Obama Will Decide On Keystone Pipeline Before He Leaves Office

[Purveyor]

Source: Washington Post


White House officials said Tuesday the president intends to decide the fate of the Keystone XL pipeline during his tenure, rather than suspend the federal review process at the request of the project’s sponsor.

Speaking to reporters, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said President Obama “would like to have this determination be completed before he leaves office” and was not inclined to extend the seven-year review process even longer just because one section of the route is still awaiting approval in Nebraska.

On Monday TransCanada, which is seeking a cross-border permit for an 1,179-mile pipeline between Hardisty, Alberta and Steele City, Neb., that would ship roughly 830,000 barrels a day of heavy crude oil destined for U.S. Gulf Coast refineries, asked the State Department to suspend its review until the Nebraska Public Service Commission approved a revised route through the state.

But Earnest’s comments suggested that the administration — which has been under serious pressure for years from both environmental advocates and major Democratic supporters to block the pipeline — has come to see the project as a powerful symbol of what Obama could do unilaterally to keep fossil fuels underground.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-will-decide-on-keystone-pipeline-before-he-leaves-office/2015/11/03/fb4904f4-7f10-11e5-b575-d8dcfedb4ea1_story.html

[yourout]

1. Anyone else fully expecting this to get ok'd before Obama leaves office?

[BlueEye]

3. I don't think so.

It looks pretty clear that President Obama doesn't want this thing. There may be forces within his administration that do, but he opposed it pretty firmly if you ask me.

But perhaps most importantly, TransCanada doesn't want it right now either. And although that may be a ploy on their part, the bottom line is that with the price of oil right now, Keystone XL doesn't make sense, even for the greediest corporation.

[Le Taz Hot]

4. Yep.

It's one of the many "fuck yous" to the poor and middle class he'll be doing before he leaves office.

[Geronimoe]

2. What is there to decide?

Game over for the planet, if he approves.

[Recursion]

5. Sigh. No.

It's a question of the same oil taking the current, longer, pipeline, plus some trains, or the proposed shorter pipeline. Both alternatives have advantages and disadvantages.