President Obama took a shot at the Keystone XL pipeline during his State of the Union address, saying it posed an inadequate plan for boosting jobs through infrastructure projects.
“Twenty-first century businesses need 21st century infrastructure — modern ports, stronger bridges, faster trains and the fastest Internet. Democrats and Republicans used to agree on this. So let’s set our sights higher than a single oil pipeline,” he said Tuesday.
Obama, with opponents of the Canada-to-Texas oil sands pipeline, has downplayed the project’s jobs figures, pointing to the State Department’s estimate that Keystone XL would support 35 permanent jobs once built.
The mention in the State of the Union address buoyed environmental and liberal groups that want to see Obama nix the pipeline.
Obama already has threatened to veto legislation that passed the House and is currently in the Senate that would authorize construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. But May Boeve, executive director with climate advocacy group 350.org, said the dig at Keystone XL hinted Obama — who has said he would reject Keystone XL if it “exacerbates the problem of carbon pollution” — might scrap the $8 billion project.
“The president is clearly beginning to think about his climate legacy, and he clearly understands that it depends on rejecting Keystone XL,” Boeve said.
The pipeline’s supporters, however, said Obama should consult his own State Department about the pipeline’s environmental and jobs impact.
They have noted a final environmental review from the State Department concluded Keystone XL posed no significant environmental impact. They also noted State said the project would add 42,100 direct and indirect jobs during its two-year construction phase.
“President Obama will soon have a decision to make: will he sign the bill, or block good American jobs?” said Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, in the GOP response to Obama’s State of the Union speech.
The White House has said it wants to finish a federal review, which has been ongoing for more than six years, before deciding whether to grant pipeline builder TransCanada Corp. a cross-border permit to build the 1,700-mile project’s northern leg.
