Depending on who you listen to the Keystone XL is destined to move forward or doomed to die. If approved by US President Barack Obama, the proposed 1,660-mile pipeline will carry up to 830,000 barrels of oil per day from Canada’s oil sands to refineries in Texas.
On one side there are those who say it will gain the support of the President as part of the nation’s effort to be energy independent. On the other people say that there is no choice but to reject the pipeline.
Pointing to President Obamas climate action plan, Tiernan Sittenfeld, senior vice president for government affairs at the League of Conservation Voters said it would be inconsistent to move forward. “We’re confident that at the end of the day, we’re going to like the decision.”
Obama has unilaterally signed a number of climate oriented executive orders. He has also proposed a billion-dollar climate resilience fund, passed new environmental standards for vehicles and gasoline. Dan Weiss, director of climate strategy at the Center for American Progress, said the secretary “will have no choice but to reject the Keystone XL permit.”
More recently Kerry has called climate change, “the world’s most fearsome weapon of mass destruction.” However, a final environmental impact analysis by State Department at the end of January appears to leave the door open for approval.
Like the environmental organizations that believe the KXL will be put to rest, industry groups are equally bullish, but in the opposite direction. Jack Gerard, president of the American Petroleum Institute said that the State Department’s review “puts to rest any credible concerns about the pipeline’s potential negative impact on the environment.”
The two groups are also divided about the State Deparment report itself. Those opposed to the pipeline say that Environmental Resources Management, the consulting firm hired by the State Department to review the potential environmental effects of the Keystone XL pipeline, did all sorts of questionable things..
Those who support the pipeline say there was no serious rule breaking.
The fate of the pipeline varies depending on who you ask.
Related Articles
A Brief Review of the Keystone XL Saga
The Fate of the Keystone XL: The Ball is in Your Court Mr President
Refuting the Rationale for Approving the Keystone XL
Business Leaders, Scientists, Economists and Ordinary People Reject the Keystone XL
Video – Two Million Comments Rejecting the Keystone XL Pipeline
Video – Obama’s Top Aids and Democratic Donors Oppose the Keystone XL
The Keystone XL Pipeline: Debunking Four Cardinal Lies
Moving Bitumen by Rail Rather than Pipe will Lessen Tar Sands Expansion
Ten Reasons Why Nurses Oppose the Keystone XL
Comparison of the Keystone XL and Renewable Energy
Video – A New Approach to Protest Against the KXL
Video – Farcical Comedy on Keystone XL Jobs
How Come the Keystone XL is so Hard to Kill
Oil Spills Add to Concerns about the Keystone XL Pipeline
Protests Greet the Keystone XL South as it Makes its First Deliveries of Oil
Video – This is What a Corroded Underwater Tar Sands Pipeline Looks Like
Taxpayers Money to Promote Fossil Fuel Pipeline Brought to you by Canada’s Ruling Federal Conservatives
Keystone XL on the Ropes: Conflict of Interest Revealed in the State’s EIS
Obama Says the Number of Keystone XL Jobs are “Negligible
Obama Rebuffs the Keystone XL’s Economic and Jobs Benefits
New Tar Sands Pipeline Goes East to Follow the Path of Least Resistance
The Fate of the Keystone XL Pipeline in the Wake of President Obama’s Georgetown University Speech
Unions Oppose the Keystone XL in the Jobs vs. Environment Debate
EPA Slams State Department on the Keystone XL
Cornell University Questions the Economic Benefits of the Keystone XL Pipeline
American Employment: Keystone XL vs Green Jobs
A New State Department Environmental Impact Assessment Clears the Keystone XL Pipeline
The DoD’s Climate Change Adaptation Roadmap (CCAR) Excludes Keystone XL
Obama to Expedite the Keystone XL Pipeline
Bill McKibben on Obama’s Keystone XL Reversal
Republicans Vow to Continue Push for Keystone
The Center for Biological Diversity CREDO and Friends of the Earth Slam Keystone Reversal
Indigenous People and Students Protest Obama’s Reversal on Keystone XL
GOP’s Keystone XL Proposal Fails in Senate
Anti-Keystone XL Ad Campaign
The Keystone XL and Rising Fuel Prices
Video: Keystone XL will Raise Gas Prices
Republicans Refuse to Let the Keystone XL Die
Keystone XL Protest Message Campaign a Success
Resistance to Republican Efforts to Resurrect the Keystone XL Pipeline
Obama Cancels the Keystone XL Pipeline Project
President Obama Stops Keystone XL Pipeline
Republicans Use Blackmail to Gain Support for the Keystone XL Pipeline
Tar Sands Day of Action in Washington
President Obama and the Fate of the Keystone XL Pipeline
NRDC November 6 Protest Against the Keystone XL in Washington DC
Nebraska’s Special Session to Stop the Keystone XL Pipeline
South Dakota Wants Additional Protections Against Spills from the Keystone XL Pipeline
Safety Measures for the Keystone XL Rejected by Environmentalists in Nebraska
State Department Hearings for the Keystone XL Pipeline
Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline Protest
Keystone XL Protest Ends in Washington
Nobel Prize Laureates Oppose Keystone XL Pipeline
Religious Leaders Join the Protest Against Keystone XL Pipeline
Video – Van Jones Attacks the Keystone XL Pipeline
US Protests Against the Tar Sands Oil
Canada on Track to be a Dirty Energy Superpower
Bill McKibben and other Protestors Jailed for their Opposition to the Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline
Video: NASA’s Leading Climatologist Addresses Crowd Before he was Arrested at the Keystone XL Tar Sands Protest in Washington
