The Keystone XL Pipeline: GOP Lies and Higher Midwest Gas Prices - Comments Page 3

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• 76 - Jet Gardner

  Mar 19, 2012 at 10:03 am

  What I'm trying to figure out Igor is why the hell the Obama administration isn't pointing this out loudly and frequently.
  
  I guess he's waiting until this becomes an issue after the nominations.
  
  Also keep in mind that the American voter has a very short memory, if prices fall between now and november, he can take advantage of the fact that he was blamed for the rise in prices, so he can take credit for the fall too. Just like everyone blamed him for the economy and now that the stock market has risen to new highs and the economy is starting to show feeble but promising signs of recovery, he can take credit for that too.
  
  There's a story he liked to tell during his first hear in office, that the republicans are like some fool who drove his car (the economy) into a ditch and then expected the democrats to get him back out of it... not only have they stood on they (congress) stood on the side of the road watching and refusing to help get it back out, but they're critisizing him about how long he's taking to do it.

• 77 - Igor

  Mar 19, 2012 at 12:46 pm

  IMO the Obama campaign is saving this argument for a choice moment in the pre-election action. That way they can play it either way for maximum purchase.
  
  Incidentally, I happened upon an Exxon pro-pipeline commercial on TV Sunday night, where the spokesperson claimed that XL could produce 500,000 jobs! That, in spite of the fact that even the paid-for Perryman report only estimated 18,000 jobs (according to their secret model!) and the Cornell unpaid report said maybe a couple thousand, or maybe even negative!
  
  The entire US oil industry only employs about 310,000 people, and that number goes down every year (as any reader of the API Journal knows, since it's a source of constant distress).
  
  

• 78 - Jet Gardner

  Mar 19, 2012 at 12:49 pm

  They forgot three zeros at the end of it and were accidentally forcasting their profits

• 79 - Kyle Hunter

  Mar 20, 2012 at 7:24 am

  Why doesn't anyone seem to know about all of this muck?

• 80 - Jet Gardner

  Mar 20, 2012 at 7:54 am

  I'm as perplexed as you are Kyle. Maybe if you facebooked it for me and tweeted it'd help.
  
  ...oh and a few diggs?

• 81 - Igor

  Mar 20, 2012 at 9:24 am

  Kyle, because most people only see the MainStream Media, which assiduously suppresses info that would distress their corporate masters who pay for the commercials that finance Scott Pelleys expensive coiffure.
  

• 82 - Pump

  Mar 21, 2012 at 5:56 am

  Great post, congratulations on highlighting the issues on this matter. The supply and demand effects the price as always but there are a few other factors that get effected far down the line. When it comes down to heating oil, the amount of crime involed with the theft of it from peoples storage tanks can also effect the price. There is plenty of reading matter out there on the subject. Here in the UK its a big problem !!

• 83 - Kyle Hunter

  Mar 21, 2012 at 8:47 am

  That is an aspect of this whole situation that never occurred to me Kyle. I suppose that would be a factor.

• 84 - Jet Gardner

  Mar 21, 2012 at 9:14 am

  Thanks Pump, be sure to go through the comments and read all the updates.

• 85 - Jet Gardner

  Mar 21, 2012 at 9:16 am

  Kyle, I see your point. Fox News is beholden to the GOP, so I guess it'd only be "fair and balanced" to assume that the networks would be beholden to their sponsors... though I haven't seen all that many gas commercials during their news casts.

• 86 - brian

  Mar 21, 2012 at 10:37 am

  I always think that history usually gives us our best insight into what may happen.
  
  Most people don't know that there was a major Tar Sands spill in the USA 2 years ago which got many people very sick and also has proven impossible to clean from the river, plus the cost is over 10x normal oil clean ups. when the spill happened they thought it would take a month, it has been over 2 years. keeping that in mind there are still mixed opinions on the topic. here is some more detail on both... well worth the read

• 87 - Jet Gardner

  Mar 21, 2012 at 10:47 am

  True Brian, I tried to touch on that briefly in the article. Be sure to spread the word and also read the updates I've posted in the comments
  
  Thanks

• 88 - Jet Gardner

  Mar 22, 2012 at 10:27 am

  UPDATE:
  (CBS News) President Obama Thursday said he is calling on his administration "to cut through red tape, break through bureaucratic hurdles," and make the Southern leg of the controversial Keystone pipeline "a priority."
  
