I must admit to some ambivalence about the Keystone pipeline as a political issue.
While there is indubitably some impact on the environment, I suspect that on the scale of major environmental issues facing the United States this is relatively minor. On the other hand, adding to the global pollution from the crudest forms of oil, is a real issue.
The Republicans have responded to the liberal stand by turning Keystone into a FAUX issue .. thousands or millions of American jobs are at stake.
To make matters worse President Obama has hidden behind the State Department or any other convenient agency. This has really been a poor excuse for decisiveness and should stop now that he is not running for reelection.
There is no obvious advantage to the United States of having this pipeline. The Canadians will find some other way of shipping the oil and the few jobs that will be lost here are transitory ones.