In the face of
militant opposition to the project, the Obama administration has
decided that the Keystone XL pipeline will be stopped for now. The
decision on the $7 billion project had been mandated for no later
than Feb. 21 as part of a deal made late last year by the Democrats
and Republicans to pass a two-month extension of the payroll tax
cuts.
In withholding
approval of the environmentally dangerous project, the administration
stated that the Feb. 21 deadline left insufficient time to review the
proposal. The decision is a win for the growing environmental
movement against the project. However, some members of Congress are
already pushing to override the decision through new legislation.
House Speaker John
Boehner has announced that Congress may add pipeline language to a
longer-term extension of the payroll tax cut, and the reauthorization
of Federal Aviation Administration and surface transportation
programs.
According to
TransCanada, which would own the pipeline, the Keystone XL project
would create around 20,000 jobs. However, the State Department said
in a report to Congress that the pipeline would create only 5,000 to
6,000 construction jobs during the two years needed to build the
project, based on labor expenses TransCanada included in its
application.
Although the
pipeline has been stopped for now, TransCanada can reapply for the
project based on a revised route and has announced that it will do
so.
The original plan had the pipeline running straight through the
Ogallala Aquifer, which provides drinking water to eight states. Some
reports say that the new proposed route will run along the eastern
border of the Ogallala Aquifer, which is not as close to the surface.
However, this would still not address the safety and many other
concerns of environmentalists and indigenous communities.
Over 1,200 people
were arrested protesting the Keystone XL pipeline in front of the
White House in September 2011. The decision to stop the pipeline
should be the final decision on the matter. People have spoken and do
not want this dirty energy pipeline to be constructed. As long as Big
Oil and the capitalist system exists, the assault on the environment
will continue.
