Trump to advance construction of both Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines

If you had issues with Donald Trump, but you figured he might be worth rolling the dice if there was the hope of four or five things good things happening, what might have been on your list? The Supreme Court, certainly. The ObamaCare repeal, absolutely. For me, one of the issues close to the top as well was energy independence. And that doesn't only include drilling for domestic resources. Most people don't realize what a big problem transport infrastructure is, and the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines were supposed to serve as major steps in the right direction until they got stopped by a left-wing president who just flat-out hates everything about fossil fuels. Keystone XL was an especially maddening example during the Obama presidency because everyone knew the seven-year "review process" was a total sham, and no one was surprised when Obama denied the construction permit after sitting on his hands for seven years pretending to think about it. Denying Keystone was a betrayal not only to the company, but to our Canadian allies as well. They wanted to transport oil via our territory and give us a piece of the distribution and refinery action. It benefited no one to deny it, but Obama did it anyway because he was ideologically predisposed to do so, and that's all there was to it.

Well. Four days into the Trump presidency, things have changed quickly and dramatically:

President Trump will sign orders Tuesday to advance construction of the controversial Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines, The Hill has confirmed. The orders will not grant the final permits needed for the oil pipelines, but will move both projects toward approval, a person familiar with the action said. The Trump administration began to inform lawmakers starting late Monday that the orders were coming. The orders will fulfill Trump's campaign promises to approve both pipelines, which have staunch support from the oil industry and the GOP but are strongly opposed by Democrats and environmentalists. The White House said Trump plans to sign executive orders at 11 a.m. Tuesday morning, but did not provide more details.

So just to be clear, this is not the granting of the permit. Rather, it's the start of the process that undoes Obama's denial - and will ultimately lead to the permit being granted. And by the way, this is a good example of how the left has screwed itself with its approach to Trump, both during the campaign and since the election. They're going to hate this decision. They're going to be enraged. They're going to call Trump a corporate stooge and a polluter and a robber baron and Hitler. And why should Trump care? They're already calling him all that, and it isn't stopping him from doing anything he wants to do. It didn't stop him from getting elected. It's not stopping his cabinet nominations. And it won't stop him from doing this. They've already shot their total wad in all its absurdity, and now they have nothing left but to shriek and wail while Trump does all the things he said he would do if he became president. The signing of the executive order is moments away as I write this. Hopefully the oil is flowing very soon.

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