But last week, leading Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton put that scenario into doubt when she refused to answer a point-blank question on whether she supports Keystone.
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Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton grins after speaking at a private fundraiser at the home of long time supporter Virginia McGregor in the Green Ridge section of Scranton, Pa., on Wednesday, July 29, 2015.
Later, Clinton spoke to reporters and said it would be unfair and inappropriate to publicly state her opinion ahead of President Obama and Secretary Kerry and their decisions, “Therefore, I will not do it”, said Clinton, stated the Boston Herald. I had thought that, as galling as Mrs. Clinton’s answer was, it might have been an indication that, once elected, she would decide in favor of the much-vetted pipeline.
A U-S Senator who backs the pipeline this week said President Barack Obama will reject the project next month after congress begins its summer break. She said that would not be the “right thing to do” because the government’s review of the project started during her tenure at the State Department.
TransCanada-built pipeline would transport crude from oil sands in energy-rich Alberta province to a network of pipelines that reach across the United States to the shores of the Gulf of Mexico. “I’m confident that the pipeline’s impact on global greenhouse gas emissions will be a major factor in that decision, as the president has said”.
Fortunately for Clinton, she likely won’t have to keep dodging the pipeline forever. At no point did she take a position, however. “So I want to wait and see what he and Secretary Kerry decide”, she said. “I will not do it. I’m sorry if people want me to”.
Clinton is right: Her State Department never directly negotiated the trade the massive 12-nation trade deal that is a staple of the Obama administration’s foreign policy in the region.
“That changed here recently and the people we’ve been talking to indicate he’ll actually turn the project down in August after we go into recess”, Hoeven said in an interview with Forum News Service. Clinton “will say or do anything” to win, Republican National Committee spokesperson Michael Short said in a statement.
Other Clinton critics were also quick to attack.
CNN notes that Clinton herself has a history of avoiding questions about Keystone XL, ducking the subject whenever it came up on her book tours in 2013 and 2014.
Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley and Vermont Sen.
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As I continue fighting in the Senate for action on climate change, that’s exactly the kind of candidate I’m looking for as our next president. Clinton has once again not decided whether to support the project or not. Meanwhile, she hopes the green left will abide her silence because of her recent proposal to pave the U.S.in solar panels and because they suspect she silently agrees with them.
