“A long-awaited assessment of TransCanada Corp.’s Keystone XL pipeline by the U.S. State Department made no specific recommendation on the project, cheering oil companies and outraging environmentalists who said it underestimated the project’s impact on climate change.
The draft analysis, which is subject to public comment, examined the revised route TransCanada proposed after President Barack Obama blocked an original path amid concerns it posed a threat to an aquifer in Nebraska.
The State Department report doesn’t make a recommendation on whether the pipeline should be approved or denied. It instead points to ways in which the pipeline could harm the environment, though supporters said none should derail the project. Administration officials stressed the analysis was a work in progress.
“We’re looking for feedback now from the public to help us shape this going forward,” Kerri-Ann Jones, State’s assistant secretary for oceans and international environmental and scientific affairs, told reporters today on a conference call. After 45 days for public comment, and additional time for federal agencies to weigh in, a final decision may be made in late September.
Environmental groups said they were “outraged” by the analysis because it found the pipeline would have little impact on greenhouse-gas emissions.
‘Dirty, Dangerous’ ….”
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