The real reason Obama rejected Keystone
F. Michael Maloof
The Keystone XL Pipeline would have brought oil from Canada’s shale reserves in Alberta to Nebraska, creating an estimated 9,000 well-paying construction jobs.
But former Republican Rep. Pete Hoekstra told G2 Bulletin that President Obama rejected the project because he needs the help of Riyadh to resolve the four-year Syrian conflict, which has turned into a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
In rejecting the pipeline, Obama said it would transport “dirty oil” and wouldn’t make a long-term economic contribution to the U.S. economy.
But Hoekstra, who led the House intel panel from 1993 to 2011, believes there’s another reason.
While Obama is “playing to his green, anti-fossil fuel, climate-change crowd,” he needs Saudi help in Syria, said Hoekstra, who now heads Hoekstra Global Strategies.
“For me,” Hoekstra said, “the bottom line is [Obama] was never going to approve this project.
“His allies never wanted it, and the Saudi argument just gives him one more reason to do what he was going to do anyway,” Hoekstra said.
For the rest of this report, and others, please go to Joseph Farah’s G2 Report.
Over the past year, the Saudis have been putting pressure on the Obama administration to halt its drive toward energy independence. The Saudis have seen their market share of oil production threatened by U.S. oil producers who have increased output using new shale-oil technologies, driving down prices.
The Saudis can’t cut their own production, because the other oil-producing countries would swoop in and take market share.
As they watch the compromise of the source of their vast wealth, the Saudis have put considerable pressure on Obama to find a solution to the four-year-old Syrian crisis.
The Sunni Saudis want the ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a Shiite Alawite who is allied with Riyadh’s major sectarian enemy, Shiite Iran.
In turn, Obama needs Riyadh to help maintain the fragile anti-ISIS coalition to which Saudi Arabia and the other Arab countries belong.
Obama lost considerable Saudi support in 2011 after his refusal to help Saudi-backed Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who was ousted and succeeded by Muslim Brotherhood-backed Mohamed Morsi.
For the rest of this report, and others, please go to Joseph Farah’s G2 Report.
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