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No, Seriously: Keystone Pipeline Could be Delayed for One Year Because of an Endangered Beetle

Aug. 1, 2012 9:13pm Becket Adams

Hey, remember how much of a headache it was to get the Keystone Pipeline project going? Do you remember all the political fights and power plays?

Do you remember how President Obama took credit for “approving” the construction of the pipeline after TransCanada, the company behind the 1,700-mile project, decided to start construction in the U.S., thereby making it non-international and thereby taking away the president’s veto power?

Seems like it was all a real pain in the neck, right? Well, considering how bad the economy is, at least we can finally get started on that massive job creator — oh, wait. No.

“A federal agency’s recent decision involving the endangered American burying beetle could cause up to a year’s delay in construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, if the project wins federal approval,” the Omaha World-Herald reported Wednesday.

Of course, a spokesman for TransCanada says the federal officials assessment is premature.

But let’s just stop for a moment and take this all in. After everything that has happened with the construction of this pipeline, Federal officials may delay it for up to a year because there is an endangered bug in the area.

But wait! It gets better:

… an official with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service confirmed the agency is not allowing researchers hired by pipeline TransCanada to trap and relocate the endangered beetles from the new path of the controversial crude-oil pipeline until the project receives federal approval.

Not only is this just silly, but it’s also a major change of procedure. The feds have never had a problem with TransCanada researchers moving bugs in the path of the proposed pipeline.

Gee, we’re starting to feel that they’re doing this on purpose.

“Mike George, state supervisor of the federal agency, said a lawsuit filed by anti-pipeline environmental groups last year prompted Fish and Wildlife attorneys to re-evaluate its practices [emphasis added],” the Omaha World-Herald reports.

Ah! There it is!

“Now, he said, research projects on endangered species that require disturbing the species will not be allowed before major construction projects, like the Keystone XL, gain a federal permit,” the report adds.

But how could this bug delay the construction of the pipeline for up to a year? Well, it’s because you can only trap it in the spring and summer, of course!

TransCanada spokesman Shawn Howard said the environmental group “Biological Diversity” [we’re not making this up, folks], one of the eco-organizations that sued the Fish and Wildlife Service in 2011, was “getting way too far ahead of themselves.”

Of course, do we even need to mention that no one even knows how many beetles might be in the path of the new pipeline?

“There’s a lot of ways to deal with this,” Howard said, adding that construction is expected to take two years and that it could “be adjusted to allow for removal of any beetles without affecting that timetable.”

Click here to read the full report.

(H/T: Power Play), Front page photo source.

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Comments (79)

ContinentalArmy
Posted on August 1, 2012 at 11:01pm
Just more damn Govt. hype to stay under OPEC’s thumb! Time this Admin. understands what We the People want, and not what the Govt. thinks is best for us! The Govt. has grown way out of proportion! Time to shrink it down to size! How about a Pay No Tax and see how far Obama and the rest of the Big Govt. spenders do? No Lavish Vacations, playing Golf, Trips around the World, Etc.! The IRS can eat crow on this one!!!

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- ccprotect
  Posted on August 2, 2012 at 12:30am
  Oh for **** sake… so this beetle dies and that saves a wild flower that they are getting grant money on to figure out on how to save this wild flower so they support the beetle. makes my head spin.
  
  Report this comment
- ccprotect
  Posted on August 2, 2012 at 1:02am
  good catch and lthanks for etting it post , i will use the 4 **** next time so you dont have to correct it.
  
  Report this comment
- ccprotect
  Posted on August 2, 2012 at 1:07am
  didnt fix my missing “L” though.
  
  Report this comment
- loriann12
  Posted on August 2, 2012 at 6:44am
  You have to use made up letters….p3t3′$ sake, or a$$, etc. I guss P E T E looks too much like P E T E R, which these days surely isn’t just a name.
  
  Report this comment
- old white guy
  Posted on August 2, 2012 at 10:45am
  there is no shortage of fools in the good ol u.s.a.
  
  Report this comment
- turkey13
  Posted on August 2, 2012 at 11:42am
  Reminds me of 5 years ago when tree huggers stopped mining operations out in (I think) Utah over the kangaroo mouse. All of a sudden it was discovered there were a half million about 50 miles west of the mine.
  
  Report this comment
- rickc34
  Posted on August 2, 2012 at 11:49am
  Really and endangered bug ? Collect a few bugs and some seeds from these flowers and relocate them. As for the rest of the bugs they will probably survive. I cannot believe a government would put the welfare of insects above it’s people. Get a can of Raid and lets move forward Obama.
  
