COMMENTARY | In an appearance last week on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” program, Daily Beast and Newsweek editor-in-chief Tina Brown defended the Obama administration’s decision to block the XL Pipeline.
It’s hardly surprising that ABC’s Laura Effron reports that neither publication is making money, given the credibility gap resulting from defending the pipeline decision.
The problem is that President Obama’s XL Pipeline decision has rankled Senate Democrats, too. Asked to respond to Mitt Romney’s criticism of President Obama for high gasoline prices, Brown went on the attack.
“When you mention about the gas pumps, that was the most intellectually dishonest thing that Romney said.... It’s world markets that dictate the price of oil,” said Brown.
True. But inasmuch as the XL Pipeline would increase supply on world markets, Brown seems to have missed a fundamental point of supply and demand. An expansion of world supply by Canadian XL Pipeline oil would help to meet demand.
There are other products that flow from hydro-carbons.
One can expect that Tina Brown never had to grease her bearings but surely she uses fingernail polish.
Grease and fingernail polish are just two of about 6,000 items requiring petroleum to manufacture, according to Ranken Energy. Oil from the Canadian fields would be siphoned off for the manufacture of these products, holding production and consumer costs down.
The company that re-paves your asphalt driveway can tell you how much the cost of hydro-carbon based materials have increased. Even if you could pave your driveway with green algae, it’s doubtful that asphalt could be replaced any time soon in the construction of vital airports and roads.
Environmentalism is important, especially in the recycling of asphalt materials. Bit Obama’s energy plans are unrealistic, resembling a Stalin-era Five Year Plan to create an eco-industrial collective.
President Obama has hinted at another release from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to combat the perception of short supply. Why then shouldn’t a sustained supply moving down the XL Pipeline from Canada do the same?
Reuters today reports that shale oil from North Dakota’s Bakken Range could save east coast refineries from closing this year. Imported oil costs from $20 to $35 dollars more than that produced by Bakken Crude, says Reuters.
A steady supply of U.S. or Canadian oil through the XL Pipeline could immediately create new jobs, keep jobs open at east coast refineries, and hold oil prices down.