The shutdown of the Colonial Pipeline this past week and the gasoline shortages that came as a result are proof that the nation's pipelines are vital, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said on Newsmax TV Saturday.
"We've got now potentially a gas shortage around the country," Paxton, who has sued the Biden administration over shutting down construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, said on Newsmax TV's "The Count," adding that without Biden's actions, the Keystone project could be "moving in the right direction.:
"This is exactly the reason we want the (Keystone) pipeline in place," said Paxton.
The coalition suing the administration over the Keystone project took action because it didn't think Biden had the authority to undo what had been done by Congress, said Paxton.
Former President Barack Obama had been expected to refuse to authorize Keystone, but "he never did it in the right way," so when President Donald Trump took office, the construction went into effect as authorized by Congress, Paxton added.
Meanwhile, environmentalists believe it is bad to have fossil fuels and fight pipeline construction, but transporting gas and oil by rail or train is more intrusive while pipelines are "very efficient without impacting the environment very much at all," said Paxton.
"It doesn't really make any sense for us to be going down this path...even for the environmentalists. There's literally no reason not to do this," he added..
Meanwhile, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said this past week that it is important for companies to take steps to protect themselves from cyber attacks, even though the administration is calling for improved sharing of best practices between the public and private sectors.
"I have no idea what she's talking about," said Paxton. "It seems to me that the federal government sounds like they've already interfered in the transmission of energy that's needed for this country, and if they continue to do things like this, we're going to see more problems like this."
He added the market will adjust quickly if the government does not interfere with the production of gas and oil, or its transportation, but "clearly they're doing that, and we shouldn't be surprised that there's a negative impact on the country."
Paxton also slammed Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm after she was recorded last week saying that pipelines are the most efficient way to transport energy.
"Even they really know the truth," he said. "This is all just virtue, signaling. I think it's the same thing that with the border crisis that you know, they stepped in and mucked up what was working very well and on the way to success, and it's all about virtue signaling that has to be the reason because there's no good reason not to use the pipeline. There's no better choice."
Note: See Newsmax TV now carried in more than 100 million U.S. homes, on DirecTV Ch. 349, Dish Network Ch. 216, Xfinity Ch. 1115, Spectrum, U-verse Ch. 1220, FiOS Ch. 615, Frontier Ch. 115, Optimum Ch. 102, Cox cable, Suddenlink Ch. 102, Mediacom Ch. 277, AT&T TV Ch 349, FUBO and major OTT platforms like Roku, YouTube, Xumo, Pluto and most smart TV’s including Samsung+, Sony, LG, Vizio and more – Find All Systems that Carry Newsmax – Click Here
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.