State Department to Reject Keystone XL Pipeline Reroute


The State Department is preparing to reject the proposed reroute of the Keystone XL oil pipeline today. The Keystone XL Project is intended to be a direct route for Canadian Crude to make it to Gulf Coast refineries.

During the contentious debate over the payroll tax cut extension in December, Republicans managed to attach a rider that said the State Department had 60 days to make a decision on the Keystone XL Pipeline. The State Department has already had three years to investigate whether the proposed route, which takes it through a sensitive Nebraska Aquifer, but they claim that they will reject the route because the 60 days given to them by Congress is not enough. They claim that environmental impact statements need to be completed first.

It was rumored that the State Department was going to approve the project which set off a large backlash by the Environmental Lobby.

Canada has openly said that if the United States can’t get its act together quickly it is going to build the pipeline to the West Coast and sell the crude to China.

President Obama’s own Jobs council gave a stamp of approval to the project last year saying,

“[America should ]expeditiously, though cautiously, move forward on projects that can support hundreds of thousands of jobs. We think this all-in energy strategy can create significant economic growths and significant job creation,”

The project is estimated to be able to produce more than 100,000 jobs almost overnight.

House Speaker John Boener is a big supporter of the project and accused Obama of trying to put off the decision until after the election. He said,

“If we don’t build this pipeline to bring that Canadian oil and pick up the North Dakota oil and deliver it to our refineries in the Gulf Coast, that oil is gonna get shipped out to the Pacific Ocean and will be sold to the Chinese. This is not good for our country. The president wants to put this off until it’s convenient for him to make a decision. … The president’s got an opportunity to create 100,000 new jobs almost immediately. The president should say yes.”

Do you think the President should approve the Keystone XL Oil Pipeline?

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