Energy security is essential to US national security

November 18, 2015

The Examiner.com

This article was submitted by Corporal Harry Prestanski, USMC (Ret.) who lives in Phoenix. He is the Arizona volunteer state chairman of Vets4Energy.

Plans for the Keystone XL (KXL) pipeline were dealt a serious blow a couple of weeks ago as President Obama declined to go forward with construction during his Administration. It’s a move that left many Americans scratching their heads while others cheered the decision as a victory for the environment. Count me as part of the former.

I’m not alone in my line of thinking. This is a project that is supported by 59% of Americans. It seemed odd that a President who is so acutely aware of public polling would reject a proposal that was supported by nearly three out of five citizens.

In recent months, the Administration declared climate change “an immediate risk to our national security.” And in the President’s worldview a pipeline carrying crude oil didn’t match his identity as an environmental crusader. But as green activists cheered outside the White House, I found myself wondering if this rejection did indeed make the homeland safer or any greener.

We are facing an unusually long war with an enemy that isn’t clearly defined. This conflict poses a grave threat, not only for our troops stationed abroad, but Americans everywhere. Does a pipeline, of which there are thousands in the United States already, really present the same type of risk? Everything my time in the military has taught me leads me to believe this isn’t the case.

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