sent the White House legislation that would have approved the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. As expected, President Obama began what many are calling the “veto era” of his presidency.

The president has stated over and over that he would veto any legislation that attempted to get the oil pipeline started. This was the third veto of his presidency, and it was by far the most significant.

For the next two years, in a desperate attempt to protect his record and not allow legislation he disagrees with to go forward, Obama is prepared to veto bills until his Cross Townsend black roller-ball pen runs out of ink. This is an example of presidential arrogance.

The pipeline would be a $7 billion economic stimulus project that would create the equivalent of 20,000 high-wage manufacturing jobs and 118,000 indirect jobs in the supply and service sectors during its construction. Approximately 160,000 American jobs per year would be supported by Canadian tar sands oil development if the pipeline were approved. But the president’s ego stands in the way of a slam dunk for the U.S. and our great trading ally, Canada.

Obama must realize that this is a great opportunity to put thousands of Americans to work, help the efficiency of oil transport, decrease our foreign dependence on oil and lower its cost to consumers. Environmentalists criticize the project, claiming that tar sands oil is dangerous to transport, but no matter what they say or do, the crude will continue to be produced, and will be on the move. Right now it is being shipped via railway, which is not only more dangerous, but also more costly than the pipeline.

On Feb. 23, a train carrying 14 tanker cars full of oil derailed and exploded in West Virginia. Federal agencies have been documenting the dramatic rise in the number of rail mishaps involving oil tankers in the past three years. More than 140 “unintentional releases” were reported from railroad tankers in 2014, an all-time high and a nearly six-fold increase over the average of 25 spills per year from 1975 to 2012.

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