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The
Obama administration is putting off its decision on the Keystone XL oil
pipeline, likely until after the November elections, by extending its
review of the controversial project indefinitely.
In a surprise
announcement Friday as Washington was winding down for Easter, the State
Department said federal agencies will have more time to weigh in on the
politically fraught decision — but declined to say how much longer.
Officials said the decision will have to wait for the dust to settle in
Nebraska, where a judge in February overturned a state law that allowed
the pipeline's path through the state.
Nebraska's Supreme Court
isn't expected to hear an appeal to that ruling until September or
October, and there could be more legal maneuvering after the high court
rules. So President Barack Obama will almost surely have until after the
November congressional elections to make the final call about whether
the pipeline carrying oil from Canada should be built.
Approving
the pipeline before the election would rankle Obama's allies and donors
in the environmental community, but nixing it could be politically
damaging to vulnerable Democrats running this year in
conservative-leaning areas.
"This decision is irresponsible,
unnecessary and unacceptable," said Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu, who
faces a difficult re-election in oil-rich Louisiana. Landrieu said Obama
was signaling that a small minority can tie up the process in the
courts, sacrificing 42,000 jobs and billions in economic activity.
In
an ironic show of bipartisanship, Republicans joined Landrieu and other
Democrats like Sen. Mark Begich of Alaska in immediately condemning the
announcement — the latest in a string of delays in a review process
that has dragged on for more than five years.
Senate Minority
Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., accused Obama of kowtowing to "radical
activists" from the environmental community, while House Speaker John
Boehner, R-Ohio, called the decision "shameful" and said there were no
credible reasons for further delay.
"This job-creating project has
cleared every environmental hurdle and overwhelmingly passed the test
of public opinion, yet it's been blocked for more than 2,000 days,"
Boehner said in a statement.
But environmental groups fighting the
pipeline hailed the delay, arguing that it shows the State Department
is taking the arguments against the pipeline seriously.
"This is
definitely great news," said Tiernan Sittenfeld, senior vice president
for the League of Conservation Voters. "We are very confident as they
continue to examine the issues with the lack of legal route in Nebraska
and the terrible climate impacts, at the end of the day the pipeline
will be rejected."
Keystone XL would carry oil from western
Canada's tar sands to refineries on the Texas Gulf Coast. The project
requires State Department approval because it crosses an international
border. The State Department vowed to move forward with other aspects of
its review even while the situation in Nebraska remains in limbo.
"The agency consultation process is not starting over," the State Department said in a statement.
State
Department officials said other U.S. agencies, such as the
Environmental Protection Agency, won't be notified of their new deadline
for comment until the legal situation in Nebraska becomes clearer.
Driving the delay is a concern that the legal wrangling could lead to a
change in the pipeline's route that would affect agencies' assessments,
said the officials, who weren't authorized to comment by name and
demanded anonymity.
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US Extends Keystone Review as Pipeline Supporters Cry Foul
By Ali Weinberg
Apr 18, 2014 3:16pm
The
State Department says it needs more time to make a decision about
whether to approve the Keystone XL pipeline project, citing uncertainty
about the route’s direction through Nebraska, which is currently under
litigation there.
The department is delaying the deadline for
eight federal agencies to submit their recommendations to on the
pipeline, which President Obama had requested they do via an executive
order. The original deadline was early May, but because Nebraska’s
Supreme Court is hearing a case on the proposed Keystone route through
that state, the agencies will have about two weeks after the case is
closed to submit their recommendations.
The process ahead,
including whether the State Department will have to redo its initial
assessments on the project, now depends on the outcome of the Nebraska
case – the conclusion of which a senior State Department official
declined to speculate about Friday.
“I can’t render a judgment on
when the final decision could take place. We want this to move as
expeditiously as possible,” the official told reporters on a conference
call.
The officials also noted that there had been an
unprecedented 2.5 million public comments regarding the pipeline, which
State Department staff and private contractors are still going through.
Usually, the official said on the call, there are less than 100 public
comments on pipeline projects.
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