Republicans charged that President Obama, in denying a permit for the Keystone XL pipeline to send Alberta tar sands to the Gulf coast, is "favoring radical environmental interests over a project they said would provide thousands of jobs and bolster domestic energy security," reports Cody Winchester of the Argus Leader in Sioux Falls. Obama said there was not enough time to review the project's new route within congressional Republicans' "arbitrary" 60-day deadline, which they imposed after Obama earlier deferred a decision until after the November election. And the national political debate obscures the fact that last year Nebraska lawmakers, farmers and ranchers forced Trans-Canada to re-route the pipeline around the state's ecologically sensitive Sandhills region and the Ogallala Aquifer, the lifeblood of agriculture in the relatively arid Great Plains.
TransCanada said it would reapply for a permit for the new route. That will trigger a new review process and environmental impact statement for the entire route. Assistant Secretary of State Kerri-Ann Jones told Winchester the new application would not be expedited, but the agency can use information from the first review in the new one. The department advised Obama to deny the permit.
South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard told Winchester the denial was "disappointing on many levels," but mostly because the state needs the project's jobs to help it recover from the recession. A mile of the pipeline would have crossed rancher Zona Vig's land. "This is looking at the whole state, the whole country -- every creek and every dam and every well that would be affected," she said. (Read more)
Native American activists have played a major role in protesting the pipeline, reports Rob Capriccioso of Indian Country Media Network, and some say they are preparing to continue protesting. They have said the pipeline would threaten the health and culture of Native peoples and that the government has not consulted them about the project. Lakota Sioux activist Debra White Plume told Capriccioso the denial is a temporary victory. "The oil industry will not give up its attempt to get their weapon of mass destruction approved for entry to this country. We must keep fighting, we must fight harder. If we say this is our Treaty Territory, we must be ready to defend it." Pat Spears, president of Intertribal COUP (Council on Utility Policy), said Native Americans should ask for more detailed risk analysis of economic and environmental issues for all people affected by the pipeline.
The Washington Post detailed the President's decision to deny the project, and The Houston Chronicle reported that Congressional supporters of the pipeline are "exploring legislation" that would let Congress or an independent federal agency reverse the denial and approve the permit.
South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard told Winchester the denial was "disappointing on many levels," but mostly because the state needs the project's jobs to help it recover from the recession. A mile of the pipeline would have crossed rancher Zona Vig's land. "This is looking at the whole state, the whole country -- every creek and every dam and every well that would be affected," she said. (Read more)
Native American activists have played a major role in protesting the pipeline, reports Rob Capriccioso of Indian Country Media Network, and some say they are preparing to continue protesting. They have said the pipeline would threaten the health and culture of Native peoples and that the government has not consulted them about the project. Lakota Sioux activist Debra White Plume told Capriccioso the denial is a temporary victory. "The oil industry will not give up its attempt to get their weapon of mass destruction approved for entry to this country. We must keep fighting, we must fight harder. If we say this is our Treaty Territory, we must be ready to defend it." Pat Spears, president of Intertribal COUP (Council on Utility Policy), said Native Americans should ask for more detailed risk analysis of economic and environmental issues for all people affected by the pipeline.
The Washington Post detailed the President's decision to deny the project, and The Houston Chronicle reported that Congressional supporters of the pipeline are "exploring legislation" that would let Congress or an independent federal agency reverse the denial and approve the permit.
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