Keystone XL Pipeline: Obama Administration Announcing It Will Not Go Forward With Controversial Plan
Official announcement expected at 3pm...Learned of this on my Twitter sopa strike feed;-)
huffingtonpost.com
WASHINGTON -- The State Department will not approve a permit for the construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline across the U.S.-Canada border, sources told multiple media outlets on Wednesday.
The news comes after White House Press Secretary Jay Carney announced at a Tuesday afternoon press conference that President Barack Obama cannot approve the pipeline by the February 21 deadline imposed by Congress.
It also comes after House and Senate lawmakers signaled they would introduce new legislation pushing the permit forward even if the Obama administration rejected the proposal. That bill, drafted by Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.), would have shut the White House out of the decision making process around Keystone, leaving Congress full authority to issue approval of the pipeline, which would stretch an estimated 1,700 miles from tar sands in Canada to oil refineries along the Gulf Coast.
The State Department's permitting process technically applies only to the portion of the pipeline that crosses the international border between Canada and the United States. Rejecting that permit might prevent the pipeline from being built in its entirety, but sources familiar with the process tell The Huffington Post that TransCanada should be able to build a shovel-ready southern portion of the pipeline -- between Oklahoma and Texas -- without further approvals. TransCanada, the corporation that stands to profit from construction of the $7 billion pipeline, can also re-apply for the border crossing at any time, sources said.
Author and environmentalist Bill McKibben, the founder of 350.org who spearheaded the movement against the pipeline, reacted to the news in a statement on Wednesday afternoon.
Assuming that what we're hearing is true, this isn't just the right call, it's the brave call. The knock on Barack Obama from many quarters has been that he's too conciliatory. But here, in the face of a naked political threat from Big Oil to exact 'huge political consequences,' he's stood up strong. This is a victory for Americans who testified in record numbers, and who demanded that science get the hearing usually reserved for big money.We're well aware that the fossil fuel lobby won't give up easily. They have control of Congress. But as the year goes on, we'll try to break some of that hammerlock, both so that environmental review can go forward, and so that we can stop wasting taxpayer money on subsidies and handouts to the industry. The action starts mid-day Tuesday on Capitol Hill, when 500 referees will blow the whistle on Big Oil's attempts to corrupt the Congress.
Congress has pushed Obama to decide by February 21 on whether to approve the controversial pipeline. |