  "Producing more oil and gas here at home has been, and will continue to be, a critical part of our all-of-the-above strategy," Mr. Obama said from Cushing, Oklahoma, the site where the Southern portion of the pipeline will begin construction.
  
  Standing next to the giant TransCanada pipes that will make up the Southern leg of the Keystone pipeline, Mr. Obama sought to remind voters that he's not opposed to domestic oil drilling.
  
  In fact, "we're drilling all over the place right now," the president said, citing his administration's directive to open up millions of acres for oil and gas exploration in 23 states. Under his watch, Mr. Obama said, the number of operating oil rigs has reached a record high, he said, and the U.S. has added enough new oil and gas pipeline to "circle the Earth and then some."
  
  The Southern leg of the Keystone pipeline should be a priority, he said, to free up the "bottleneck" of oil heading to refineries. "If we could, it would help us increase our oil supplies at a time where we need as much as possible," he said.
  
  Cushing is a major trading hub for crude oil, but the industry says a bottleneck in pipeline there has backed up its use. TransCanada Corporation plans to lay pipe through Cushing as part of its Keystone project. The Keystone pipeline is ultimately planned to link the tar sands fields of northern Alberta to oil refineries on the Texas Gulf Coast.
  
  TransCanada announced last month it will proceed with the construction of pipeline from Cushing to the U.S. Gulf Coast a portion of the Keystone project that the company says has its own independent value. In the meantime, the company is waiting for executive approval for the Northern portion.
  
  Mr. Obama rejected an attempt from Congress late last year to expedite the construction of the full pipeline, citing the need for more time to study the environmental and safety risks.
  
  The president acknowledged today the issue has "generated a lot of controversy and a lot of politics," but he attributed to the controversy specifically to concerns about its original route through a critical Nebraska aquifer.
  
  "Nebraskans of all political stripes, including the Republican governor there, raised some concerns about the wisdom of that route," he said. While TransCanada has said it will re-route the pipeline, Mr. Obama maintained, "The Northern portion of [the pipeline], we're going to have to review appropriately to protect the health and safety of the American people."
  
  The Associated Press this week produced a statistical analysis of 36 years of monthly, inflation-adjusted gasoline prices and U.S. domestic oil production, showing no statistical correlation between how much oil comes out of U.S. wells and the price at the pump.
  
  Anyone who says drilling alone will bring down gas prices, Mr. Obama said today, is either "not paying attention" or "not playing it straight."
  

• 89 - Igor

  Mar 22, 2012 at 10:53 am

  The XL pipeline is a bad deal for the USA.
  
  XL will deliver little or no benefits to the USA. The useful oil will go to India and China.
  
  The employment benefits are minimal or non-existent. The impartial Cornell study indicates a few hundred temporary jobs, if any.
  
  The steel tubing is already ordered from China.
  
  The benefiting oil companies are 60% foreign-owned.
  
  Transcanada is already demanding subsidies from the USA Taxpayer.
  
  On the other hand, the costs to the USA are enormous.
  
  The material that flows through the pipeline is poisonous and toxic. Pipeline breaches will occur often and spoil rich USA agricultural lands. We are dependent on those ag lands to balance our payments with other countries. It's stupid and malevolent to throw that land away.
  
  The USA will be stuck with the cost of the toxic and poisonous materials refined out of the tar sands.
  
  XL is a very bad deal.
  

• 90 - Igor

  Mar 22, 2012 at 11:03 am

  #82-Pump seems all-too-willing to accept assumptions as facts: "The supply and demand effects the price as always...".
  
  Really? Yet the evidence of the past couple years refutes that since we have rising prices in spite of increasing supply and decreasing demand.
  
  How do you explain that, pump?
  
  Do you have in mind some kind of imagined "law of supply and demand" that you would like to tell us about?
  

• 91 - Jet Gardner

  Mar 22, 2012 at 1:19 pm

  It's an evil conspiracy Igor. Rush Limpbaugh told the oil companies to raise the prices until after the election in november.
  
  That way they get 6-months of billions in profits and everyone gets mad at Obama for raising them...
  
