Yesterday President Obama reported that he had received the Secretary of State’s recommendation on the pending application for the construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline and agreed that the project should not go forward.
“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,” said President Obama. “ As a result, the Secretary of State has recommended that the application be denied. And after reviewing the State Department’s report, I agree.
“This announcement is not a judgment on the merits of the pipeline, but the arbitrary nature of a deadline that prevented the State Department from gathering the information necessary to approve the project and protect the American people. I’m disappointed that Republicans in Congress forced this decision, but it does not change my Administration’s commitment to American-made energy that creates jobs and reduces our dependence on oil.
“Under my Administration, domestic oil and natural gas production is up, while imports of foreign oil are down. In the months ahead, we will continue to look for new ways to partner with the oil and gas industry to increase our energy security –including the potential development of an oil pipeline from Cushing, Oklahoma to the Gulf of Mexico – even as we set higher efficiency standards for cars and trucks and invest in alternatives like biofuels and natural gas. And we will do so in a way that benefits American workers and businesses without risking the health and safety of the American people and the environment.”
U.S. Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.) took an opposite view of the president’s and released the following statement on the Obama Administration’s decision to reject the Keystone XL pipeline.
“The Keystone Pipeline would mean 20,000 American jobs and $7 billion in private sector investment. The State Department bureaucrats have had this under review since 2008. They’ve had three years to figure it out. And now they say, ‘No, we haven’t had enough time.’ Look, Americans without a job are the ones who are running out of time.
“These are real jobs in real communities that could have helped move America’s economy forward. It’s a great disappointment that the President and his administration have figured out a way to stop it. But we’re not going to give up on finding a way to move forward with the Keystone Pipeline.”
U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) agreed with the president and issued the following statement
“The Keystone Pipeline is an environmentally risky and economically dubious project that would have boosted the balance sheets of oil producers at the expense of American families. If the pipeline had been approved and Canadian tar sands oil producers had been able to sell their oil to customers throughout the world instead of here in the United States, the already high cost of oil would have gone up for Midwest consumers at a time when budgets are tight as it is. I commend the Obama Administration for siding with the American consumer over the oil industry and not approving a pipeline that would have been painful to the wallets of American families and not in our national interests.”
