Blog
The Denialists
By Kenny Bruno | Corporate Ethics International
Monday, December 05, 2011
This morning I walked from Union Station past the Capitol. The cupola was gleaming in the crisp blue air. It was grand.
Then I went into one of those buildings where the business of government is carried out and saw the House of Representatives in action. It was garbage.
The occasion was a Hearing of the House Subcommittee on Denying Climate Change aka Energy and Commerce and the topic was the Keystone XL pipeline. On November 10th President Obama, who makes this decision according to Executive Order, decided to delay it till after the election. It was a sensible decision politically, because an approval would have severely disappointed greens and youth, while a rejection would have angered some elements of the labor movement. The decision was also just plain sensible, because the route of the pipeline crosses a critical aquifer, the climate impacts haven’t been studied, the State Dept overseeing the permitting has been too cozy with the builder, and the purpose of the pipeline was misrepresented by TransCanada and misunderstood by Congress and the public.
It’s no secret that Republican majority likes the pipeline and wants it approved. That could be a considered opinion or a reflection of the position of their Big Oil donors. But having failed to persuade the President, at least for now, the House “leadership” has decided to bash the President as anti-jobs even as they parry his every attempt to pass a jobs bill. The Hearing wasn’t about passing legislation, protecting public health or creating jobs, it was about making sure the President fails. It’s this kind of thing that gives government a bad name.
What was shocking was the manner in which three labor unions lined up to join the Republican cause. These are unions that would gain jobs from KXL so it’s entirely understandable that they support the project. But however disappointed they might feel about the President’s deferral, it’s hard to see how they benefit from empowering the party that wishes to kill the labor movement, or from a Romney presidency.
On Friday morning every Republican Member and every majority witness repeated discredited and inflated jobs numbers. Every one said it was “shovel ready” which is absurd considering that Nebraska has no approved route. The revelations that TransCanada has bulled landowners and rigged the process were ignored. Every majority Member and witness simply denied the facts that have come out about this pipeline. Denying climate change has led to a denial habit.
Some creative legislative machinations are being put in service of the Denialists. Senator Lugar of Indiana, who really should know better, has introduced a bill to force the President to decide one way or another on KXL 60 days after the bill passes; yet another attempt to impose an arbitrary deadline on a project for which there is no need and certainly no rush. Representative Lee Terry of Nebraska would one up Senator Lugar and give it just 30 days while also taking the decision out of the President’s hands. And there is talk of attaching this to bills that must be passed in December. These maneuvers show plenty of gamesmanship but produce no jobs and no movement toward a new energy economy.
After the Hearing I walked past the Capitol again. It was probably my imagination, but it seemed that the cupola wasn’t gleaming as brightly. Fortunately I saw my friend Marty, a Native American organizer from Minneapolis . He told me he had a vision that Keystone XL won’t be built. Tribal leaders shared that
vision with President Obama during the Tribal Summit that took place at the same time as the Denialists’ Hearing. The alliance of cowboys, Indians, students, elders, grasstops and grassroots that is working to buck up President Obama on climate change isn’t giving up on the future. That can’t be denied.
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