Congress Set To Vote On Koch Brothers Wealth Enhancement Act Of 2014 (Keystone XL)

There have been so many lies told about the Keystone XL Pipeline by self-interested corporations and whoring pundits that many of the facts get obscured in the bitterly polluted atmosphere. That trend is escalating as Congress prepares another pointless vote to advance the project despite President Obama’s vow to veto it should it arrive at his desk.

Koch Brothers Keystone

On this weekend’s Sunday news programs representatives of the oil industry, and their lackeys in Congress, made a concerted effort to muddy the debate again by deceiving viewers with demonstrably false assertions.

Among the deceivers was Russ Girling, CEO of the pipeline builder TransCanada, who told ABC’s Martha Raddatz that “the 42,000 jobs created by the Keystone XL pipeline are ‘ongoing, enduring jobs.'” This statement was reiterated after Raddatz explicitly challenged Girling on the figures. However, PolitiFact investigated the matter and found Girling’s statement to be false:

“Importantly, as Raddatz said, these jobs would only be supported during the construction phase, which is expected to take one to two years. After construction, the pipeline would employ about 50 people, primarily for maintenance.”

So Girling was only off by about 99.9 percent. This is typical of the disinformation campaign orchestrated by the fossil fuel folks who brazenly put their profits above the health of people and the planet.

This propaganda on behalf of greedy polluters is facilitated by the Republican PR division, otherwise known as Fox News. In recent weeks Fox has disseminated the same dishonest analyses on several programs. Among them were Happening Now where last week host Heather Nauert made the false claim of 40,000 jobs created, and Fox & Friends where co-host Anna Kooiman did the same the week before.

The truth that there will only be about fifty permanent jobs created shows just how distant reality is from the unscrupulous mouthpieces of the Dead Earth trade. But that isn’t the only falsehood they are spewing. The entire project is a scam devised to enrich oil exporters. The product that would flow through the pipeline is Canadian oil destined for markets in Europe and Asia. The President noted this on Friday advising people to…

“Understand what this project is: It is providing the ability of Canada to pump their oil, send it through our land, down to the Gulf, where it will be sold everywhere else. It doesn’t have an impact on U.S. gas prices.”

Will the truth prevail in the debate that is being rushed through the Senate this week? Will the fact be addressed that the project cannot even proceed until the states through which the pipeline passes grant permission? And will the American people finally realize that the Koch brothers have more sway with the Republican congress than they do, and do something about it?

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6 thoughts on “Congress Set To Vote On Koch Brothers Wealth Enhancement Act Of 2014 (Keystone XL)

  1. No, it will not because it’s more important for them to express their hatred for President Obama than it is for them to clutter their little brains with facts.

  2. 42K on short term if that, and permanent if still 42K would be TransCanada jobs, NOT USA jobs. So let’s have them destroy our land and such moving the oil to the gulf to sell on the other market that will not even effect our per barrel price nor our gas price. They should just go west to get to the water… but guess what, Canada will not allow them to do it. Why do you think we should give them double the length on our land. Tell your neighbor that you are going to route your sewer pipe on top along their yard to dump past them instead of dumping it past your own yard… how far do you think you will get? If you do get to do it, when it bust’s and sewage is all over their yard you can shrug it off going “not my problem”.

  3. We all love big oil. They are the ones who gouge us at the pumps and contribute more pollution to the atmosphere then anyone but big coal, god love ’em. But the fact is that even though we may thrive on air pollution, you really can’t just polish up an aquifer that has had tar sands oil dumped into it by a ruptured pipeline. You will definitely wish you had weighed the value of water against the value of oil a little more carefully.

    • longtail, I can’t understand why people can’t grasp that concept of how harmful this can be. One of Nevada’s Congressman who lost his bid for reelection voted against Keystone today. The critical comments that people have posted on his Facebook page are among the dumbest I’ve ever read. When this comes up for a vote again in 2015 I’m sure his Republican replacement will back it all the way since he’s already spoken in support of storing nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain.

  4. Looks to me as if the democrat party is as much on board in congress as anyone – it’s not a narrow group of pols who love oil.

  5. I’ve looked online and can’t find the answer to one question – who is paying for this thing? The article suggests we, the taxpayers, are footing the bill which will benefit the oil industry. So who is it – the pipeline information website doesn’t say. Anyone?

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