Obama Administration Rejects Keystone XL Pipeline

President Obama’s decision to reject the pipeline is being celebrated by those concerned about climate change like former Vice President Al Gore, but heavily criticized by Republicans like House Speaker Paul Ryan who argues the president made a big mistake. The Obama administration says November 4, it is continuing a review of the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline, despite a request by the project’s developer to suspend the review.

U.S. President Barack Obama’s decision to deny approval to the Keystone XL pipeline has permanently changed the discussion on new energy projects, say environmentalists and analysts. He also said it would not lower gas prices in America.

U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton, R-Cortez, added: “This widely supported bipartisan project would have created American jobs, generated additional tax revenue and further strengthened American energy security”. The project was hotly contested and pitted oil companies against environmentalists.

The State Department has been reviewing the project for much of Obama’s presidency, and the project has become a political football during presidential and congressional elections.

“President Obama is the first world leader [to reject an infrastructure project] because of it’s effect on the climate”, said 350.org’s Bill McKibben in a statement.

“And in the coming weeks senior members of my team will be engaging with theirs in order to help deepen that cooperation”.

America is “leading by example”, he said, and approving the Keystone XL pipeline “would have undercut this global leadership”. All this while raising “a range of concerns about the impact” on communities and water supplies and facilitating transportation into the USA of “a particularly dirty source of fuel”.

Kerry said he spoke with Foreign Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion to explain his decision. To do otherwise would, in particular, disrespect Canada, rightly described by the State Department on Friday as “one of our closest strategic allies and energy trading partners”. Its proponents could challenge the decision in court and its construction could yet be approved if a Republican is elected president next year.

In fact, during the seven years that the administration dithered on a pipeline permit decision, Canadian oil sand production continued to rise to around 2 million barrels a day as oil companies turned to rail to transport the crude.