U.S. President Barack Obama Rejects Keystone Pipeline Project Friday Nov 06,2015

 

U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday Nov 06,2015 announced that he had rejected the request from a Canadian company to build the Keystone XL oil pipeline, ending a seven-year review that had become a flash point in the debate over his climate policies.

 

U.S. President Barack Obama’s denial of the proposed 1,179-mile pipeline, which would have carried 8,00,000 barrels a day of carbon-heavy petroleum from the Canadian oil sands to the Gulf Coast, comes as he is seeking to build an ambitious legacy on climate change.

“The pipeline would not make a meaningful long-term contribution to our economy,” Mr. Obama said in remarks from the White House. 

The move was made ahead of a major UN summit meeting on climate change to be held in Paris in December, when the U.S. President hopes to help broker a historic agreement committing the world’s nations to enacting new policies to counter global warming.

While the rejection of the pipeline is largely symbolic, Mr. Obama has sought to telegraph to other world leaders that the United States is serious about acting on climate change.

The once-obscure Keystone project became a political symbol amid broader clashes over energy, climate change and the economy.