By definition, only one item in a list of bad attributes can be the worst. Much about a setback to the proposed Keystone XL pipeline is bad. So what's the worst?
It's bad that Department of State minions said neither the White House nor politics influenced a decision to study new routes for the pipeline until no sooner than the first quarter of 2013.
No one believes this. Everyone knows President Barack Obama faces a dilemma. A pipeline economically important to the country needs his administration's approval. But he needs support from pipeline opponents in his bid for reelection next year.
So it's bad that the administration put politics before national needs, such as for investment, jobs, energy security, and solid relations with a friendly neighbor.
It's also bad that the delay forces producers in the oil sands region of Alberta to consider alternative markets for bitumen and synthetic crude oil.
It's bad, too, that refineries on the Texas Gulf Coast will remain detached from an important source heavy feedstock, which they need to make best use of conversion capacity.
And it's bad that a permitting authority can't make a decision about a vital project after more than 3 years of study.
What's worst about the Keystone XL delay is capitulation, yet again, to an obstructionist, antioil political agenda.
It's an agenda driven by fear and advanced by delay.
In their campaign against Keystone XL, obstructionists frightened people into thinking the pipeline would imperil subsurface drinking water and aggravate global warming.
Despite facts about low chances of real environmental harm, fear prevailed. It obliterated tolerance for risk and enabled the administration to postpone its decision until after elections next year. To obstructionists, the only thing better would have been outright disapproval.
Delay achieved through fear limits too much supply of affordable energy in the US. The consequent costs are too high.
A country craving jobs and affordable energy should know better than to jump at every extremist shout of "Boo!"
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