Keystone Pipeline Rejected: Obama Says ‘No’ To Crude Oil From Canada, Calls It ‘Overinflated’ Issue

The Keystone XL Pipeline has officially been rejected by the President of the United States. Barack Obama recently said “no” to what would have brought crude oil from Alberta, Canada, all the way to the Gulf Coast in Texas.

Environmentalists have been opposing the project ever since it was proposed by TransCanada Corporation over seven years ago. The fears involved included the possibility that a subterranean crude oil transportation system might leak, which in turn would pollute the soil throughout its journey across most of the United States. The crude oil might even get into the water supply and endanger the lives of citizens and animals along its path, as well as any places the polluted water might be heading to.

The same protesters have also claimed that the extraction process of turning the crude oil into usable fuel is dirty and unsafe, according to MTV News.

The potential environmental impact might have led to the Keystone Pipeline being rejected, but it wasn’t a major issue in President Barack Obama’s reasons for turning down the project. He claimed that the project was neither “a silver bullet for the economy” nor “the express lane to environmental disaster,” says USA Today.

Obama says that jobs in the United States have expanded without it, mentioning it had an “over-inflated role in our political discourse.”

“The State Department has decided that the Keystone XL pipeline would not serve the national interest of the United States While our politics have been consumed with a debate about whether this pipeline would create jobs and lower gas prices, we’ve gone ahead and created jobs and lowered gas prices.”

TransCanada allegedly wanted to have its application for the project suspended, as previously reported by the Inquisitr. It is unknown if this was because of climate change, or just their fear of Obama rejecting the Keystone Pipeline.

Of course, not everybody is happy about President Obama’s decision to stop the project, which would have provided more than 800,000 barrels a day from Alberta’s tar sands to refineries across the United States. Former Florida governor and Republican presidential hopeful Jeb Bush is accusing Obama of eliminating a potential rise in jobs.

“The Obama administration’s politically motivated rejection of the Keystone XL Pipeline is a self-inflicted attack on the U.S. economy and jobs,” Bush explained.

Obama says #KeystoneXL pipeline has played an overinflated role in political discourse https://t.co/LwlfIS7n2V pic.twitter.com/xxvCkhbLM1

— The Boston Globe (@BostonGlobe) November 6, 2015

Technically, Florida is one of the few states which wouldn’t be directly affected by the proposed pipeline, sharing little more than a gulf in common with Texas, its furthest destination.

California Senator Barbara Boxer, a ranking Democrat on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, praised Obama’s decision.

“[He is] protecting the health of the American people and the health of the planet by rejecting the ill-advised Keystone tar sands pipeline, which would have brought the filthiest oil known to humankind into our country in large amounts.”

Obama’s rejection of the project may have come just in time, as political tensions have used the project itself as a weapon to divide liberals and conservatives over the energy policy, as reported by CBS News. Obama rejecting the Keystone Pipeline is a major victory for environmentalists, as he’s been pushing for alternative energy sources throughout his presidency.

With the Keystone XL Pipeline rejected, U.S. citizens can now focus more thoroughly on who we want to lead us for the next four years from the Oval Office. Republicans may now focus more attention on attempting to repeal Obamacare or simply try to compete with Donald Trump for the lead.

One thing U.S. Citizens won’t have to worry about, though, thanks to Obama rejecting the Keystone Pipeline, is the possibility of pollution across the nation from Canada’s tar sands.

What do you think about President Obama’s decision?

[Photo by Andrew Burton / Getty Images]