Obama denies the Keystone XL pipeline

Staff and wire report

President Barack Obama rejected an application to build the Keystone XL pipeline Friday after seven years of federal review, declaring the proposed project wouldn't serve U.S. national interests and would have undercut America's global leadership on climate change.

The 1,179-mile proposed pipeline would not have lowered U.S. gas prices, Obama said, nor would it have contributed to U.S. jobs long-term or make the U.S. less dependent on foreign energy. Flanked by Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State John Kerry, Obama also said the proposed project had taken on an "overinflated role" in U.S. political discourse and had been used as a "campaign cudgel" by supporters and opponents alike.

Killing the pipeline allows Obama to claim aggressive action on environmental issues. Yet it also puts the president in a direct confrontation with Republicans and energy advocates that will almost surely spill over into the 2016 presidential election.

"This pipeline would neither be a silver bullet for the economy, as was promised by some, nor the express lane to climate disaster proclaimed by others," Obama said at the White House.

Obama also noted that he would travel to Paris in a few weeks to meet with world leaders at an international climate summit. The leaders are expected to finalize a major global climate pact that Obama hopes will be a crowning jewel for his environmental legacy.

Montana’s Republican U.S. lawmakers were quick to denounce the decision.

“It has taken more than seven years for President Obama to come clean with the American people and admit his anti-energy and anti-American jobs agenda,” Rep Steve Daines said in a statement. “President Obama had an opportunity to help create good-paying jobs with the construction of the Keystone pipeline, but instead he chose to blatantly disregard the economic needs of this nation, the need for good-paying jobs, like union jobs, energy costs for Montana families and the will of the American people. The rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline by President Obama is an affront to the American people.”

Rep. Ryan Zinke also issued a statement.

““President Obama turned his back on Montana, turned his back on American workers, and turned his back on our closest neighbor and ally, Canada. And for what? President Obama is making phony claims about the impact of the Keystone that his own State Department says is not true,” Zinke said. “A 2014 environmental impact study by the State Department concluded the Keystone would not have a negative impact on the environment. That’s a fact. But this president would rather use the 40,000 jobs and American energy independence as a political football to score points with donors leading into a tough election year. It’s just wrong. The President is 100 percent wrong on Keystone and every candidate who sides with him on this will pay the price on Election Day because the American people are fed up with it.”