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The rush towards natural gas is also turning natural gas pipeline construction into a booming business for jobs and investment, with more than $200 billion capital investment and an additional 125,000 jobs expected in the next 25 years, according to a Black & Veatch study released on Friday. The study, which was commissioned by the INGAA Foundation, estimates that construction of necessary new pipelines will generate more than $171 billion in labor income, with jobs that pay on average about $65,000. The investment will fund an average of 2,000 miles of new natural gas transmission lines each year through 2035,...

Gov. Sean Parnell’s goal of nearly doubling the flow of oil through the trans-Alaska pipeline could be achieved over the next 10 to 15 years — but not without major fiscal and policy changes, a consultant said. Pedro van Meurs, an oil and gas consultant, told a joint hearing of the Senate Resources and Finance committees that Parnell’s tax-cut bill “does not even come close” to going far enough to hit the Republican governor’s goal of 1 million barrels a day. He said “more elaborate” legislation is needed if Alaska wants significant increases in production. Reaching Parnell’s goal includes new...

Energy: While our president sleeps on the Keystone XL pipeline, Canada’s prime minister is in Beijing signing a series of trade deals to ship additional petroleum to China. Halftime in America? We need a new quarterback. While Clint Eastwood, in that thinly disguised infomercial for President Obama's re-election campaign, was promising that the world would soon hear the roar of our engines, China's economy will soon be revving up with petroleum that should and could be flowing south in a pipeline the Obama administration won't build. Prime Minister Steven Harper is making good on his warning that Canada would seek...

About three weeks ago, Barack Obama nixed the Keystone XL pipeline that would have transported 900,000 barrels of oil per day from the Canadian tar sands to the gulf coast region of the U.S.  The pipeline project would also create 20,000 direct jobs and potentially hundreds of thousands of indirect jobs according to economic analysis.   Spurned by Obama's rejection, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper stated that if Canada's next door neighbor and close ally didn't want Canada's oil, then he'd pursue other markets to "diversify" the market for Canada's natural resources.  It didn't take him long. Harper was in Beijing...

Canada's prime minister on Friday made his strongest comments yet in support of a proposed pipeline from oil-rich Alberta to the Pacific coast, saying his government was committed to ensuring the controversial project went ahead. snip "We have abundant supplies of virtually every form of energy. And you know, we want to sell our energy to people who want to buy our energy -- it's that simple," Harper told a business dinner in Guangzhou.

Last month we discussed the rather alarming news that Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper was planning a trip to China to discuss possible natural resources deals with the economic superpower. It seemed no coincidence that the trip was announced close on the heels of Barack Obama's decision to kick the can down the road on the Keystone XL pipeline yet again. But at that time, I retained some hope that perhaps this was just a warning siren to Obama which would remind him that Canada had plenty of other options should we decide not to do business with them.Apparently Harper...

Dear (ShadowAce), Energy and jobs are two things that Americans need to survive. The Keystone XL Pipeline would provide both, free of cost to American taxpayers. That is why this week, I introduced the bipartisan Keystone for a Secure Tomorrow Act (K-FAST) to allow Congress to act immediately and approve the permit for the Keystone XL Pipeline. Congress has the obligation and the legal ability to say yes. In fact, in 1973, after years of delay, Congress took similar action and passed the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Authorization Act in order to build the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. The Keystone XL Pipeline is a...

The keystone pipeline was one of the most well studied, environmentally safe projects in modern history. It was not blocked by Obama because of environmental concerns, it was simply another casualty in a long list of cynical vote-getting ploys to appease Obama's radical base of support, the American People be damned. It is clear: Our Chicago politician considers his re-election more important than American jobs or energy independence. Better to dump billions into Solyndra and a host of other feel-good, politically correct scams. This administration has gone beyond corrupt or incompetent; it is placing the survival of the United States...

