It is undeniable that oil and gas companies should be responsible for the environmental impacts caused by the exploitation and transportation of the oil and gas. Therefore, Obama government’s rejection of Ketstone XL pipeline sounds plausible with regard to the climate change concerns. In my opinion, however, it is not a wise decision.

To begin with, Milton Friedman once said that there is only one social responsibility of business-to maximize profit. In this case, the keystone XL pipeline project neither violates the environmental laws nor has a large impact on greenhouse gas emission. Under the competitive market, there is no reason for the government to prevent companies from making profits if the companies has shouldered their legal responsibilities.

Also, the advantages of the project far outweighs its disadvantages. The project will definitely boost the economy significantly. It will create numerous job opportunities for people in cities along the pipeline route. Moreover, currently a large portion of Canada and the United States’ crude oil is transported to refining hubs in the Gulf Coast by ships, which increases the costs and arouses the energy security issue. The Keystone XL pipeline, however, can solve the problems above perfectly.

From my prospective, Obama administration overemphasized the company’s social responsibility and tried to shift the whole responsibility of sustainability to the individual firms.

Article from : http://www.wsj.com/articles/obama-administration-to-reject-keystone-xl-pipeline-citing-climate-concerns-1446825732

Image from: http://cponline.thecanadianpress.com/graphics/2014/static/cp-keystone-pipeline.jpg