Bill McKibben writes: Last spring, almost no one outside of Nebraska had heard of the Keystone XL pipeline. As late as October, when the National Journal surveyed 300 “energy insiders” in D.C., 91 percent predicted that the Obama administration would approve the permit for the pipeline. TransCanada stacked 1,700 miles of pipe along the proposed route, so confident was the company of victory.
Today, the State Department and the president denied the permit for the pipeline. It’s one of the rare days in the 20-year climate fight when scientists can smile and Big Oil has to frown. Because citizen activists around the country were willing to put their bodies on the line, and because the environmental movement worked with rare unity and coordination, a done deal has come spectacularly undone.
There are no permanent environmental victories, certainly not this one. TransCanada (or any other company) is free to reapply for a new permit, though I imagine this time the State Department process will be conducted with more transparency and less favoritism. And of course the biggest caveat of all: Even if every drop of tar-sands oil remained safely in the ground, we’ve still got more than enough coal and gas and oil to crash the climate system.
Human activists brought the attention, but I would also venture that the reelection season played a very big role in the decision too. As the season starts heating up, that “O” can’t count on the public being duped again like he did the last time, most likely was the other part too. It’s going to take everyone who is against the environmental onslaught of the special interests to remain focused, because these interests are many, and also rely on short attention spans of the public. Whether or not anyone wants to admit it, the war on the environment is ongoing, requiring everyone who cares, because the powers to be have the money to continue, no matter how long or how much it takes.