House panel approves Keystone pipeline billBy Ben Geman - 02/07/12 04:27 PM ET The House Energy and Commerce Committee on Tuesday approved legislation that would reverse President Obama’s rejection of the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline. The bill is the latest GOP-led effort to advance the Alberta-to-Texas pipeline. Republicans are also trying to punish Obama politically ahead of the 2012 election for failing to greenlight the project that GOP lawmakers call a way to create jobs and boost energy security. Rep. Lee Terry’s (R-Neb.) bill — which passed the powerful committee in a 33-20 vote — is likely heading for...

DID PRESIDENT OBAMA BLOCK THE KEYSTONE PIPELINE AS A PAYBACK TO HIS BIG CAMPAIGN DONOR?02-01-2012 12:46 pm - Alan KeyesDid you know that the Burlington Northern Santa Fe rail line, owned by Obama's deep pocketed and extremely generous buddy Warren Buffett, stood to gain the most from cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline. Barack Obama recently sacrificed at least 85,000 high paying jobs when he effectively killed the Keystone XL pipeline, but in doing so Obama is also apparently paying back yet another of his big donors. The cancellation of the Keystone pipeline project means that Warren Buffet's Burlington Northern...

The latest chapter in Canada’s quest to become a full-blown oil superpower unfolded this month in a village gym on the British Columbia coast. Here, several hundred people gathered for hearings on whether a pipeline should be laid from the Alberta oil sands to the Pacific in order to deliver oil to Asia, chiefly energy-hungry China. The stakes are particularly high for the village of Kitamaat and its neighbors, because the pipeline would terminate here and a port would be built to handle 220 tankers a year and 525,000 barrels of oil a day. But the planned Northern Gateway Pipeline...

President Barack Obama might have rejected the enormous Keystone XL pipeline, at least for now, but that doesn't mean heavy crude from Canada won't be flowing into Texas' refineries later this year. TransCanada Corp. — the Canadian company that proposed building the $7 billion, 830,000 barrel-a-day pipeline — has some ideas that could lead to moving oil from the oil sands region in northern Alberta, Canada, to the Gulf Coast of Texas without the blessing of the president, the company said. "We are still very much committed to building this pipeline," TransCanada spokesman Terry Cunha said in an interview with...

When President Obama denied a permit for the $7 billion Keystone pipeline project stretching from Canada to Texas, many feared the project was dead – but a Republican lawmaker is preparing to bypass the president altogether and get the pipeline back on track. H.R. 3548, submitted by Lee Terry, R-Neb., would take the decision out of Obama’s hands and order the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC, to issue a permit within 30 days. Some say the decision never belonged to the president anyway. {snip} Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., also spoke at the Jan. 25 hearing and explained that the...

CASS COUNTY, TX (KLTV) - From Chopper 7, the shear magnitude of what's sitting in this field is clear. This patch of land is leased by TransCanada...and it is filled with 100 miles worth of pipes. "Well, it's a storage yard. And, it's fairly common and it's prior to construction for large pipeline projects to assemble pipe in one central location and distribute it from there," Jim Prescott, a project representative with Keystone said. And, that project is the Keystone Pipeline...which is now on hold until further notice due to President Obama's rejection of TransCanada's application. "So, in the meantime...

Hypocrisy: As the great investor's secretary sat with the first lady at the State of the Union, the president spoke of economic "fairness." Is it fair to make a supporter wealthier at the expense of the American people? During the 2008 campaign, candidate Barack Obama cited billionaire Warren Buffett as one of his economic muses. In the 2012 State of the Union address Tuesday night, the president returned to his advocacy of the "Buffett rule," a proposed minimum tax on millionaires and billionaires. To highlight his theme of "fairness," there in the first lady's box sat Buffett's secretary, Debbie Bosanek,...

