Will President Obama Give an XL Handout to the Koch Brothers?

Here's a unique political strategy for you: in the lead up to a crucial election, as anti-corporate sentiment is sweeping the nation, consider giving a huge handout to a major corporation that happens to be your biggest political enemy and is already spending hundreds of millions to defeat you and your agenda.

If that seems too crazy to believe, welcome to the Obama 2012 campaign.

Right now, President Obama is faced with the most crucial environmental decisions he is going to face before the 2012 election: whether or not to approve the permit for the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, a 1,700 mile fuse to the largest carbon bomb on the continent, the Canadian tar sands.

The Keystone XL isn't just an XL environmental disaster -- the nation's top climate scientists say that fully exploiting the tar sands could mean "essentially game over" for the climate -- it also happens to be an XL sized handout to Big Oil and, you guessed it, the Brothers Koch. You want fries with that?

Earlier this year, when Representative Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) attempted to investigate whether or not the Koch Brothers stood to gain from the pipeline, the chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Fred Upton (R-Mich.) called the idea an "outrageous accusation" and "blatant political sideshow." Is it even necessary to mention that reports show Koch and its employees gave $279,500 to 22 of the energy committee's 31 Republicans and $32,000 to five Democrats?

As you might expect, Upton was completely wrong. Reporters at InsideClimateNews and elsewhere proved that the Koch's stand to make a fortune with the construction of the pipeline. The brothers already control close to 25 percent of the tar sands crude that is imported into the United State and own mining companies, oil terminals, and refineries all along the pipeline route. You can bet that the champagne will be flowing in Koch HQ when toxic tar sands crude starts moving down the pipe.

Which brings us back to Obama. It's not too late for the president to intervene and stop the Koch Brothers from pocketing another profit at the expense of the American people. Because it crosses an international border, in order for the Keystone XL pipeline to be built the Obama administration must grant it a "presidential permit" that states that the construction project is in the national interest of the United States.

President Obama can deny the permit, right now, and shut down this flow of cash to the Kochs. In doing so, he'll show that our national interest isn't always determined by the 1%, in this case a few big oil companies and the Koch Brothers, but by the 99% of us who have to pay the price for their greed.

Denying the permit will also send a jolt of electricity through President Obama's base, the millions of us who went out and volunteered and donated to the campaign because we believed in a candidate who said that it was time to "end the tyranny of oil." In fact, this November 6, thousands of us former believers will be descending on Washington, DC to #surround the White House with people carrying placards with the President's own words in an attempt to resuscitate the 2008 Obama who seemed capable of standing up to folks like the Kochs. You can join here.

I can't say that I'm privy to what the Obama 2012 campaign will advise the president to do when it comes to the pipeline. But if I was sitting in Chicago watching the Koch Brothers assembled their army of lobbyists across the nation, I'd be thinking that XL handout wasn't such a good idea.

 

Follow Jamie Henn on Twitter: www.twitter.com/agent350

Comments

[markspence]

06:01 PM on 10/20/2011

Is the steel for this pipeline going to be made in the US?

[Muse1876]

04:39 PM on 10/20/2011

If he says yes to this pipe line, does it make the billions we put into green energy a waste? I wonder how he will spin this.

[markspence]

06:02 PM on 10/20/2011

No. We need both.

[Muse1876]

07:14 PM on 10/20/2011

All the jobs that were saved or created with the green energy, will pale to the jobs this will provide.

[shershomenow]

01:42 PM on 10/20/2011

We need to concentrate on the congressional and senatorial elections to effect change. It really does not matter who the president is if we control the house and senate. Encourage everyone to vote, even if they chose to leave the chad for the presidency.

[adelemcdaniel]

01:08 PM on 10/20/2011

I would agree that if Obama OK's the pipeline, he is doing it to preserve jobs rather than with a disregard for the environment, although, of course, it does show a disregard for the environment. However, there may be yet another factor at play. Who among us does not believe that the Koch brothers have covered their bets by donating to the Obama campaign as well as to Republican causes?

[artleads]

01:00 PM on 10/20/2011

Based on how well (and whence) he's raising money, I see no reason to think that Obama would not be reelected if he allowed the pipeline. The ruling elite want an admin that is somewhat rational, after all. His gamble would be whether he could win if Keystone-determinist progressives (of which there seem to be rather few) deserted him.

