GOP leadership said President Obama is “sadly mistaken” if he thinks Keystone XL is going away with his expected veto of legislation authorizing construction of the 1,700-mile pipeline.
“The allure of appeasing environmental extremists may be too powerful for the president to ignore. But the president is sadly mistaken if he thinks vetoing this bill will end this fight. Far from it. We are just getting started,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, wrote Tuesday in an op-ed for USA Today.
The bill green lighting the Canada-to-Texas pipeline will hit Obama’s desk Tuesday. He has 10 days, excluding Sundays, to make a decision.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Monday he expected a quick veto.
“I would not anticipate a lot of drama or fanfare around it,” Earnest said.
The $8 billion project has been under federal review for more than six years, though that process appears to be drawing to a close.
The State Department is assessing comments from other federal agencies, the last step before issuing a determination of whether Keystone XL is in the national interest. That recommendation will be used to inform a decision from the White House, though there’s no timetable on when that final ruling must be made.
Keystone XL supporters say it will bring jobs and strengthen United States energy security. But opponents are worried about locking in development of carbon-dense oil sands that they say will exacerbate climate change.