This morning, Rep. Jan Schakowsky appeared on the Don Wade and Roma show on WLS-AM Chicago to comment on President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address. Schakowsky praised the president’s green energy initiatives, claiming that the (recalled) Chevy Volt “is doing pretty well” and defending Obama’s failed investment in Solyndra. When the hosts asked her to defend President Obama’s decision to block the development of the Keystone pipeline, Schakowsky did not dispute that the project would create jobs, but denied that these jobs were significant: "Twenty thousand jobs is really not that many jobs and investing in green technologies...

'Whatever people bring to us, we're ready to haul' (BLOOMBERG) — Warren Buffett’s Burlington Northern Santa Fe LLC is among U.S. and Canadian railroads that stand to benefit from the Obama administration’s decision to reject TransCanada Corp. (TRP)’s Keystone XL oil pipeline permit. With modest expansion, railroads can handle all new oil produced in western Canada through 2030, according to an analysis of the Keystone proposal by the U.S. State Department. “Whatever people bring to us, we’re ready to haul,” Krista York-Wooley, a spokeswoman for Burlington Northern, a unit of Buffett’s Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK/A), said in an...

Rasmussen is reporting that the majority of voters want to see the building of the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to Texas happen: Most voters still favor building the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to Texas and think it will be good for the economy despite President Obama’s decision last week to delay the project for environmental reasons. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 56% of Likely U.S. Voters at least somewhat favor the pipeline, with 36% who Strongly Favor it. Just 27% are opposed, including 12% who Strongly Oppose the project. Sixteen percent (16%) are undecided....

The global warming apocalypse and its Elmer Gantry, Al Gore, may have faded from public view lately, but that old-time green religion is still making mischief. President Obama has just delayed until after November’s election a decision on the Canadian Keystone XL pipeline. This truly shovel-ready project would create thousands of blue-collar jobs, help hold down the price of gasoline, and lessen our dependence on oil imported from thugs like Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez. The administration’s excuses for this move are preposterous. The State Department sniffed that it needs more time “to determine whether the Keystone XL pipeline is in the...

The Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA) left the BlueGreen Alliance on Friday, citing a disagreement with the group’s members over the Keystone XL pipeline. LIUNA, a vocal Keystone supporter, took aim at other unions for opposing the project. “We’re repulsed by some of our supposed brothers and sisters lining up with job killers like the Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council to destroy the lives of working men and women,” LIUNA General President Terry O’Sullivan said in a statement. The BlueGreen Alliance, a coalition of environmental groups and labor unions, confirmed LIUNA’s exit Friday afternoon. “The...

Labor union quits alliance with greens over Keystone pipelineBy Andrew Restuccia - 01/20/12 02:35 PM ET The Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA) left the BlueGreen Alliance on Friday, citing a disagreement with the group’s members over the Keystone XL pipeline. LIUNA, a vocal Keystone supporter, took aim at other unions for opposing the project. “We’re repulsed by some of our supposed brothers and sisters lining up with job killers like the Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council to destroy the lives of working men and women,” LIUNA General President Terry O’Sullivan said in a statement. The...

President Obama’s rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico is an act of national insanity. It isn’t often that a president makes a decision that has no redeeming virtues and — beyond the symbolism — won’t even advance the goals of the groups that demanded it. All it tells us is that Obama is so obsessed with his reelection that, through some sort of political calculus, he believes that placating his environmental supporters will improve his chances. Aside from the political and public relations victory, environmentalists won’t get much. Stopping the pipeline won’t halt...

As House Republicans launched an assault on President Obama this morning for nixing a popular energy pipeline from Canada to Texas, the party renewed its pledge to move ahead with the project even if the president won’t get on board. Emerging from the GOP’s issues conference in Baltimore this morning, House Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton of Michigan told reporters that he was “deeply disappointed” that the president denied the project, adding that Republicans are considering an array of alternatives that would put the Keystone XL Pipeline back on track. “As much as the president might want this issue...