[yatahayaz]

12:37 PM on 10/20/2011

This article is under the assumption that our current president has a backbone, or is willing to stand up to corporations and Republicans, and will do what is right for the American people. Unfortunately, that is not the man we thought we were putting into office. Obama will cave, and in the process give up more than the Koch Brothers are even asking. That has been his modus operandi from the beginning; to expect him to change is to not recognize that the voters are victims of a bait-and-switch of the first magnitude.

[bordway]

12:35 PM on 10/20/2011

Refine it in Canada. Of course that means the oil companies will have to build additional refineries there.

[importer]

11:29 AM on 10/20/2011

Of course he will! The no drama Obama thing is all talk. He's all drama all the time trying to make it look like he really is "torn" by these decisions and really wants to be a progressive. In reality he's in with the corporations til death do they part and will do whatever is required to continue to push their agenda.

[brinkley4]

11:20 AM on 10/20/2011

The dynamics of Obama's decision on the Keystone Pipeline, has little to do with enabling the Koch brothers. Either he stands by the environmentalists lobby, or , he facilitates job creation. It would seem logical , politically, that he go with job creation.

Quote : "The Keystone XL isn't just an XL environmental disaster -- the nation's top climate scientists say that fully exploiting the tar sands could mean "essentially game over" for the climate "

It's more likely that it's "Game Over" for the Climate Warmists "

[Niki Spencer]

02:26 AM on 11/04/2011

With Keystone 1 having leaked more than 23,000 gallons of oil in the first year it's been opened, and the people who tried to have it built properly fired for holding up the process on pumping through the profits, does job creation trump the safety of American drinking water in the name of oil profits? Because with oil being traded and sold in a world market, it will certain not have an effect on our wallets at the pump. Maybe we should focus on job creation in other sectors.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/29/keystone-pipeline-infographic_n_941069.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/28/keystone-pipeline-construction-leaks_n_984662.html

[brinkley4]

05:42 PM on 11/14/2011

"Maybe we should focus on job creation in other sectors." Yes, sure, like manfacturing, where the US seems to be be doing so well , recently !!

[Boliche Peter Hulbert]

11:07 AM on 10/20/2011

Just because it is coming from Canada and not the Mid-East does it mean it is a good alternative. The tar sands are so awful for everyone and will do nothing more than make our problems worse. I guess he's hoping for more hurricanes and extreme weather to wipe out the US.

[DaveMB]

10:53 AM on 10/20/2011

I hope Obama is not afraid to be seen as trying to raise gas prices, as the Republicans want to accuse him. Sadly, I think he will cave.

[FearlessLeader]

10:40 AM on 10/20/2011

There are plusses and minuses to the Keystone pipeline. It is an environmental disaster. On the other hand, it's better to have sources of oil right here in North America, rather than the volitile middle east. If we send money to Saudi Arabia, we are indirectly funding worldwide jihad. If we build the pipeline, we could be funding the Koch brothers. Hmm, what to do? OK, better to stop the keystone pipeline, buy oil at the going price on world markets, and let the chips fall where they may.

This says a lot, for me to say this. A look at my history of posts, shows I see Islam as a huge threat, world wide. Yet, I think I fear the Koch brothers more.

[Plunger 2x]

10:15 AM on 10/20/2011

Man we really are oil addicts if we're willing to go through the trouble of wasting more energy (at the expense of the environment) than we would collect from the tar sands.. with what we’ve spent on war and bailouts we could have had totally new renewable energy infrastructure by now..

Obama will cave, I have concluded that he is no different than the congress.. they are all in someone’s pocket.

[montestruc]

09:31 AM on 10/20/2011

So it is better to import the oil from the middle east? I know you are not going to stop buying oil. If you really wanted to reduce oil & coal usage you would impose a large tax per unit energy sold on carbon based fuels.

Democrats had a large majority in both houses till January this year, and the presidency. You could have done it, why didn't you?

[shershomenow]

01:40 PM on 10/20/2011

The gas that will be refined from the XL project is slated for sale overseas...

[markspence]

06:02 PM on 10/20/2011

No so

[montestruc]

09:37 PM on 10/20/2011

That is absurd. The USA consumes VASTLY more oil than we produce. It makes no economic sense to do that for oil that is close to the middle of the continent. It does make economic sense to export Alaskan oil to Japan, which much of it is, but oil produced from land west of the Rockies in America is stark raving nuts.

[sgillhoolley]

09:09 AM on 10/20/2011

I don't think Obama wants to win a second term. If he did he would recognize who his base is, and that they might not bother voting in this election cycle if he doesn't smarten up. We need a new political party. The 99% Party. It would kill the other two losers.

[simonsez2]

12:05 PM on 10/20/2011

There is no 99%. There is roughly two 50%.