21 Mar
Obama Set to Speed Up Approval of Tar Sands Pipeline
Cushing, Oklahoma, to Port Arthur, Texas, section likely to be quickly approved
Although President Obama denied a permit for the main Keystone XL pipeline from Canada’s tar sands to the Gulf of Mexico in January, it is expected that he will announce on Thursday on a visit to Cushing, Oklahoma, a plan to speed up the permit for the southern section of the Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry tar sands crude from Cushing to Port Arthur, Texas.
Although “the most critical part of the pipeline still can’t be built,” Bill McKibben writes, “the sense grows that Obama may be setting us up for a bitter disappointment — that his real allegiance is to the carbon barons.” (photo: Christine Irvine / Tar Sands Action) Noah Greenwald of the Center for Biological Diversity said today, “Keystone XL may be a boon to Big Oil companies in the exporting business but those profits will come at a stiff price for our land, water, wildlife and climate.” “Building Keystone XL in pieces doesn’t make it any less dangerous.”
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CNN: Obama to fast track southern half of Keystone XL Pipeline
President Barack Obama plans to announce in Cushing, Oklahoma Thursday that his administration will expedite the permit for the southern half of the Keystone XL pipeline, a source familiar with the president’s announcement tells CNN.
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The Texas Tribune: Obama to talk about Keystone XL pipeline in Oklahoma this week
A White House official confirmed Tuesday that the president on Thursday will “reiterate his administration’s commitment to expediting the construction of a pipeline from Cushing, Okla., to the Gulf of Mexico, relieving a bottleneck of oil and bringing domestic resources to market.”