The Obama administration finally pulled the trigger on a decision on the Keystone XL pipeline, and while very few were surprised at the President’s thumbs-down, many were disappointed. The proposed line, which would actually be a twinning/extension of an existing one, would take raw bitumen from Alberta’s abundant oil sands down to the Gulf Coast of Texas to be refined. The arguments have all been played out on both sides of the issue. Anti-oil sands environmentalist groups, backed by outspoken yet unknowledgeable (and hypocritical) eco-celebs grabbed the media spotlight with their protests. Pro-groups, including a large portion of Obama’s base...

Brilliant as always

The central conflict of the Obama Presidency has been between the jobs and growth crisis he inherited and the President's hell-for-leather pursuit of his larger social-policy ambitions. The tragedy is that the economic recovery has been so lackluster because the second impulse keeps winning. Yesterday came proof positive with the White House's repudiation of the Keystone XL pipeline, TransCanada's $7 billion shovel-ready project that would support tens of thousands of jobs if only it could get the requisite U.S. permits. Those jobs, apparently, can wait.Unless the President objected, December's payroll tax deal gave TransCanada the go-ahead in February to start...

Green America Applauds President Obama's Rejection of Keystone XL PipelineJan 18, 2012 Green America strongly commends President Obama for his wise decision, announced this afternoon, to reject the dangerous Keystone XL pipeline. The proposed pipeline would extend nearly 2,000 miles from Alberta, Canada, to the Texas Gulf Coast. This Canadian project poses severe consequences for human health and the environment while further entrenching the dirty fossil fuel economy and failing to generate lasting jobs. Investment in clean energy generates 3-4 times as many jobs as investments in fossil fuels. "This is the right decision, a brave decision, and one that...

The big news of the day, aside from the idiot rally finally being back on full bore, is that the Obama administration finally pushed Canada's hand in telling it to sell its crude to China instead of the US, which we are confident it will gladly do. Much of this was largely priced on, as was the fact that opportunity for significant job creation was just kicked to the curb. What was not however expected, is that in keeping up with the fine tradition of taking responsibility for his decisions and actions, kinda sorta, America's president said that it was...

taking the Obama administration to task over the forthcoming decision to pull the plug on the U.S.-Canadian oil pipeline: Newt Gingrich, who frequently talks about the Keystone Pipeline in his stump speech, railed on the news that President Obama is rejecting the permit. Speaking to a standing-room only crowd of about 350 people in Warrenville, S.C., “boos” erupted when Gingrich said the pipeline had been “vetoed.” “Now, this is a stunningly,” Gingrich began until he was interuppted by a crowd members shouting “stupid mistake.” After pausing for a moment Gingrich responded, “This is a stunningly stupid thing to do.”

anuary 18, 2012 – API President and CEO Jack Gerard called on the administration and Congress to start making the right choices on energy if they want to put the nation on track for more economic growth and job creation. "While we have abundant resources – and the ability to access those resources safely, responsibly, and with care for the environment – the U.S. seems to lack one thing: the political will to act," Gerard said in remarks delivered today at the U.S. Energy Association's 8th annual State of the Energy Industry Forum in Washington, D.C. "When it comes to...

President Barack Obama says he's denying an application for a Canada-to-Texas oil pipeline because a GOP-mandated deadline didn't allow time for a full review. Obama says his decision isn't a judgment on the merits of the proposed $7 billion pipeline. Rather, he's citing the "arbitrary nature" of the Feb. 21 deadline that was set by a GOP-written provision in a recent tax bill that Obama signed. The president says in a statement that he's disappointed that Republicans in Congress forced...

Erika has already laid out the policy folly of the Obama administration's feckless and ideological rejection of the Keystone XL project, so let's consider how Republicans should respond to this mess. For all its alleged prowess, the Obama political team makes its share of tin-earned decisions -- whether it's pursuing an unpopular healthcare power grab in the midst of a jobs crisis, throwing lavish parties at inopportune times, or taking legal action to block supermajority-supported immigration and voter ID laws. The Keystone decision might take the tone-deafness cake, however, and the GOP should exploit it to inflict maximum political pain...