  Report this comment
Detroit paperboy
Posted on August 1, 2012 at 10:44pm
It’s not and never has been about the insects, the animals or the environment……it’s about communists taking down and destroying capitalism…..PERIOD.

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Mahtoska
Posted on August 1, 2012 at 10:41pm
Go to: http://www.republicfortheunitedstates.org

It’s time to take our country back!

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- yougottabekidding
  Posted on August 1, 2012 at 11:02pm
  And the construction unions keep giving money to these idiots.
  LOOK! YOU GIVE THEM MONEY SO THEY CAN KEEP YOU FROM WORKING! IT IS THAT SIMPLE
  What is so hard for you to see? I know the union said, no dummy your leader said. He is making the big bucks on your back.
  Just like the Chinese building 3 majors bridges with Chinese labor in the USSA. What was one of the excuses? We have a shortage of welders in this country. Bull crap!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This country is loaded with certified welders union and nonunion.
  
  Report this comment
TheRooster
Posted on August 1, 2012 at 10:37pm
Bugs,lizards,snakes, jaguars,mastodons,Tyrannosaurus Rex are all free for the taking in academia. Only the stupid ones pick on a bug.

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Delores at CH WV
Posted on August 1, 2012 at 10:32pm
My garden this year has so many beetles that I didn’t get much food as I thought would. It is time to stop the EPA or other government agencies. A beetle can fly and will do so; they are never going to become extinct; if they do get extinct, we can give them a nice memorial.

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kcinco
Posted on August 1, 2012 at 10:31pm
This world is full of beetles. I crunch lots of them into the ground around my property and there are still plenty left!

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cassandra
Posted on August 1, 2012 at 10:23pm
if it wasn’t these beetles it would have been a blade of grass, these groups are front groups for control grabbing progressives who will stop at nothing so we can’t have energy of any kind except what they give us in little doses CONTROL CONTROL CONTROL

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LeadNotFollow
Posted on August 1, 2012 at 10:19pm
…
A bug, really?
They are just looking for reasons to delay the pipeline.
The Government wants us to stay dependent on foreign oil.

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- im_nobody
  Posted on August 2, 2012 at 1:57pm
  I have a can of Raid. Let’s solve this problem!
  
  Report this comment
dmerwin
Posted on August 1, 2012 at 10:13pm
This is what liberals do. They sue for one beetle now. Three years later the courts throw out the case. Then they sue for one slug. Three years later the courts throw out the case. They sue for one rodent. Three years later the courts…. Meanwhile they have held up the process for decades. We really need to eliminate the EPA and start from scratch and make losers in these suits pay for both sides court costs and lost revenue.

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Freedombeliever
Posted on August 1, 2012 at 10:13pm
Too..much..Can’t..take…..any…more…..of…this…insanity.
Tell me this is not true. Please. No, it just can’t be. Come on. Not for a bug. Good god if this idiot imposter-in-chief gets re-elected I am going to have to find me a noose.

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TerryJ2
Posted on August 1, 2012 at 10:06pm
This country has lost it’s mind, insects are the most prolific creatures on earth, endangered “BUG”?
Sigh! we’re doomed!!!

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- dmerwin
  Posted on August 1, 2012 at 10:13pm
  We should have a concerted effort to find these beetles and step on them.
  
  Report this comment
- JBaer
  Posted on August 2, 2012 at 12:17am
  And these bug saving people are of the same ilk that wouldn’t think twice about aborting a human baby!
  
  Enough already with the insanity!
  
  Report this comment
David, the Constitutional Libertarian
Posted on August 1, 2012 at 9:57pm
It has nothing to do with lizards-Texas, aquafer-Central USA, beetles-where ever. Look at what the UN and others have stated. The west’s economies must be destroyed to foster growth in other countries. PERIOD. This is their plan all along. Think about the global warming scam and what the intentions are there. Think about Obama stating we would be happy to purchase their oil.

Come on folks, wake up to the obvious reality. Our sovereignty and way of life is being purposefully destroyed by these international communists.

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YourVoiceMatters
Posted on August 1, 2012 at 9:56pm
then when this is cleared up it will just be something else! it is all about foot dragging until America is a shell of its former self! it is like wading through slimy sludge!

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SolitudeBliss
Posted on August 1, 2012 at 9:51pm
Oh Gosh, now I get it…. Obama is a Buddhist !

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Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on August 1, 2012 at 9:43pm
No suprise there; the eco extremists in league with Obama and Soros.

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perry1980
Posted on August 1, 2012 at 9:38pm
Definition of Liberalism – so open minded that your brain falls out

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- Murkman
  Posted on August 1, 2012 at 9:52pm
  *much applause* !
  