  Because the president only has to pick up the phone to raise and lower pump prices on a whim...
  
  Any gullable idiot will tell you that!

• 92 - Kyle Hunter

  Mar 26, 2012 at 9:42 pm

  Interesting how no one's blaming Obama for the pump prices recently beginning to fall.

• 93 - Jet Gardner

  Mar 26, 2012 at 9:57 pm

  Did you really expect them to Kyle?

• 94 - Dr Dreadful

  Mar 26, 2012 at 9:58 pm

  I'm sure some conservative writer somewhere has penned an op-ed explaining why falling gas prices are disastrous for the economy, but only when a Democrat is president.

• 95 - Jet Gardner

  Mar 26, 2012 at 10:00 pm

  I made the dumb mistake of filling my tank two days ago at $3.95 thinking it was about to go up, now the same station is posting $3.79.
  
  I guess I shouldn't turn pro at buying gasoline futures...

• 96 - Kyle Hunter

  Mar 26, 2012 at 10:04 pm

  It's around $3.75 here.

• 97 - Jet Gardner

  Mar 26, 2012 at 10:04 pm

  Well that goes without saying Doc... good point

• 98 - Dr Dreadful

  Mar 26, 2012 at 10:14 pm

  Still $4.27 here in SD, but I believe we have the most expensive gas in the country, or close to it.

• 99 - Jet Gardner

  Mar 26, 2012 at 10:17 pm

  Don't worry Doc as soon as they put the pipeline through our will go up too.

• 100 - Jet Gardner

  Mar 26, 2012 at 10:20 pm

  Doc, here's a handy-dandy tool and I've primed it for San Diego just for you...

• 101 - Jet Gardner

  Mar 26, 2012 at 10:22 pm

  Sorry, If you type San Diego in the search box you'll get your local prices... sigh

• 102 - Dr Dreadful

  Mar 26, 2012 at 10:23 pm

  Thanks, Jet.
  
  Apparently prices in San Diego are so high the website thinks you might as well drive to Columbus to get cheap gas.

• 103 - Jet Gardner

  Mar 26, 2012 at 10:33 pm

  If you type in San Diego you'll get San Diego's prices... sorry I wasn't clear. Try it it works!

• 104 - Kyle Hunter

  Mar 26, 2012 at 10:33 pm

  GREAT TOOL Jet! You are obviously in Columbus Ohio, because the site defaults there, that and the site title-duh. I tried saving it to my favorites but it goes back to Columbus, but it's not that much of a glitch to plug in my hometown.
  
  Thanks for the link!

• 105 - Jet Gardner

  Mar 26, 2012 at 10:39 pm

  I'm glad it worked for you Kyle, now if I can only get it to work for Doc. Anyone else have trouble? See the link on #100
  
  It defaults to Columbus Ohio, but if you put your city in the search box it apparently covers a lot of the country... The link is on #100

• 106 - Dr Dreadful

  Mar 26, 2012 at 10:40 pm

  It seems that not only are San Diego prices among the highest in the country, the bit of San Diego I live in has the highest prices in the city.
  
  Time to oil the old bike...

• 107 - Jet Gardner

  Mar 26, 2012 at 10:48 pm

  I used to fly to SD on business 3-4 times a year, I miss it. We had a house that overlookied the airport and base and I cruised marines and sailors for our features... made a lot of money off those guys.
  
  We had offices and studios on El Cajon before the owners sold out.
  
  Haven't been there since 2004

• 108 - Jet Gardner

  Mar 29, 2012 at 1:15 pm

  Update: Thanks to President Hussein Nobama, pump prices dropped 20 cents a gallon in Ohio in less than a week.
  
  If you get to blame him, you also get to credit him.

• 109 - Jet Gardner

  Mar 30, 2012 at 12:56 pm

  Update: Forbes Magazine:
  
  We’re seeing fallout from gas price mania in many different directions. Last week, the commander in chief visited the small oil-depot town of Cushing, Okla., (small and hostile is better than big and hostile: President Obama is unloved down there) to announce that he would expedite approval of the southern portion of the Keystone pipeline. The pipeline would help drain a glut of oil collecting at Cushing, transporting it to refineries on the Gulf Coast.
  
