US President Barack Obama reiterated his stance on Nov. 5 that the proposed Keystone XL crude oil pipeline’s ongoing cross-border permit review process should be allowed to proceed amid suggestions that Republicans winning majority control of the Senate in elections a day earlier opens the way for congressional legislation on the matter to reach his desk.
“There’s an independent process. It’s moving forward. And I’m going to let that process play out,” the president told reporters during a more than 1-hr press conference at the White House.
“I’ve given some parameters in terms of how I think about it,” he said. “Ultimately, is this going to be good for the American people? Is it going to be good for their pocketbook? Is it going to actually create jobs? Is it actually going to reduce [gasoline] prices that have been coming down? And is it going to be, on net, something that doesn’t increase climate change that we’re going to have to grapple with?”
Five environmental organizations—350.org, Bold Nebraska, PriceOfOil.org, the Sierra Club, and the Natural Resources Defense Council—promptly cited that last parameter as evidence that Obama won’t be pushed into approving the proposed 1,179-mile pipeline from Hardisty, Alta., to Steele City, Neb.
“Given increasing evidence that the tar sands industry is faltering without projects like Keystone and that the State Department dramatically underestimated the climate impact of the pipeline, it is clear that if President Obama is committed to cementing his legacy on climate and evaluating Keystone based on its climate impacts, he has no choice but to reject it,” they jointly said in a statement.
At head of the list
In a Wall Street Journal op-ed, however, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) list authorizing Keystone XL’s construction first as they outlined bills “which would provide an obvious and potentially bipartisan starting point for the new Congress and, for President Obama, a chance to begin the final years of his presidency by taking some steps toward a stronger economy.”
Noting that a case involving the pipeline’s route is pending before a Nebraska judge, Obama said, “The process is moving forward, and I’m just going to gather up the facts.”
While debate has raged about what he considers Canadian oil, he said, “We’ve seen some of the biggest increases in American oil production and American natural gas production in our history. We are closer to energy independence than we’ve ever been before—or at least as we’ve been in decades.”
Obama said that when he travels to Europe or Asia, officials there are most envious of “the incredible homegrown US energy production that is producing jobs and attracting manufacturing, because locating here means you’ve got lower energy costs.”
The president said, “So our energy sector is booming. And I’m happy to engage Republicans with additional ideas for how we can enhance that. I should note that our clean energy production is booming as well. And so Keystone I just consider as one small aspect of a broader trend that’s really positive for the American people.”
Contact Nick Snow at [email protected].