"It is not in the national interest to lock the United States into supporting an expensive and dirty form of oil for many years to come. Also, additional capacity for tar sands oil perpetuates America's addiction to oil, and undermines the clean energy alternatives that would bring genuine energy security," the NRDC report continues.

The Obama administration was poised on Wednesday to reject the Keystone crude oil pipeline, according to sources, a decision that would be welcomed by environmental groups but inflame the domestic energy industry. The administration could make its announcement on TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline late on Wednesday or on Thursday, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters. TransCanada Corp. shares slid more than 3 percent after the news.

The controversial Keystone Pipeline will reportedly be denied by President Obama, according to Fox News. The State Department is expected to vote against the pipeline this afternoon. Transcanada will however be allowed to reapply with an alternate route going through Nebraska. com/obama-to-deny-keystone-pipeline-2012-1#ixzz1jpV0l0Mp

Apparently, The One couldn't wait until February after he saw his latest polling score. The Greeniacs clearly have him by the shorts. Will be interesting to see union reaction.

President Obama’s jobs council endorsed a wide range of pro-growth proposals Tuesday that includes building oil pipelines and expanding drilling in the U.S., steps that House Republicans promptly noted are being blocked by Senate Democrats. “The Road Map to Renewal” submitted to Mr. Obama by his team of industry leaders embraces more domestic production of fossil fuels. The report doesn’t specifically mention the Canada-to-Texas Keystone XL oil pipeline on which the Obama administration has delayed a decision, but it does advocate building more domestic pipelines. “Policies that facilitate the safe, thoughtful and timely development of pipeline, transmission and distribution projects...

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper became the latest stakeholder in the Keystone XL debate to cite Iran’s threats to block the Strait of Hormuz as one justification for the U.S. to approve the controversial oil pipeline. Harper told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation yesterday he thinks it’s “pretty obvious what the right decision is, not just from an economic and environmental standpoint but also from an energy-security standpoint.” “When you look at the Iranians threatening to block the Strait of Hormuz, I think that just illustrates how critical it is that supply for the United States be North American,” Harper said....

When U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue proclaimed that the Keystone XL pipeline would create 250,000 jobs, he touched a nerve in the environmental community. “That’s just not true,” Susan Casey-Lefkowitz, director of the Natural Resources Defense Council’s international program, told reporters Friday, calling Donohue’s jobs estimate “wildly inflated.” It’s a familiar refrain from the environmental community, which has been working overtime in recent weeks to counter Republican and industry claims that the 1,700-mile pipeline would create a mini-job boom in the United States. The fight over the Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry oil sands crude from...

Politics: The day after the president announces he would reward businesses that bring jobs into the U.S., the Chamber of Commerce asks: What about the pipeline from Canada that would bring both jobs and energy? The irony was mind-boggling when President Obama addressed a group of business leaders at the White House last Wednesday on his plans to reward "insourcing." "There are workers ready to work right now," he told them. "In the next few weeks, I will put forward new tax proposals that reward companies that choose to bring jobs home and invest in America — and eliminate tax...

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper is heading to China next month for his second official visit, as his government looks to boost bilateral trade and ship more energy products to the Asian powerhouse. snip The Harper government is looking to increase petroleum exports to China, but those hopes are very much pinned on the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline project currently under review by the National Energy Board. Public hearings began this week on the pipeline, which would ship oilsands bitumen from northern Alberta to a marine facility in Kitimat, B.C., where oil would be loaded onto tankers for export...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congressional Republicans, who are urging President Barack Obama to give a permit to the Canada-to-Texas Keystone XL oil pipeline project, are working on a plan to take the reins of approval from the president should the White House say no. Senator John Hoeven of North Dakota, a state counting on TransCanada Corp's pipeline to help move its newfound bounty of shale oil, is drafting contingency legislation that would see Congress green-light the project, an aide told Reuters. After delaying the $7 billion project past the November 2012 election, Obama was compelled by Congress to decide by February...

