Topic: CNSNews.com
Like a good member of the right-wing media, CNSNews.com has been pushing right-wing talking points about how the Keystone XL pipeline will save us all -- never mind that 1) because the oil comes from Canada, it doesn't count toward boosting American "energy independence" and 2) much of the petroleum products made from the pipeline's oil would likely have been exported. The Russian invasion of Ukraine increased CNS' interest in pushing that narrative, combined with attacks on President Biden.
Craig Bannister used a Feb. 25 article to quote former Vice President Mike Pence deslcaring that "President Biden should authorize the Keystone XL pipeline and oil and gas leases in the United States of America." As we've noted, Biden has issued more drilling permits on federal land than Donald Trump did; also, the pipeline will take years to complete, so it would not help Americans now.
The same day, Susan Jones quoted Republican Rep. Tom Cotton parroting Pence's falsehoods and illogic, in saying that "we lift all those restrictions on the production of American oil and gas so we can start drilling on federal lands again and putting out new leases and reopen the Keystone pipeline, which would bring more oil into America every day from Canada than we import every day from Russia." Jones copied-and-pasted Cotton's quote into a Feb. 28 article.
In another Feb. 25 article, Bannister quoted GOP Sen. Dan Sullivan dramatically demanding that Biden "“Get your boot off the neck of American energy producers” because you’re committing “national security suicide,” calling for the approval of Keystone.
On March 1, Melanie Arter uncritically quoted former U.S. ambassador tothe United Nations Nikki Haley asserting that Biden could make up for cutting off Russian oil "in one instance by opening up the Keystone Pipeline" -- again, ignoring that the pipeline would take years to build. Arter also spent a March 8 article reproducing a Q&A between Psaki and hostile Fox News reporter Peter Doocy in which Psaki pointed out that "if President Biden reversed his executive order and allowed the Keystone Pipeline to go forward, it would not affect gas prices faster than getting the entire country off of fossil fuels."
Jones devoted a March 9 article repeating Republican senators pushing Republican talking points on oil and gas, starring you-know-what:
"And I would say to the President, why not American energy?" Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) told a news conference.
[...]
"They took leases, oil and gas, leases on federal lands, took those off limits. They obviously killed the Keystone XL pipeline. I think it was the first executive order the President signed when he came to office. All examples of this administration's hostility to traditional, conventional energy sources in this country -- much of which we need right now.
[...]
Likewise, Sen. John Barrasso, from energy-rich Wyoming, said the Biden administration, until Tuesday, "has played right into the hands of Vladimir Putin" by killing the Keystone Pipeline, shutting down oil and gas leases on public lands, "and as recently as this past month, blocking additional transport of American energy."
Jones did not correct the senators' false insuation that issuance of oil and gas leases on federal land remains prohibited.
Arter served up another Psaki-Doocy Q&A on March 9, in which Psaki accurately pointed out that "if President Joe Biden allowed construction to continue on the Keystone XL Pipeline, it won’t address the high price of gas right now."
