TransCanada officials noted that the State Department previously suspended its review during a legal dispute over the pipeline in Nebraska. As if to punctuate that point, the White House has announced that despite TransCanada’s request, the President will not “yield to big oil” to delay his decision on Keystone XL, and that he will make the final decision before he leaves office.
Advertisement
The State Department has rejected TransCanada’s request to suspend its evaluation of the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline. By releasing the pipeline to the Chinese, the DNC effectively relinquishes US authority as to how safely the crude oil is transported on this planet.
TransCanada, the company looking to develop the pipeline, asked for an extension of the federal review into the project this week. “We’re not required to pause it based on an applicant’s request”. They also warn that pipeline leaks could potentially pollute underground aquifers that are a critical source of water for farmers in the Great Plains.
The Obama administration’s handling of Keystone XL is much more damaging than a decision on a single pipeline.
“President Obama should say this fails my climate test”, McKibben said.
Senator John Hoeven (R-North Dakota) told Reuters that he thinks Obama will ultimately defeat the pipeline before climate change talks take place this December in Paris, where the worldwide community will meet to try and negotiate a comprehensive, global pact regarding global warming.
Its defenders say it would create jobs, cut domestic energy prices and reduce USA dependence on foreign suppliers.
President Barack Obama has yet to say whether he would support the project, but all of the Democrats running in 2016 are against it, while all of the Republicans running are for it, the AP reported.
Murkowski last month spoke out against a recent decision by the U.S. Department of the Interior to deny Shell Alaska’s request to extend leases off Alaska’s northern coast.
“They clearly saw a potential checkmate on the horizon and they made their best counter move and the US just called them on it”, Pelletier said. Recently published figures in the US show that its intake of Canadian oil has jumped once again since a year ago, despite the noise over Keystone.
Environmental groups quickly praised the State Department move and urged Obama to follow up by quickly rejecting the pipeline.
Advertisement
“The prospects for KXL approval by the USA had been dim, but the ascension of the new Trudeau government, with its serious commitment to meeting greenhouse gas reduction targets matching those of the United States, could change the dynamic”, Goldwyn said. They didn’t care that the crude might well be extracted, with or without the pipeline. Trudeau supports the Keystone XL pipeline but to a lesser degree than predecessor Stephen Harper. If a presidential permit is authorized, it would take another two to two and a half years to build the 1,779-mile Keystone XL from Alberta and across three states to Steele City, Nebraska, where it meets up with other pipelines.
