months after president obama roiz to re-election on the biggest wave of private money in u.s. history, some of the same donors who brought the president back into office are now making clear exactly what it is that they want no keystone pipeline. the pending $7 billion project would deliver 700,000 barrels of heavy crude oil into the country every day. president obama and the state department are expected to make a decision on the pipeline by the end of the summer. but it won t be easy. the fight over keystone has been all politics. proponents of the pipeline argue the project will create thousands of new jobs in a time of economic uncertainty. specifically according to state department estimates, 3900 temporary jobs, and exactly 35 permanent jobs. but even the jobs numbers are in
me on the show. there s been almost sort of a conventional wisdom around keystone is that the president is going to approve it. i think it s pretty remarkable that you have members of the democratic establishment, former deputy press secretary, bill burton, heading an effort, a campaign saying do not approve this. it feels like perhaps the environmental movement is really sort of beginning to gain some steam inside you know, establishment democratic circles around this iraq. how much, how optimistic are you at this point? well this is a huge priority for most of the environmental community. because we see it as literally a line in the sand. and a key test of the president s commitment to really fight climate change with both fists. a couple of months ago we had the largest climate rally in u.s. history, 50,000 people came to d.c. to rally against this pipeline. and in favor of full approach towards transitioning to clean energy. and now what you re seeing is big, democratic donors,
joy when we talk about progressive values, it s really interesting, there s a lot on the congressional plate as it were. if the president does not get measurable gun safety laws passed, if immigration sort of dithers, withers on the vine, i don t know how he approves the keystone pipeline in conjunction with all of that. it would be kind of ironic if after the 2012 election, after he wins re-election by a strong mandate, if what we wind up getting is nothing on immigration, nothing on guns and a pipeline. like that s really not what the base wanted. at the same time it s hard to make the argument. if you look at the ad, the bill burton ad, it runs through the red states with the six and seven electoral votes. even if it s 35 or 40 jobs, they re saying they re willing to take the risk. texas and louisiana, states that destroying themselves by punching holes in the torte get the oil. the people there want the jobs. you get the argument say we re willing to take the risk, we want the pi
high-dollar donors in california. the president appeared to be leaning towards approval. calling the politics of the environment tough. with democratic donors breathing down his back. environmental activists organizing around the country and congress urging approval and two-thirds of americans in favor of the pipeline, the president has a point, politics are tough. but now might be the moment to combat climate change. earlier this year, time magazine wrote keystone isn t the best fight to have over fossil fuels, but it s the fight we re having. if we re in war to stop global warming, we need to fight it on the beaches, the landing zones and the carbon-spewing tar sands of alberta there are many climate problems a president can t solve, but keystone isn t one of them. it s a choice between big oil and a more sustainable planet. the right answer isn t always somewhere in the middle. joining us from san francisco is executive director of the sierra club, michael bruin, thanks for joinin
but i think we re also seeing a situation for president obama where he comes down on energy and it wouldn t be inconsistent for him to approve this pipeline given his actions after bp. he was very generous and friendly towards the oil and gas industries. tried to open up drilling in the arctic not long after bp happened. he s continued to walk a line of more drilling, more perks for big oil, more perks for big energy and it could be another one from them. it s hard to divorce it from what s happening economically. we had a situation where the jobs report was pretty weak. i think if he does approve it, i agree with you, can you see a land where that happens, it would be under the guise of this is what s necessarily economically for the country. the sense of dithering on the project, combined with the mania over sequestration has not been, has not been advantageous, so i think if you see it happen, it would be that way. there is a road that he could