A Conservative View

OIL – AMERICA’S GREATEST MYSTERY

I recently read an article in Glenn Beck’s “Blaze” that has some very interesting observations. I have paraphrased some of the information and used some of the facts from the publication. These are things every American should understand. There are so many thieves and politicians meddling with oil, we are fortunate it does not cost $10 a gallon now.

Have you wondered why the president would stop the Keystone Pipeline Project that will generate thousands of jobs for US workers? This posting may help explain the President’s motivation. 

With the nation’s gas prices reaching new levels, some argue that President Obama’s recent rejection of the $7 billion, “shovel-ready” Keystone XL oil pipeline, is just another sign that Obama will eventually try to stop all domestic oil exploration. There appears be a more sinister reason behind denying the pipeline’s requisite permits — namely, to benefit billionaire Obama-supporter Warren Buffett? See if you have the same conclusions after reviewing the background on Trans Canada’s Keystone XL oil pipeline.

The Keystone XL oil pipeline was planned to transport crude oil from Alberta, Canada all the way to Texas’ Gulf Coast. The administration rejected permits to construct the northern portion of the pipeline on purely political reasons.

Then last month, Obama visited Cushing, Oklahoma, site of the world’s largest oil storage complex, to take credit for “approving” the stretch of pipeline construction that was already underway from there to the gulf coast. Obama used the tour to prop up his administrations’ energy policy, Trans Canada actually gained approvals to build the southern stretch of its pipeline months prior to Obama’s political trip to Oklahoma. Pipelines that stay within U.S. borders are not subject to presidential approval like ones running from Canada into the U.S.

Trans Canada filed an initial application to build the 1,179-mile underground pipeline in 2008, passing two State Department reviews and in February 2010, South Dakota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) granted a permit based on a thorough work up of the project.

Then the White House sent Trans Canada and others back to the drawing board in January 2012, citing environmental concerns.

To bypass special interest groups and the Environmental Protection Agency, an amendment was introduced in the Senate in March. It would have eliminated the need for a federal permit while addressing environmentalists’ worries by placing more autonomy in Nebraska’s hands. After a vote, however, Democrats killed the measure 56 to 42.

Trans Canada may not be giving up. Information on its web site indicates they plan to re-apply for a Presidential Permit to be processed in an “expedited manner”. The exhaustive record compiled over the past three plus years of regulatory review to allow for an in-service date of 2015.”

Trans Canada hopes for approval of the Presidential Permit application – which is required as the pipeline will cross the Canada/U.S. border – in the first quarter of 2013, after the election. Construction will then quickly begin. Trans Canada believes in the value of Keystone XL due to the overwhelming support the project has received. American and Canadian producers and U.S. refiners have signed 17 to 18 year contracts to ship over hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil per day to meet the needs of American consumers.

Keystone would provide 830,000 barrels of crude oil per day from Alberta, Canada, to U.S. outposts and refineries on the Gulf Coast. The $7 billion project would also create some 20,000 jobs in the United States. “These are new, real U.S. jobs,” Russ Girling, Trans Canada’s president and chief executive officer, said in a statement back in January. He clarified that 13,000 construction jobs would be created immediately while another 7,000 would be generated in the manufacturing sector.

Trans Canada and its supporters, including Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, have maintained that Keystone XL is vital to American livelihood. Yet in the wake of Obama’s political maneuvering, Harper deemed the U.S. an unreliable energy partner and now plans to expand his country’s crude export. The move will result in Canada eliminating the discount it once afforded the U.S. on its oil products, thus hitting drivers at the gas pump even harder.

T. Boone Pickens, observed the alienation occurring between the two neighbors when he said that”we work with the Canadians like they’re the enemy sometimes.” He added, “We tell them they can’t bring a Keystone pipeline to the United States…That’s 250 billion barrels of oil that the United States would capture for our use!”

Every American should question why the president would stop an environmentally-sound, job-boosting, oil-producing project that would benefit the nation. Why did Obama interfere with something that is financially beneficial and damage the historical Canadian-U.S., oil relationship? Do you suppose that someone else stands to benefit from his decision?

