The decision to reject the Keystone project is really a decision to circumvent
the Republican attempt to tie Keystone to the extension of the payroll tax bill.
The two are not otherwise related.
National Post NEws
Jan 18, 2012
Obama rejects Keystone pipeline, open to alternative*route
Quote:
The Obama administration on Wednesday denied a presidential permit
for construction of the $7-billion Keystone XL pipeline, ruling that a proper environmental review
could not be conducted before a 60-day deadline set by the U.S. Congress
to rule on the controversial oilsands project.
But Calgary-based TransCanada Corp., the company behind the 2,700-kilometre pipeline,
has been given the option of making a new application — and company officials confirmed
they will propose an alternative route for Keystone XL that avoids environmentally sensitive areas in Nebraska.
|
National Post News
Dec 19,2011
Lorne Gunter: Obama’s pushback on Keystone is pure posturing
Quote:
On Saturday, the U.S. Senate voted 89-10 to approve a bill
that
would extend payroll tax cuts for 160 million Americans by two months.
That’s not a surprise. Going into an election year, no politician or party
wants to be responsible for a very visible tax hike.
If the Senate had not approved the extension
— an economic stimulus measure important to President Barack Obama’s jobs creation strategy
– American workers would have seen a decrease of $100 to $150 a month on their paychecks beginning Jan 1.
But it was surprising that 49 of the 89 votes were from Democrats because,
attached to the tax-cut bill, was a rider urging Mr. Obama to make a decision
on the Keystone XL pipeline within the next 60 days.
Mr. Obama announced last month that he would put off until 2013 any decision
on the US$7-billion pipeline that will run from Alberta’s oil sands to American refineries
on the Texas Gulf Coast — until after next fall’s presidential and Congressional elections. <snip>
Gene Sperling, a senior economic adviser to Obama, told CNN that
“The experts at the State Department who are authorized
for our government to make that very serious and complex review made clear . . .
that if they were only given 60 days to look at the alternative routes in Nebraska
and to do the serious environmental and health and safety reviews,
that would (not) be enough time, and would make it almost certainly impossible
for them to extend that permit.”
|
.