PRESIDENT Barack Obama rejected the contentious Keystone XL pipeline project on Friday, Nov. 6, saying it would not make a meaningful long-term contribution to America’s economy, lower gas prices, or enhance the nation’s energy security.
Obama’s decision denies TransCanada Corp. a cross-border permit for the pipeline, which would have spanned 1,179 miles across six states. Keystone XL would have carried up to 830,000 barrels of oil from Alberta, Canada to Steele City, Neb., where it would have connected with existing pipelines to Gulf Coast refineries.
In an address at the White House announcing his decision, Obama cited the role of the United States in combatting global warming.
“America’s now a global leader when it comes to taking serious action to flight climate change,” Obama told reporters at the White House. “And frankly, approving this project would have undercut that global leadership. And that’s the biggest risk we face, not acting.
“[Ultimately], if we’re going to prevent large parts of this Earth from becoming not only inhospitable but uninhabitable in our lifetimes, we’re going to have to keep some fossil fuels in the ground rather than burn them and release more dangerous pollution into the sky.”
In his speech, Obama detailed grounds for his rejection, including that Congress could take other routes to create more than 30 times as many jobs per year as the pipeline would, that gas prices have been on a steady decline while the debate on the pipeline was taking place, and that reducing the nation’s dependence on dirty fossil fuels from unstable parts of the world is what has boosted America’s energy security.
Secretary of State John Kerry, in a statement, said Friday’s announcement could not be made only on the number of jobs that would have been created, the fuel that would be delivered to the nation, or the carbon pollution that would be released.
“The United States cannot ask other nations to make tough choices to address climate change if we are unwilling to make them ourselves,” Kerry said.
The president’s announcement, for the meantime, also ends seven years of debate over a project that Obama considered “an overinflated role in our political discourse.”
Supporters of the pipeline said it would generate jobs and secure a supply of oil from a reliable ally, while opponents claimed it would aggravate climate change through the release of copious amounts of carbon into the atmosphere and create pollution hazards along the pipeline’s route, The Washington Post reported.
“This pipeline would neither be a silver bullet for the economy, as was promised by some, nor the express lane to climate disaster proclaimed by others,” Obama said.
Advocates and opponents react
Obama’s decision, which he vowed to make before leaving office, precedes the Paris Climate Change Conference on Nov. 30, where world leaders are slated to finalize a global climate pact. It also comes as a victory for environmental groups and a substantial loss for the oil industry.
Bill McKibben, co-founder of environmental group 350.org, called Obama’s announcement “nothing short of historic” and one that “sets an important precedent that should send shockwaves through the fossil fuel industry.”
“Stopping the Keystone XL pipeline is a victory for the planet, for the health and well-being of the communities along the pipeline route,” said Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune, according to The Associated Press.
Opponents of the project in Congress gave credit to citizen activists in convincing Obama to reject Keystone.
“This is a testament to years of public action on a critical issue,” said Raul Grijalva of Arizona, the senior Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, according to USA Today. “After pushing together in the right direction and never losing hope, citizen activists prevented a major source of dirty fossil fuels from being rubber-stamped. Everyone who believes individuals can move mountains when they work together will remember today with pride.”
Leaders in the Republican party, which backed the pipeline, voiced disappointment with Obama’s rejection. Earlier on, the GOP approved a bill that would have authorized Congress to decide on the pipeline, but Obama vetoed that legislation.
“Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton caved to extreme special interest groups and rejected good American jobs,” Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said in a statement. “This move can only be described as a politically motivated embarrassment.”
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said the president’s decision was “predictable,” but he wished it had been made sooner.
“Why did he lie to the American people for so long that he was considering it? Did anybody with any common sense believe that Barack Obama was ever really seriously considering the Keystone pipeline?” he said, according to CNN.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal commented via Twitter, specifically mentioning the impact on jobs.
“The Obama Admin’s politically motivated rejection of the Keystone XL Pipeline is a self-inflicted attack on the US economy and jobs,” Bush tweeted.
“Obama’s rejection of #KeystoneXL will flush American jobs down the drain … all to appease the agenda of science denying radicals,” Jindal wrote on Twitter.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said that with the pipeline’s importance to North American energy independence, “the question still remains not if but when Keystone will be built.”
Newly elected Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was also among disappointed leaders, though he said he respected America’s right to make its decision.
“The Canada-US Relationship is much bigger than any one project and I look forward to a fresh start with President Obama to strengthen our remarkable ties in a spirit of friendship and cooperation,” Trudeau said.
Kerry said that he spoke with Foreign Minister Stephane Dion about the decision.
“While we understand the impact of this decision on Canada, I am confident that our close and long-standing relationship with Canada will continue to grow stronger in the years ahead,” he said.
TransCanada president and CEO Russ Girling said the company would consider available options to possibly file a new application for a pipeline to carry oil sands crude to the United States.
“Today, misplaced symbolism was chosen over merit and science – rhetoric won out over reason,” Girling said. “TransCanada is reviewing the decision and its rationale. We believe KXL is in the best interest of the United States and Canada.”
