Obama facing post-election
pressure to green-light Keystone
Published November 09, 2012
FoxNews.com
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Nov. 6, 2011:
Demonstrators carry a mock pipeline during an anti-Keystone rally in front of
the White House in Washington.(REUTERS)
President Obama,
after winning a second term, is facing renewed pressure to approve the
Canada-to-Texas Keystone XL pipeline as one of his first orders of
business.
The president had
delayed approval of the project in January, amid vocal opposition by
environmentalists. The decision created a rare alliance -- both Republican
lawmakers and unions clamored for an end to the stonewall, pointing to the
thousands of jobs that could come with Keystone.
Now that Obama has
secured another four years, he doesn't have to walk the tightrope between the
Sierra Club and the AFL-CIO. And everyone from Canadian officials to energy
industry magnates voiced hope this week that the Obama administration would
ultimately side with the jobs.
The latest was
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who according to Reuters said in India
Thursday that he's "optimistic" the pipeline will be approved.
"Evidently the
next steps will be very soon," he said.
Mitt Romney, for his
part, pledged to green-light the project on Day One if he had been elected.
American Petroleum Institute President Jack Gerard indicated there's no reason
Obama can't do the same.
"Right off the
bat, the president can approve the Keystone Pipeline and put thousands of
Americans to work immediately," Gerard said in a statement.
The $7 billion
pipeline project, which would transport tar sands crude from Canada to the Gulf
of Mexico, emerged at the center of an international fracas involving dozens of
interest groups, the governments of Canada and the U.S., and a steady parade of
celebrity protesters.
The State Department
last fall postponed a final decision on the permit, before Obama in January
rejected the application -- in response to an effort by Republicans to compel a
decision.
Since then, though,
company TransCanada has submitted a new application that would reroute the
project around the environmentally sensitive Nebraska region of Sand
Hills.
Opponents of the
project have cited environmental and health concerns -- since the original
route through Nebraska passed by a vital aquifer. They also cite the greenhouse
gas emissions from oil sands production.
Keystone foes also
weren't letting up. A coalition of environmental activists -- from the Sierra
Club, Greenpeace and other groups -- swiftly announced a protest outside the
White House on Nov. 18.
In a post-election
open letter, they renewed their concerns that the pipeline would
"transport one of the world's dirtiest, most carbon-intensive
fuels."
It continued:
"Now that the election is over a decision by the president is imminent-the
administration has hinted a decision could come in the first quarter of 2013.
Here's what's changed since last year: the Arctic has melted disastrously.
Here's what hasn't changed: Keystone XL is still a crazy idea, a giant straw
into the second biggest pool of carbon. Even if it doesn't spill, it would add
900,000 barrels of oil worth of carbon each day to the earth's
atmosphere."
Canadian officials,
though, continue to press hard for the project's approval. Canada's natural
resources minister went further than Harper, saying he thinks the project will
ultimately be approved.
"I don't know
exactly why he postponed it, but the point is right now we're not in the middle
of an election campaign and it will be decided by the administration on its
merits," he told Bloomberg.
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