The Obama administration has denied TransCanada’s application for a permit to complete the hotly contested Keystone XL pipeline.
Photo courtesy of priceofoil.org.
The move came after Republicans tried to force a rapid decision on the pipeline through creating an arbitrary early deadline on the issue by attaching it to a temporary payroll tax cut measure.
President Barack Obama gave a statement saying, “As the state department made clear last month, the rushed and arbitrary deadline insisted by the Congressional Republicans prevented a full assessment of the pipeline’s impact, especially the health and safety of the American people, as well as our environment.
“As a result, the secretary of state has recommended that the application be denied. After reviewing the state department’s report. I agree.”
The president went on to say that, “This announcement is not a judgment on the merits of the pipeline, but the arbitrary nature of a deadline that prevented the state department from gathering the information necessary to approve the project and protect the American people. I’m disappointed that Republicans in Congress forced this decision.”
Among the controversies plaguing the project in recent months were concerns in Nebraska about the pipeline going through the state’s ecologically valuable Sand Hills, which include a high concentration of wetlands and an extensive area of very shallow groundwater.
The state department agreed that it needed to take more time to review potential alternative routes through Nebraska.
The state department added that – on the whole – based on its own experience with pipeline reviews and the time typically required for environmental reviews, a decision on the pipeline would be expected no later than the first quarter of 2013. This appeared to be too long for Republicans to wait.
This pipeline still could go ahead, but no time soon. TransCanada can reapply for a permit next year, and Obama did say that the current denial of a permit wasn’t based the merits of the pipeline.
While continuing to tout investments in green technologies, Obama spoke last week, saying, “In the months ahead, we will continue to look for new ways to partner with the oil and gas industry to increase our energy security, including the potential development of an oil pipeline from Cushing, Okla. to the Gulf of Mexico.”
The proposed Keystone XL project would have consisted of a 1,700-mile pipeline, with related facilities that would have primarily transported tar sand crude oil from a supply hub in Alberta, Canada to delivery points in Oklahoma and Texas.
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