The Trouble With Political Obsessions

 Alberta Oilsands

To paraphrase Scotty, in the film The Thing From Another World , produced by Howard Hawks and directed by Christian Nyby, "That's the Republicans for ya! Smart all the way to the top!"

Today's news:

First job for new Republican Senate is Keystone XL: McConnell
Reuters
20 hours ago
 http://news.yahoo.com/first-job-republican-senate-keystone-xl-mcconnell-203827076.html

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The new Republican-controlled Senate's first act in January will be approval of the Keystone XL pipeline, Republican leader Mitch McConnell said on Tuesday.

McConnell told reporters that the bill would be based on a measure that failed in the Senate last month that was co-sponsored by North Dakota Republican John Hoeven and Louisiana Democrat Mary Landrieu.

"It'll be open for amendment," McConnell said. "I will hope that senators on both sides will offer energy-related amendments but there'll be no effort to try to micromanage the amendment process." ...

 And this is all fine. They did win the mid-term election.

However,
Canadian heavy oil drops below US$40 as new oilsands projects rev up

Robert Tuttle, Bloomberg News | December 15, 2014 | Last Updated: Dec 15 3:58 PM ET

... Canada’s oilsands producers will probably be the first to cut output amid falling prices, Greg Sharenow, executive vice president of Pacific Investment Management Co. said this month.
Canadian crude produced from oilsands is some of the world’s most expensive to produce as it must be dug or pumped from the ground, turned into lighter synthetic crude and then transported by pipeline or rail thousands of miles to refineries...

Who knows?

And the trouble with political obsessions is the simple fact that what is does not always agree with a political viewpoint.

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