1st LD Writethru: Obama rejects controversial Keystone XL pipeline project

U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday rejected the proposed Keystone XL pipeline project that would bring Canada's oil sands to refineries in the United States.

"The State Department has decided that a Keystone XL pipeline would not serve the national interest of the United States. I agree with that decision," Obama said at the White House, adding that the project would not make a meaningful long-term contribution to the U.S. economy or lower gasoline prices.

Obama said approving the project would also have undercut U.S. global leadership in fighting climate change. "If we're gonna prevent large parts of this Earth from becoming not only inhospitable but uninhabitable in our lifetimes, we're gonna have to keep some fossil fuels in the ground rather than burn them and release more dangerous pollution into the sky," he said.

The 8-billion-U.S.-dollar Keystone XL project is proposed to go from Canada through the U.S. states of Montana and South Dakota to Nebraska, where it would connect with existing pipelines to carry more than 800,000 barrels of crude oil a day to refineries along the U.S. Gulf Coast.

The project has been delayed for years as Democrats and environmental groups say it could worsen climate change by enabling further growth of oil sands exploitation which would create higher greenhouse gas emissions than some other forms of production. But Republicans insist that it will create jobs and enhance U.S. energy security.

"All of this obscured the fact that 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 of the public debate on the pipeline. "It became a symbol too often used as a campaign cudgel by both parties rather than a serious policy matter."

The rejection of the pipeline comes three weeks before the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris.

Democrats and environmental groups have ratcheted up pressure on Obama to reject the pipeline ahead of this important climate change meeting, arguing that doing so would send a clear message about the U.S. resolve to combat climate change, according to the Hill, a political news website.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Friday in a statement that the project's environmental impact was one key factor in the State Department's decision to reject the Keystone XL pipeline.

"The critical factor in my determination was this: moving forward with this project would significantly undermine our ability to continue leading the world in combating climate change," Kerry said.

"If we want to prevent the worst effects of climate change before it's too late, the time to act is now," Obama said. "I look forward to joining my fellow world leaders in Paris, where we've got to come together around an ambitious framework to protect the one planet that we've got while we still can."

TransCanada, the developer of the pipeline, said Friday it will review all options, including filing a new application to ship oil from Canada to the United States, in light of the Obama administration's rejection of the project.

"TransCanada and its shippers remain absolutely committed to building this important energy infrastructure project," TransCanada's President and CEO Russ Girling said in a statement.

"We will review our options to potentially file a new application for border-crossing authority to ship our customer's crude oil, and will now analyze the sated rationale for the denial." Endit