  Will the coming energy self-sufficiency of the United States lower pump prices? No, it won’t. Oil is a global commodity, and it is traded thus. The price is determined by whatever the marginal price is per barrel in the world. Unless the oil companies are nationalized and forced to sell at lower prices in the U.S., thus foregoing the profitability to be gained elsewhere, oil, and, with it, gas pump prices, will continue to rise over time. Newt Gingrich’s promise that “if elected” (not a real possibility, I admit) to lower pump prices to $2.50/gal should be seen for what it is: yet another politically-expedient and totally mendacious promise made by a politician. The real culprit in the gasoline price drama is none other than supply and demand, aided by a very weak dollar.
  

• 110 - Jet Gardner

  Mar 31, 2012 at 11:24 pm

  Gasoline prices in Ohio have dropped 30 cents in under weeks... No one blames Obama?

• 111 - Jet Gardner

  Apr 08, 2012 at 10:47 am

  Pump prices have fallen 40 cents in the midwest in 3 weeks-still no one blames Obama?

• 112 - Kyle Hunter

  Apr 08, 2012 at 1:09 pm

  They're were as much his fault going up, as they are now that they went back down. Now explain that to $2.50-a-gallon Newt.

• 113 - Jet Gardner

  Apr 08, 2012 at 5:05 pm

  Newt... Newt who? [he grinned sarcastically]

• 114 - Jet Gardner

  Apr 23, 2012 at 12:18 am

  Update: Ohio's governor again showed how much he owes his oil company backers in the past by allowing fracking under Youngstown without proper geological studies first, then he proposed allowing oil drilling in state parks, and now this from the Associated Press...
  
  
  COLUMBUS, Ohio - In the past three years, a state board dominated by members favorable to the oil and gas industry has mostly recommended against the wishes of private landowners fighting drilling beneath their land.
  
  State records obtained by The Associated Press through a records request show the Technical Advisory Council recommended approving 43 of 56 requests since 2009 under Ohio's mandatory pooling law. It allows drillers to defy landowners' wishes if enough neighbors agree to a well.
  
  Opponents say the law is tantamount to seizing private property for corporate profit, even though resisting landowners are compensated.
  
  An attorney for drillers says such laws assure drilling profits are equally shared among even nonparticipating neighbors - and they increase production by reducing the number of holes drilled.
  

• 115 - Jet Gardner

  Apr 23, 2012 at 7:42 am

  THIS IS ALL OBAMA'S FAULT!!!
  
  Update:
  
  COLUMBUS, Ohio
  Ohio gasoline prices have dropped by a few cents, mirroring a decrease in the national average.
  
  The average price for regular gas in Ohio is $3.71 a gallon in Monday's survey from auto club AAA, the Oil Price Information Service and Wright Express.
  
  Pump prices in metropolitan Columbus have fallen to between $3.44-$3.75.
  
  Drivers in the Buckeye State were paying $3.79 last week and $3.87 a year ago.
  
  Prices have taken a downward turn after a four-month surge pushed gasoline to nearly $4 per gallon in early April. That left drivers, politicians and economists worried that prices might soar past all-time highs, angering voters and dragging down an economy that is struggling to grow.
  
  Nationally, the average price of regular gas is about $3.86, down four cents from a week ago.
  
  --------
  
  THIS is what happens when midwest gasoline and oil stay in the midwest. With no XL pipeline the price goes lower because what is refined in the midwest stays in the midwest.
  
  Can you imagine the price at the pump nationwide if the whole country insisted in keeping our oil HERE instead of exporting it to the gulf to be refined and exported to china and europe???

• 116 - Jet Gardner

  Apr 23, 2012 at 7:51 am

  UPdate: Michigan
  
  Now don't forget kids; if it's Obama's fault they went up-it's his fault they're coming down!
  
  AAA Michigan says gasoline prices fell about 10 cents during the past week to a statewide average of about $3.83 per gall
  
  The auto club said Monday the average is about 15 cents per gallon less than last year at this time.
  
  
  Of the cities it surveys, AAA Michigan says the cheapest price for self-serve unleaded fuel is in the Flint area, where it's $3.75 a gallon. The highest average is in the Marquette area at $3.88.
  
  Dearborn-based AAA Michigan surveys 2,800 Michigan gas stations daily.
  

