Seven years after the project was initially proposed, President Barack Obama rejected the Keystone XL pipeline that would have connected the Canadian province of Alberta to Steele City, Nebraska, claiming it would not serve the “national interests” of the US.
Speaking from the White House, President Obama said that the pipeline that purportedly would have transported 800,000 barrels of oil per day, would not have lowered gas prices, created long-term jobs or reduce the country’s dependence on foreign oil, according to BBC News.
“The pipeline would not make a meaningful long-term contribution to our economy,” he said, adding that it had assumed an “overinflated role” in the ongoing climate change debate. Obama previously vetoed a bill passed by the Republican-led Congress which would have started work on the pipeline immediately, citing the need to finish environmental studies first.
Bill McKibben, co-founder of the environmental group 350.org, called the announcement “a big win,” telling Reuters that the decision to reject the pipeline “nothing short of historic, and sets an important precedent that should send shockwaves through the fossil fuel industry.”
Domestic drilling boom possible factor in the decision
Keystone XL, was first proposed as a partnership between TransCanada and ConocoPhillips in 2008, but the concept of linking existing pipeline networks through the US and Canada resulted in a uproar among environmental activists concerned over its potential environmental impact.
TransCanada, which is now the sole owner of the Keystone pipeline system (several phases of which have already been completed), argued that it would have strengthened energy security in North America and created thousands of construction jobs, Reuters said. However, in the years that followed, a domestic drilling boom has boosted US oil production by 80 percent.
In a statement, TransCanada President and CEO Russ Girling said that he was “disappointed” with President Obama’s decision, and said that “misplaced symbolism” and “rhetoric” had won out over “reason” and “science.” Girling added that the rejection of Keystone XL would deal “a damaging blow to jobs, the economy and the environment on both sides of the border.”
Girling also said that a “comprehensive and balanced” State Department review of the project found that it would have been “the safest, most environmentally sound way to transport needed energy to Americans” and that it “would not significantly exacerbate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.”
—–
Image credit: Thinkstock
Comments