When President Obama rejected the Keystone XL oil pipeline in order "for the President to determine whether the Keystone XL pipeline is in the national interest," the losers were blue-collar workers who would have built it -- as well as any American who fills up at the gas pump.

But there was a winner, a big winner: Warren Buffett. Yes, that would be Mr. Make-Me-Pay-More-Taxes-Before-I-Earn-Again.

You see, North Dakota is producing a lot of oil -- by next year it will be second only to Texas -- which must be moved to refineries, mostly on the Gulf Coast, and the pipelines are full.

As it happens, 75 percent of the oil currently shipped by rail out of North Dakota is handled by Burlington Northern Santa Fe LLC... which just happens to be a unit of Warren Buffett's company, Berkshire Hathaway Inc. What a coincidence!

Don't you just love it when politicians and statist billionaires come together with a win-win plan?

Henry Percy is the nom de guerre for a technical writer living in Arizona. He may be reached at saler.50d[at]gmail.com.