Reports indicate that Warren Buffett’s Burlington Northern Santa Fe LLC railroad — a unit of Buffett’s Omaha, Nebraska based Berkshire Hathaway Company, would reap sizable gains by the administration’s decision to reject Trans Canada’s oil pipeline permit. Berkshire Hathaway purchased a 22% (or, $34 billion) share of the 32,000 mile railway in 2009, shortly after Obama was elected.

“Whatever people bring to us, we’re ready to haul,” Krista York-Wooley, a spokeswoman for Burlington Northern told Bloomberg. If Keystone XL “doesn’t happen, we’re here to haul the oil.”

The rail option, while more expensive, would minimize environmental impact. At the same time, however, it would also worsen greenhouse gas emissions. When it comes to the Keystone oil pipeline and Buffett’s Burlington Northern, all roads seem to lead to Nebraska.

A startling connection exists as Berkshire Hathaway’s home-state and that state’s senator, Ben Nelson, who voted against the Keystone XL and lobbied that it be re-routed to avoid Nebraska. Nelson’s position to pass up the new jobs swells of other connections as he is heavily invested in Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway. From 2007 to 2012 Nelson contributed $27,000 to the company itself and according to a recent financial disclosure statement from 2008, he owned between $1.5 and $6 million of the company’s stock – his largest investment in any one company to date.

Another link uncovered revealed that Buffett’s Burlington Northern Santa Fe PAC contributed $5,000 to Senator Nelson’s Nebraska Leadership PAC. In addition Berkshire Hathaway employees have supported the senator, contributing at least $75,550 to the Nebraska Democrat over the course of his political career. This was reported by the Center for Responsive Politics.

Senator Nelson penned an op-ed column on March 5, 2012 entitled “Behind Those High Gas Prices.” As you can imagine, he was quick to tell Nebraskans that the spike “has nothing to do with the Keystone Pipeline” and also “isn’t a result of domestic oil production.” Below is an excerpt from Nelson’s column:

“First, the rapid rise isn’t a result of domestic oil production. We’re producing more oil in the U.S. now than we have since 2003. As a matter of fact, under the previous Administration domestic production of crude declined every year, whereas since 2009 domestic production has increased every year.

Second, this has nothing to do with the Keystone Pipeline. The price of oil is set on the World Market and is impacted by a host of factors – including unrest in oil producing nations. It isn’t a simple supply and demand pricing issue.”

This is a bunch of hogwash we have been fed by this administration to force gasoline prices up on purpose. You can read my previous postings that prove these statements are false.

He went on to write the U.S. has in fact demonstrated “the lowest demand for gasoline in 15 years” but the price of oil “has still gone up.”

Nelson’s is now involved in overhauling financial regulation and spending more millions to create another government agency. Obama wants to set restrictions on trading derivatives; this was a substantial provision being lobbied for by Buffett that would have buffered his company from financial blows.

WSJ recently reported that the provision, sought by Berkshire and pushed by Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson in the Senate Agriculture Committee, would largely exempt existing derivatives contracts from the proposed rules. Previously, the legislation could have allowed regulators to require that companies such as Nebraska-based Berkshire put aside large sums to cover potential losses. The article adds that the change “thus would aid Berkshire, which has a $63 billion derivatives portfolio, according to Barclays Capital.” Senator Nelson has also engaged in a series of votes, including in favor of TARP funds that have benefited Buffett in some way. 

Killing the plan to transport oil via the Keystone pipeline means that Burlington Northern railroad can transport the oil. Senator Nelson and Berkshire Hathaway stand to reap substantial dividends. Likewise, Buffett ensured financial security and prosperity for his new railroad and will continue to finance his Democratic benefactors. 

The progressives and the media will slant this as just another right wing “conspiracy theory”. The Blaze article reminds those of you who don’t understand that people in power always want more power and money and money is power.  What this really represents is greed and hypocrisy masquerading as environmental activism.

Keep these people in power and suffer gas prices that will be double today’s amount. It amazes me that we sit still and let politicians rape our savings and ruin the financial future of our children.

“GOD SAVE AMERICA”

C Brewer