The pipeline was supposed to cross 1200 miles and six states in the U.S and should have moved 800,000 barrels of carbon-heavy petroleum daily from Canadian through Nebraska to refineries in the Gulf Coast, according to the same source.
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A request to build the Keystone XL pipeline was first sent to the U.S. State Department on September 19, 2008.
Mr. Obama is correct that constructing the pipeline wouldn’t necessarily have lowered gas prices or increased U.S.jobs.
Russ Girling, CEO of Calgary-based TransCanada, said the company is disappointed by Obama’s decision and still believes the pipeline is in the best interests of Canada and the United States.
“Anybody who’s ever tried to earn a check in a blue-collar business – I ran a machine shop – understands the importance of affordable energy here in America”, Pompeo said.
If a Republican candidate wins the White House, Schulz said TransCanada will likely re-apply for the major pipeline that would carry bitumen from Alberta to Texas.
Hoeven adds, “Clearly the administration is making a political decision in concern to Keystone, rather than following the legal and regulatory process”.
The decision is considered a victory for environmentalists.
February 11, 2015 – Congress again tries to push the Obama administration to decide on the permit by passing legislation forcing the decision and sending it to the White House.
But earlier during his term, environmentalists were anxious that he would approve it. Climate change, however, has become a central focus of the Obama second term, and it was very much on his mind today when he announced the decision. But with Saudi Arabia content to pump its oil at high volumes despite low prices, and with new oil resources being developed through fracking technology, the case for the Keystone XL pipeline is weaker than it was a few years ago.
The rejection of the pipeline comes just three weeks before Mr. Obama will join other world leaders in Paris for a United Nations conference on climate change.
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We “get” that Obama wants to transition away from oil to cleaner forms of energy, but as he admitted Friday, that transition will take time (read decades) and meantime, the USA will continue to rely on fossil fuels.
