Jackson Falconer
WASHINGTON – Several years after his administration began review of a proposal for a 1,200 mile crude oil pipeline, President Obama announced on Friday that he has rejected the project, citing the State Department's conclusion that it "would not serve the national interests of the United States."
Obama said in his announcement that allowing construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline, which would stretch from Canada to Nebraska, would hurt American credibility in its efforts to persuade other countries to reduce their own greenhouse gas emissions, calling the U.S. "a global leader when it comes to taking serious action to fight climate change."
The project, which Obama said had taken on "an overinflated role in our political discourse," has been argued by its advocates as a job creation booster.
Political support for the pipeline among prominent Republicans and Democrats has mostly fallen on party lines since its proposal, with Republicans supporting it and Democrats opposing. That has largely been true for presidential candidates as well.
Hillary Clinton,
who said the administration "would be inclined" to approve the project while she was still Secretary of State in 2010, chose not to take an official stance on the issue for years after leaving that job. Clinton declared last month that she would oppose construction, and said Obama's decision was "the right call" on Twitter moments after it was announced.
Fellow Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders said in a statement, "As someone who has led the opposition to the Keystone pipeline from Day 1, I strongly applaud the president’s decision to kill this project once and for all."
In a statement by Martin O'Malley, the former Maryland Governor said he was glad to see the White House's rejection to the pipeline, and that approving it would have been "a step backward."
On the Republican side, Donald Trump tweeted: "So sad that Obama rejected Keystone Pipeline. Thousands of jobs, good for the environment, no downside!"
Jeb Bush called the pipeline's rejection politically motivated and "a self-inflicted attack on the U.S. economy and jobs." Marco Rubio said he would reverse Obama's decision if elected.
A new application by TransCanada for a federal permit to build the pipeline seems likely if a Republican wins the White House next year. Just days before the announcement, the company
asked the State Department to suspend review of its application for the project. Though the administration rejected that request, TransCanada is free to submit a new application.
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