The Colonial Pipeline runs 5,500 miles from Houston to New Jersey and carries over 100 million gallons of fuel a day, so it’s significant that it recently experienced shutdowns due to both necessary maintenance and accidents. The Colonial Pipeline was completed in the 1960s. Over 60% of the U.S.‘s active pipelines were constructed before 1970. Concerns have been growing over the problem of America’s aging pipelines and the potential for massive economic and social impact should they fail.

But the building of new pipelines has become increasingly difficult due to vigorous opposition from both landowners and ecofascist groups. Case in point are the recent protests at the construction site of the Dakota Access Pipeline — a pipeline that finally received the go ahead after years of researching, negotiating and court cases. Environmental extremists and Native American groups have successfully slowed construction with protests that at times have been violent and destructive. On Tuesday, Barack Obama decided to weigh in on the issue, even as his Justice Department has been unwilling to support local law enforcement in dealing with the protesters’ lawlessness. Obama suggested, “I think that right now the Army Corps is examining whether there are ways to reroute” the pipeline. Wrong; the Army Corps of Engineers already concluded that the current route is the best, but Obama seems to think he knows there is a better possible route.

It’s ironic that Obama touts the need to upgrade America’s aging infrastructure and yet when that very necessary infrastructure is something that doesn’t fit his leftist ideology he either ignores or denounces it. Look at his decision to kill the Keystone Pipeline project.