Oil is largely our energy past, and Keystone does little to respond to the actual challenges and opportunities before us.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
The oil industry fought hard to keep Keystone alive, making wildly exaggerated claims that the pipeline - the country's largest infrastructure project - would create tens of thousands of jobs and decrease America's reliance on oil from the Middle East.
The fact is, America needs energy and new energy infrastructure, and the Keystone XL pipeline will help us achieve that with good stewardship.
I support an all of the above energy policy, so that's not only just Keystone, that's not only just drilling, that's clean coal, that's safe nuclear.
The environmental movement's focus on the Keystone XL pipeline issue really used to baffle me.
In my judgment, the president should reject Keystone and step up natural gas exports.
If you ask the average person on the street about U.S. energy and U.S. oil in particular, our situation, most Americans would say, 'Oh, we're energy poor; we don't have enough oil; we don't have enough natural gas.'
As much as we need to approve the Keystone pipeline, we need to think far broader than that.
Energy has become a national security issue and as technology continues to improve, there will be more debates like the one on Keystone.
The one thing people seem to forget is the more oil we have, the lower the price and the lower the profits the oil companies make.
The Keystone Pipeline is one common-sense step in the right direction to help put more people back to work, reduce prices at the pump, and position our nation for greater energy security now and in the future.