Obama To Reject Job-Creating Keystone XL Pipeline

Update: 12:45 PM  President Barack Obama has denied a permit for TransCanada Corp.’s Keystone XL oil pipeline and will let the company file a revised route.  "As the State Department made clear last month, the rushed and arbitrary deadline insisted on by 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," the President said in a statement. "As a result, the Secretary of State has recommended that the application be denied.
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Multiple news sources are reporting today that President Obama will reject the Keystone XL pipeline in an announcement from the State Department this afternoon. According to The Washington Post, “The Obama administration will announce this afternoon it is rejecting a Canadian firm’s application for a permit to build and operate a massive oil pipeline across the U.S.-Canada border, according to sources who have been briefed on the matter. . . . Deputy Secretary of State William J. Burns will make the announcement, which comes in response to a congressionally-mandated deadline of Feb. 21 for action on the proposed Keystone pipeline.”

This decision comes after President Obama signed a bill in December with a provision demanded by Republicans that gave the president 60 days to either accept the pipeline’s permit or declare the pipeline not in the national interest and reject it. Politico notes, “The White House has made every effort to distance itself from the decision, constantly referring reporters to the State Department.” Yet it’s important to point out that this is President Obama’s decision, per the legislation he signed, despite the fact that Deputy Secretary of State William J. Burns will be making the announcement.

Keystone XL is a project that would create 20,000 jobs, allow the United States to get less oil from the Middle East and more from our Canadian allies, and is supported by labor unions and Democrats.

The AFL-CIO’s Building and Construction Trades Department President, Mark H. Ayers, put it well when he wrote, “[I]t is America's workers who are clamoring for the expedited approval of this important project. As President Obama has rightfully declared when it comes to the creation of jobs, ‘WE CAN'T WAIT.’” Democrat Sen. Mark Begich said, “I support the project. I think the president’s view on this, of waiting, I think doesn’t make a lot of sense. It is a project that could provide lots of jobs to this country… I think the president’s wrong on delaying this, and I think there are a lot of good jobs relating to this, and again [it’s oil] from a friendly country, Canada.”

Just last week, U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Thomas Donahue called on the president to approve the Keystone XL pipeline saying, “Our biggest and most reliable foreign energy supplier is Canada. The proposed Keystone XL pipeline would bring Canadian oil sands down to our Gulf Coast refineries and to other destinations along the way. This project has passed every environmental test. There is no legitimate reason—none at all—to subject it to further delay.” He added, “Labor unions and the business community alike are urging President Obama to act in the best interests of our national security and our workers and approve the pipeline. We can put 20,000 Americans to work right away and up to 250,000 over the life of the project.”

As Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said, “Keystone was an obvious choice: everybody in Washington says they want more American jobs now. Well, here’s the single largest shovel-ready project in America — ready to go. Some of the news outlets are calling this pipeline controversial — I have absolutely no idea why. The labor unions like it. Democrats want it. It strengthens our national security by decreasing the amount of oil we get from unfriendly countries. And it wouldn’t cost the taxpayers a dime. . . . The only thing standing between thousands of American workers, and the good jobs this project will provide, is President Obama.”

It’s stunning that the president would go out of his way to block the Keystone XL project and the tens of thousands of jobs it would create.

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Tags: Barack Obama, Keystone XL Pipeline, Washington, D.C., Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, State Department To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!