While some of Virginia’s elected officials have ‘evolved’ their thinking on same-sex marriage, the same cannot be said about the dangers posed by construction projects like the Keystone XL Pipeline, a project that has become the ultimate symbol of the Northern Hemisphere’s rush to exploit any and all forms of energy, regardless of the short or long-term consequences.
Environmentally conscientious Virginian’s recently confronted one those elected officials from Virginia who has failed to see the negative climate as well as human and environmental health effects of the Keystone XL Pipeline, Sen. Mark Warner. One of those conscientious Virginians summed up her frustration with Warner the best:
“It wasn’t his telling the TV reporters, “I’m very concerned about climate change” that disturbed me, but rather his citing the State Department’s recently issued Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) as evidence that Keystone would have no major environmental impact. Didn’t he know it has been revealed that the EIS had been prepared by individuals with close ties to TransCanada, the company pushing to build the pipeline?”
It’s not difficult to understand why Warner has spoken so equivocally about the Keystone Pipeline; Warner no doubt believes that personally rejecting the pipeline will leave him open to attack by more moderate and conservative Democratic Party contenders for the 2016 presidential nomination. Maybe Warner is even worried about losing his U.S. Senate Seat come the next round of elections.
But here’s a newsflash for political REPRESENTATIVES: you are not in office to aggrandize yourselves. You are in office to serve your constituency and hopefully, your country (and maybe even the planet!) as a whole. I know, what heresy!
Warner is being cynical when he states on the one hand that “I’m very concerned about climate change,” while on the other hand citing the U.S. State Department’s recent Environmental Impact Statement which essentially gave the green light to start final construction of the Keystone Pipeline.
The State Department review process was as fraught with political considerations as a fete thrown at the palace of King Louis XVI, and Warner knows it.
Sen. Warner may have “evolved” on the issue of same-sex marriage, but growing one arm while the other remains missing still leaves you limited in the actions you can accomplish for the people of Virginia.
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