New Brunswick premier pitches Energy East pipeline as Keystone rejected by Obama

“We consulted with our Canadian friends and I spoke with Foreign Minister Dion today regarding this decision”, Kerry said in the statement.

The Keystone XL pipeline would’ve transported oil across the border between Canada and the United States, from Canadian oil sands in Alberta to Nebraska and down to refineries in the Gulf Coast. They pointed out that bitumen from the rapidly expanding oil sands in Canada was a lot more carbon-intensive to extract than regular crude oil.

Although Obama in 2013 said his litmus test for Keystone would be whether it increased USA greenhouse gas emissions, his final decision appeared based on other factors.

Obama said the State Department rejected the proposed pipeline, saying it would not make a meaningful long-term contribution to the US economy. In October 2010, Clinton indicated she was “inclined” to approve the project, but has since backed away from that stance and in September said she opposes it.

The state’s congressional delegation is divided along party lines over President Obama’s decision to reject construction of the Keystone XL pipeline.

America’s now a global leader when it comes to taking serious action to fight climate change.

“We desperately need change in this process”, said Heitkamp, adding that it has been too politicized for too long. In addition to loosening the US ban on crude oil exports, Obama has opened up new areas to oil drilling and declined to ban the use of “fracking” to drill for natural gas.

The $8 billion project’s tombstone may be temporary, with the company behind it, TransCanada Corp., now weighing its options. Mr. Obama on Friday forcefully argued that its economic impact would be marginal – and not worth the harm it would cause in the ongoing discussion over climate change. Since the company first proposed the 1,179-mile pipeline, the project has been studied, stalled, slammed and hyped – all amid intense political pressure from powerful interests on both sides of the debate.

In this November 3, 2015, photo, the Keystone Steele City pumping station, into which the planned Keystone XL pipeline is to connect to, is seen in Steele City, Neb.

“It’s become painfully clear that the president is more interested in appeasing deep-pocketed special interests and extremists than helping tens of thousands of Americans who could have benefited from Keystone’s good jobs”, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Friday.