Just one month after Ed Schultz urged President Obama to end his five-year delay and approve the Keystone XL Pipeline, the MSNBC host is now returning to the liberal fold, pushing the White House to cancel the project and warning of “irreversible” environmental consequences.
Schultz raised eyebrows last month by bucking left-wing pressure to oppose the pipeline, which would carry fossil fuels from Canada through the central United States. At the time, the cable news host argued that the fuel would promote energy independence and was going to be burned regardless, adding that a pipeline was a safer alternative to petroleum-laden trains(RELATED: Off the Reservation: MSNBC’s Ed Schultz clashes with greenies over his SUPPORT of Keystone Pipeline).
But this week — after facing tremendous pressure from fans — Schultz changed his tune, claiming the environmental concerns are more serious than he first believed. “I was wrong,” he told his audience on Wednesday. “After researching both sides and listening to all the experts, I don’t think America needs to take this risk.”
And he kept up the drumbeat the rest of the week, opening his Friday show with a pipeline segment touting his “ED-volution” on the issue. “I believe that we are now in the 11th hour,” he declared. “And I believe we are on the verge of potentially [a] stamp of approval to the worst decision this president could make for generations to come.”
“Because if there is a disaster over the aquifer, it is irreversible damage!” he claimed. “What president’s gonna do that after President Obama? Just think, we would be remembering President Obama for a long time — for all the wrong reasons.”
“He’s done so many good things so far,” Schultz said. “I plead with the president now, again, tonight: Say no!”
Schultz promised he would make it his mission to shift the 65 percent of Americans who support the pipeline. He proceeded to lambaste and ridicule Republican supporters of Keystone, and aired footage of a ruptured oil pipeline from Arkansas last year. “It would be NOTHING compared to a Keystone XL spill,” the cable host asserted.
“If the Keystone ruptures over the aquifer, it will be irreversible,” Schultz continued. “You have generational, irreparable damage. The reason to oppose the Keystone XL Pipeline, they’re very clear.”
“Unfortunately, many Nebraska lawmakers — well they’ve been bought out by the oil companies! They’re just not on the same page!” Schultz alleged. “Is that an inflammatory statement? Prove me wrong.”
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