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ENIGMA28724
Posted on August 1, 2012 at 9:37pm
Give me a C-130 and a 100,000 gallons of bug spray and I’d take care of the problem. Let the bugs fend for themselves like they have for millions of years. We have tied ourselves in knots over endangered species to the point those who have jobs are an endangered species. IF we had a president who was worth a dime he would reign in these wacko federal agencies and get our economy running again, but I guess that is too much to ask of incompetence.

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ALL4FREEDOM
Posted on August 1, 2012 at 9:33pm
I know another way to deal with this. Spray, baby, spray!

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booger71
Posted on August 1, 2012 at 9:32pm
Endangered Beetle? Which one Paul or Ringo

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- CK1911
  Posted on August 1, 2012 at 10:00pm
  Damn, you beat me to it. Well played, sir
  
  Report this comment
JUSTANOTHEROPINION
Posted on August 1, 2012 at 9:30pm
Take A boy and girl beetle, put them in a zoo, let them make little boy and girl beetle there and let’s get to freakin work already. First the lizzard in TX now a stinkin beetle. What’s going on here is since Obama couldn’t stop it one way he instructed his minion to find another. Obama is an obstructionist.

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antitheist
Posted on August 1, 2012 at 9:27pm
God loves beetles, seeing as how there are so many beetle species.

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- jaylew
  Posted on August 1, 2012 at 9:53pm
  Every single post you have ever made on this forum is just some smarmy little wormhole comment so you can yank yourself off about how you and God don’t mix. ..”What God?” you say…..and I frankly…unlike many posters here am no more interested in you saving your soul than you are admitting that you might actually have one. You see Antitheist…..a wise man knows when he is making a bet that he actually might not be able to pay…..and then exhibiting restraint and patience as a hedge if for no other reason than that…a hedge…he simply remains quiet. If you cannot even acknowledge the concept of intelligent design using your own myriad of beetle species snark above…..then indeed please do not be upset when you find yourself close to the end…..and you begin to see and feel the hungry beetles lining up outside your door. You see….many beetles eat meat…dead or alive. If you struggle with the concept of intelligent design then fine struggle…please at least do that…..but as far as your sarcasm goes…..you do that at your own peril. The reality of the subject is just that serious…and if you genuinely thought this is all a big bang joke of an existence…then you would not find such glee and pleasure in injecting your own personal struggle into that of everyone else’s. The subject of your ire in this regard could just as easily undo whatever it was that triggered and then caused you to take your first breath. And you cannot prove otherwise.
  
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- Vader234
  Posted on August 2, 2012 at 10:15pm
  @ anathieist
  
  What is more important:
  
  a. a few beetles
  
  or
  
  b. tons of oil and American jobs?
  
  Report this comment
Slaynfire
Posted on August 1, 2012 at 9:25pm
I thought these lefties believed in evolution. Why do they want to stop animals from going extinct? Its kinda hard to evolve with out extinction. For example people would probably not be here if a T-Rex were still running around. By saving the the beetle from extinction they are stopping evolution of another creature. They are fighting against themselves and their own beliefs. Evolve DAMN-IT EVOLVE!

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normalmom
Posted on August 1, 2012 at 9:24pm
My jaw is on the floor from the stupidity. JOBS people you are trying to tell me bugs are more important than jobs and the economy?

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- The_Cabrito_Goat
  Posted on August 1, 2012 at 9:52pm
  The natural order of man and beasts is upside down. Heck, everything about progressivism is upside down. That was the very nature of Marxism to begin with. Take everything about western civilization, and turn it upside down.
  
  Report this comment
historyguy48
Posted on August 1, 2012 at 9:23pm
Really you think they are doing this on purpose. What could possibly give you that idea? They are just terrified that some stupid bug will have it’s civil rights disrupted, that’s all. It’s for the children, it’s for the heck of it!
But it’s not on purpose, oh no! Never that!
It’s way past time to stop this insanity and get back to the business of America, which is business, instead of letting fools and idiots destroy us all!

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- Gorp
  Posted on August 1, 2012 at 9:30pm
  We don’t have enough bugs around? We have to save this one? WTF!
  
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garbagecanlogic
Posted on August 1, 2012 at 9:19pm
Oh Dang!! I squished about 30 of those little devils this morning. I’ll be more careful next time. (I’ll only squish 10 at a time from now on.)

Praise Be To Obama. Psalm 109:8

The U.S. Out Of The U.N.
The U.N. Out Of The U.S.

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