Letters on Keystone XL pipeline, RINOs, Roberts and Brownback

Keystone pipeline meets standards

The Keystone pipeline moves oil at federally regulated pressures and temperatures that all pipelines in the United States are governed by (“Cancel Canada tar sands projects,” Jan. 16 Letters to the Editor). No pipeline goes into service until the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration has examined all pre-commissioning testing results and allows the pipeline to go into service.

The claim by the vice chairman of the Southwind Sierra Club that Keystone XL is “not piggable” was a complete fabrication. The pipeline is 100 percent piggable per PHMSA’s special condition requirements and verified by use of smart in-line inspection prior to placement of the pipeline in oil service. All field and factory bends are piggable and meet industry codes and standards.

Where the pipeline crosses rocky terrain, rivers and waterways, TransCanada uses state-of-the-art construction techniques such as horizontal directional drilling to ensure the land, water body and pipeline’s integrity – all of which are verified by third-party inspection and through PHMSA auditing procedures.

Socialist party

The 2014 election cycle produced one significant event: The Kansas Socialist Party came out of the closet. The KSP is the new face of the old cabal of “Republicans in name only” and Democrats.

The premier event was the “Republicans for Davis” spectacle. This event appeared to be another episode of “Zombie Apocalypse.” Their entire campaign consisted of blaming our governor for the fallout from the 12 years of disastrous KSP control and the past five years of the Obama depression. Fortunately, the voters saw through this charade and sent the KSP back to its sandpile.

During the KSP years, 1998-2010, the annual state of Kansas budget increases exceeded the annual rate of inflation. The excuses used for much of the increases were the KSP-generated “school-funding inequities” reports quoted by the KSP-packed Kansas Supreme Court to justify the court’s attempt to commandeer control of the state budget from the Legislature. Fiscal sanity demands that the Legislature maintain budgetary control and continue to act for the benefit of the future of the state of Kansas.

Wise to re-elect?

How ironic that Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., now heads the Senate Agriculture Committee, given that he attended only 35 percent of its meetings in recent years. And during the Kansas gubernatorial campaign, a proposed delay in lowering state income taxes was loudly denounced as a tax increase by Gov. Sam Brownback’s campaign.

Watch for future events that show how wise it was to keep these two in office.

This story was originally published January 22, 2015 at 6:05 PM with the headline "Letters on Keystone XL pipeline, RINOs, Roberts and Brownback."