FLASH! Obama caves: Keystone XL Pipeline to be built
The White House issued a statement supportive of TransCanada’s latest plan, saying, “The President welcomes today’s news that TransCanada plans to build a pipeline to bring crude oil from Cushing, Oklahoma, to the Gulf of Mexico.”
“As the President made clear in January, we support the company’s interest in proceeding with this project, which will help address the bottleneck of oil in Cushing that has resulted in large part from increased domestic oil production, currently at an eight year high,” the White House said. “Moving oil from the Midwest to the world-class, state-of-the-art refineries on the Gulf Coast will modernize our infrastructure, create jobs, and encourage American energy production.”
The White House said, “We look forward to working with TransCanada to ensure that it is built in a safe, responsible and timely manner, and we commit to take every step possible to expedite the necessary federal permits.”
Read the breaking news at Environmental New Service
Update: To be clear, the pipeline will be built in sections, starting in Oklahoma down to the GoM. It is not clear when the Canada/US section will begin being built, though it seems nearly all the land is secured to begin the northern section. I suspect Nebraska is the only hurdle.
