Obama calls for expediting southern portion of Keystone XL pipeline
By JARED A. FAVOLE
President Barack Obama, speaking at an oil pipe yard in Oklahoma, on Thursday called for expediting a review of the southern portion of TransCanada Corp.'s Keystone XL pipeline to help "ease a bottleneck right here."
"Today I'm directing my administration to cut through the red tape, break through the bureaucratic hurdles and make this project a priority. Go ahead and get it done," the president said, with large oil pipes stacked behind him outside Cushing, Okla.
TransCanada has applied to build a pipeline to bring oil from Cushing to refineries on the Gulf Coast to ease a supply glut.
The White House had previously praised the southern half of the Keystone pipeline, saying it will work with TransCanada to ensure it is built safely and committing to "take every step possible to expedite the necessary federal permits."
Cushing was the third stop on a two-day tour to highlight US energy and for the president to show he's trying to tackle rising fuel prices. On Wednesday, he visited a solar yard in Nevada and oil and gas production fields in New Mexico.
Rhetoric surrounding US energy has become more politically charged as gasoline prices have jumped.
The average price of a gallon of regular gasoline has increased 8% to $3.86 in the last month, and a continued rise could hamper the US recovery and Obama's re-election chances.
It appears the Cushing-to-gulf leg of Keystone XL isn't in need of expediting. A spokesman for the Calgary pipeline company said it hasn't received any information from the Obama administration about speeding the project.
The company had already expected to receive the permit it needs from the US Army Corps of Engineers in time for it to begin construction by June.
Republicans, who have been heavily criticizing the president's energy policies for weeks, see his call for expediting the review process as "political opportunism" because he rejected in January the northern portion of the Keystone pipeline.
That pipeline would bring oil from Canada to the US and because it crosses an international border it needs the approval of the State Department.
"Yet, in spite of the president's rigid resistance, the builder of the pipeline is moving forward with a southern portion of it that doesn't require Mr. Obama's signature. So cue the political opportunism," said Brendan Buck, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) in a statement.
Republicans aren't alone in criticizing the president's trip to Oklahoma.
"Today's ill-advised event in Cushing stands in stark contrast to many of President Obama's laudatory efforts to reduce our dangerous dependence on oil," said Gene Karpinski, president of the environmental group the League of Conservation Voters.
"Instead of expediting the southern segment of the risky Keystone XL pipeline and promoting dirty energy, the Obama administration should continue its important work to cut unnecessary subsidies for Big Oil, increase fuel efficiency for cars and double down on clean energy."
The president said he supports an "all-of-the-above" approach to energy, which includes oil and gas production but focuses on renewable and alternative energies. Republicans say the president has continued to block US energy production.
The White House says the Republican's criticisms are wrong.
"The problem with that argument is that the facts prove otherwise," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said.
He pointed to figures showing that US oil production has risen under the president and dependence on foreign oil has declined. Those, he said, are "indisputable, incontrovertible, immutable, inexorable facts."
Dow Jones Newswires
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