The global increase in production of heavier, more expensive crude oil has created the need for technology to reduce crude oil viscosity while allowing pipelines to operate more efficiently and at lower costs. Save The World Air (STWA), a Santa Barbara, Calif.-based developer of energy efficiency technology, in October conducted a successful field test of its Applied Oil Technology (AOT), which reduces the viscosity of crude oil. The field tests, conducted at the U.S. Department of Energy's Rocky Mountain Oilfield Testing Center near Casper, Wyo., showed that AOT delivered immediate pipeline efficiency gains of 13.14 percent to 13.55 percent when...

A looming deadline for a decision on the Keystone XL pipeline is ratcheting up political pressure on President Barack Obama, who will anger key supporters regardless of his decision. Calgary-based TransCanada Corp.’s proposed 1,700-mile pipeline would carry tar-sands crude from Alberta to Texas refineries in Port Arthur and Houston. It appeared late last year that the administration had found a way to delay the permitting decision past this year’s election. But the pipeline’s Republican supporters raised the stakes by negotiating inclusion of a 60-day decision deadline as part of the two-month payroll tax cut extension enacted Dec. 23. The Feb....

Gas prices are continuing to move upward with a gallon of regular at $3.38, up 8 cents from a week ago, the Energy Department’s U.S. Energy Information Administration said today. The weekly national average increased almost 30 cents from a year ago, and rose for the third consecutive week, adding to predictions that 2012 might be an uncomfortably expensive year for drivers across the country. Last year was a record year for gas prices but 2012 is forecasted to surpass its annual average. The real annual average for a gallon of regular gas last year hit $3.56, up from $2.90...

Through most of 2011, Canadian energy officials in politics and industry watched with bewildered helplessness and some shock as Washington allowed environmentalists to seize control of TransCanada’s $7-billion Keystone XL pipeline issue. They stood by aghast as President Barack Obama, a captive of U.S. green activists and Hollywood movie stars, caved in to political pressure and postponed a decision to approve the project, a potential economic bonanza that promised to deliver thousands of jobs to Americans and billions of barrels of Canadian oil sands production to Texas. No such green hijacking is going to take place in Canada, at least...

TransCanada Corp. has released a detailed job breakdown for the Keystone XL pipeline and said it will create 13,000 construction employment opportunities and 7,000 in manufacturing for Americans. The company has provided the job breakdown in response to critics who argue that the company’s job creation estimates for the project are too high and will only lead to ‘a few hundred’ temporary jobs.

The oil minister of the United Arab Emirates has announced that a new oil pipeline bypassing the Strait of Hormuz is nearly complete. The Abu Dhabi Crude Oil Pipeline project would ship crude from the UAE’s main oil producing region to the port of Fujairah on the country’s eastern coast, bypassing the vital Strait. The timing of the announcement could not be more prescient; Iranian officials have recently made their most threatening remarks to date about “closing” the Strait of Hormuz as fresh U.S. and international sanctions have put the regime on the defensive. In recent weeks alone, the head...

I was part of the Footloose generation. I used to shake my ass to the theme song countless times at junior high school dances, and have followed your career with some interest through the years (full disclosure: Tremors is still my favorite Bacon flick). How disappointing it was then to read this morning of your recent slide into the cult of EnviroCelebs regarding the protesting of Alberta’s oil sands and their associated proposed Keystone XL and Northern Gateway pipelines. We as Albertans are used to seeing certain celebrities getting face time in front of the camera protesting against our energy...

A proposed pipeline project that could transport up to 190,000 barrels of ethane from Appalachian shale fields to the Texas Gulf Coast has secured enough customers to move forward, Enterprise Products Partners announced today. The Houston company, which revealed two months ago that it had lined up its first long-term contract to use the pipeline, now says it has enough in place to make the project financially feasible. The 1,230-mile line is expected to be running in early 2014, taking advantage of the increased production of natural gas liquids and their lower price relative to oil-based liquids. “The willingness of...