• 117 - Jet Gardner

  Apr 23, 2012 at 7:55 am

  Dear God! prices at the pump are falling all over the country. It HAS to be an evil left-wing plot led by Hussein Obama to sabotage Oil company profits!

• 118 - Jet Gardner

  May 22, 2012 at 2:32 pm

  UPDATE... BIG OIL BUYS MIT ROMNEY...
  
  From NBC News transcript: - Is it possible to buy a position on mitt romney 's team of advisers simply by donating large sums of cash to a pro- romneysuperpac ? it may be coincidence but just one month after being named romney 's top energy adviser, this man, harold hamm wrote a check to the superpac restore our future. michael isikoff is following the story and he joins us live from washington. mike, who is this man, and is this the and is this the quid pro quo that it appears to be?
  
  harold hamm is chairman and ceo of a company called continental resources that owns much of the oil shell formation below north dakota and montana. in fact, he was profiled in a businessweek story just last january under the title "the man who bought north dakota ." his company, continental resources, has made a killing on the boom in oil production from oil shale in that state. and he's also been sharply critical of president obama 's energy policy , says he's investing way too much in unproven technologies like solar and windmills instead of promoting more domestic oil production . he's also very critical of the president giving tax breaks. here's what we know. in march he popped up - romney made a campaign stop in north dakota , fargo, and announced that mr. hamm would be the chairman of something called his energy advisory group to advise him on setting an energy policy . and then we just discovered this week that about that time, about a month later, mr. hamm donates this $985,000 to the romneysuperpac . and this is - you know, we've all become a bit jaded by these large six and seven-figure donations. do the superpacs raise questions about access the donors might get to the candidates? here we have something of a wrinkle where one of the mega donors is actually explicitly setting policy for the candidate. he's the chairman of this energy advisory group.
  
  >> nothing more than a coincidence, michael. nothing more than a coincidence.
  
  >> of course, what the romney campaign said was the superpac is an independent entity and, therefore, they can't answer questions.
  
  >> mike, i want you to take a listen to romney responding to rick santorum 's complaints about superpac ads during the south carolina primary debate. take a listen.
  
  >> i did not have a superpac run an ad against you. as you know, that is something which is completely out of the control of candidates. one of the things i decry in the current financial system that gets behind campaigns.
  
  >> are we really expected to suspend our disbelief when mitt romney has said he has no contact, no power over superpacs when his energy adviser tosses in almost $1 million a month after coming on board the campaign?
  
  >> there was a very interesting firing of the supreme court a few days ago by senator john mccain and senator shelby whitehouse asking them to revisit that decision pointing out the many ways in which superpacs and the president's campaigns overlap, how consultants go from one to the other, and so i think this whole idea of - that these are independent groups is being challenged again and again, and, you know, every time we look at the new superpac reports, we find new examples that raise questions along these lines.
  

• 119 - Jet Gardner

  Oct 18, 2012 at 3:33 pm

  Local Ohio Gas at the pump is at $3.19 because the big oil pipeline that Romney is whining about didn't go through-thwarting their bypassing our local refineries.
  
  (:^PbPbPb~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

• 120 - Jet Gardner

  Oct 19, 2012 at 8:18 pm

  Mid Ohio gas price @ pump 10/19/12 ar #3.12 because Eomney's pipeline isn't diverting crude away from midwest refineries

• 121 - Jet Gardner

  Oct 23, 2012 at 4:15 pm

  Thanks to Obama opposing Romney's pipeline-midwest gas prices stand at $3.09 on 10/23/12

• 122 - Jet Gardner

  Oct 23, 2012 at 4:18 pm

  If Romney gets his xl pipeline-crude will bypass midwest refineries raising prices and profits for big oil

• 123 - Jet Gardner

  Nov 07, 2012 at 8:53 am

  Ohio is $3.11 @ gallon today because Romney’s XL pipeline isn’t sucking crude away from Midwest refineries.

• 124 - Igor

  Nov 07, 2012 at 10:34 am

  The XL is not in Americas best interests.
  

• 125 - Jet Gardner

  Nov 07, 2012 at 10:54 am

  Do you know that oil in the U.S. was first discovered not in Texas-but in Ohio & Pennsylvania?

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