Obama rejects Keystone XL pipeline

“President Obama’s decision to reject Keystone XL because of its impact on the climate is nothing short of historic”.

The transcontinental pipeline would have moved crude oil from Canada’s tar sand fields to refineries along the Gulf of Mexico.

The proposal led to a wave of environmental activism, with the pipeline seen as a litmus test for environmentalists’ ability to block fossil fuel extraction in Canada’s oil sands.

“Although (TransCanada has) been trying to keep the Keystone pipeline alive, really their attention is diverted onto other projects; there is more emphasis on Energy East and other elements”, Julie Brough, vice president at investment managers Morgan Meighen & Associates, which owns TransCanada stock, said.

“With Keystone now delayed, even more important we approve Energy East”, Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall posted on his Twitter account Tuesday while the U.S. State Department was still chewing over TransCanada’s postponement bid.

Newly sworn in Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, a supporter of Keystone, voiced disappointment but said the Canada-U.S. relationship “is much bigger than any one project”.

“Today, misplaced symbolism was chosen over merit and science, rhetoric won out over reason”, he said in a statement.

Girling also said that a “comprehensive and balanced” State Department review of the project found that it would have been “the safest, most environmentally sound way to transport needed energy to Americans” and that it “would not significantly exacerbate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions”.

“We will review our options to potentially file a new application for border-crossing authority to ship our customer’s crude oil, and will now analyze the stated rationale for the denial”.

The battle over the pipeline pitted big-oil Republicans against climate-crazy Democrats and made it’s way into both discussions of GOP and Democratic presidential candidates.

Obama’s decision will have a “chilling effect” on any company considering building energy infrastructure, which could leave the United States at risk in the long term of not having the pipelines it needs, Hoeven said in an interview.