NBC, ABC Skip Obama Administration’s Delay of Pipeline That Could Create 20,000 Jobs

By: Scott Whitlock
Friday, November 11, 2011 3:35 PM EST

ABC and NBC completely ignored a decision by the Obama administration that could kill up to 20,000 jobs. Only CBS’s Evening News on Thursday reported that a proposed oil pipeline from Canada to Texas has been delayed until after the presidential election due to environmental concerns.

Evening News reporter Mark Strassmann explained, “Supporters said the pipeline from Canada’s tar sand fields would create more than 20,000 jobs and reduce U.S. dependence on oil from the Middle East.”

He added, “But opponents argued the pipeline was a potential environmental hazard that could have polluted an aquifer that supplies drinking water for eight states.”

Strassmann pointed out that the decision allows Obama to putt off a “very tough decision” and that the President “was squeezed between environmentalists on one side and labor unions aching for jobs on the other.”

On NBC, Today and the Nightly News both skipped the subject. ABC’s World News and Good Morning America did the same. While Thursday’s Evening News did feature the story in a full report, Friday’s Early Show ignored it.

American Petroleum Institute President Jack Gerard appeared on the November 10th Kudlow Report to complain about the decision: “It’s clear the President, tonight, made a very calculated political judgment. And in our view, he gave away 20,000 new American jobs for one job. His own.”

Host Larry Kudlow called the decision an “outrage” and complained, “This undermines every single thing the President has said regarding the desirability of an American energy revolution that could make us independent.”

The Washington Times‘ Tim Devaney on Friday noted: