The rejection came Friday from the White House. Obama, standing with Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State John Kerry, said, “The Keystone XL pipeline does not serve the national interests of the United States.” Obama said the pipeline would not lower gas prices, nor would it meaningfully contribute to the American economy.
Obama also made the announcement on Twitter:
BREAKING: President Obama just took another huge step to #ActOnClimate by rejecting the #KeystoneXL pipeline.
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) November 6, 2015
Obama delivered the news to Canada’s Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau. Trudeau had previously supported the Keystone XL project along with former PM Steven Harper, though the rejection will likely improve relations with Canada leading up to next year’s presidential election.
“We are disappointed by the decision but respect the right of the United States to make the decision,” Trudeau said. “The Canada-U.S. relationship is much bigger than any one project and I look forward to a fresh start with President Obama to strengthen our remarkable ties in a spirit of friendship and co-operation.”
Relations will be a far cry from 2011, when Harper called the pipeline a “no-brainer” to approve.
The move is a victory for environmental activists, who have said the pipeline would have been a huge contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. The Keystone XL would have been 1,900 kilometres long and carried 800,000 barrels of oil a day.
Just a few days ago, TransCanada, the company backing the project, asked the U.S. to suspend its permit application. Even though Obama has officially rejected the project altogether, this will likely not be the last of it. TransCanada and the project’s other backers could challenge the move in court, or the Republican House could try to override Obama’s decision — House Speaker Paul Ryan called the rejection “sickening.” Additionally, the project could be revived depending on who is elected president of the U.S. next year. TransCanada has already spent $2 billion on the project.
But while this is an iconic victory for environmentalists, the Financial Post reports it’s far from the only big pipeline project. In fact, between 2009 and 2013, more than 8,000 miles of oil pipes have been built in the U.S. Just last year, the amount of oil pipeline mileage in the U.S. increased by 9.1 percent to 66,649 miles.
Nonetheless, there was a lot of jubilation on Twitter:
Just to say: the hundreds of thousands of people who fought the #Keystonexl Pipeline are real true heroes. Against all odds you did it
— Bill McKibben (@billmckibben) November 6, 2015
Thank you @POTUS for rejecting #KeystoneXL – & thanks to the many people from MA & nationwide who fought for this big day to happen.
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) November 6, 2015
TransCanada has said it is reviewing options and remains committed to the project.
