Remember in the
State of the Union address, when the President wheedled the Congress to pass a comprehensive infrastructure construction bill instead of wasting so much time and energy on "a single oil pipeline?"
Did you wonder why this particular pipeline is more important to the corporate lackeys that control both houses of Congress, right now, than any other facet of the people's business?
Or why, since they claim the whole point of this project is for the benefit of the American people, they rejected a proposed amendment to the Senate version of the bill from from Sen. Mendendez?
To ensure private property cannot be seized through condemnation or eminent domain for the private gain of a foreign-owned business entity.
And Sen. Wyden's amendment?
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to clarify that products derived from tar sands are crude oil for purposes of the Federal excise tax on petroleum.
Or why they
tabled one from Sen. Franken?
To require the use of iron, steel, and manufactured goods produced in the United States in the construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline and facilities.
Or why, despite the
assurances of Trans-Canada that it is not for export, they
tabled one from Sen. Markey?
To ensure that oil transported through the Keystone XL pipeline into the United States is used to reduce United States dependence on Middle Eastern oil.
Or why the only federal court with juridiction over the pipeline
is the United States District Court for the District of Columbia,
not the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska, where most likely litigants live?
Could it be that the Koch's control over a million acres of Alberta tar sands leases?
Or that Valero Energy's Texas refineries, which is contracted for 100K barrels of tar sands crude from KXL a day till 2030, are in Foreign Trade Zones, from which they can export it tax free?
Or that Valero plans to sell all the diesel refined from this dilbit to Europe? (While importing gasoline, made from cleaner, cheaper Saudi crude, from their refinery in Ireland!)
You might want to read what Valero's telling their stockholders, and many other facts and dirty secrets in Oil Change International's fascinating report.
For more detail on the KXL votes mentioned above, Liberty Equality Fraternity and Trees has an excellent summary.
And if you want a view of all this sausage making, directly from the source, here ya go!