Clinton opposes Keystone XL pipeline

OREANDA-NEWS. September 23, 2015. Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton today said she opposes construction of TransCanada's proposed 830,000 b/d Keystone XL (KXL) crude pipeline, calling it a "distraction" from the effort to combat climate change.

Campaigning in Iowa today, the Democratic frontrunner said the \\$8bn pipeline that would transport crude from Alberta's oil sands and the Bakken shale formation to the US midcontinent "interferes with our ability to move forward."

Clinton said she would oppose authorizing construction of the pipeline "because I do not think it is in the best interest of what we need to do to combat climate change."

Clinton said over the next few days she will roll out a plan for a "North American approach to fighting climate change and clean energy."

TransCanada has struggled for more than seven years to win approval to build a pipeline that would cross the US-Canadian border. The US State Department is charged with determining if construction of the pipeline would be in the US' national interest. The application languished at the State Department while Clinton served as secretary of state from 2009-2013.

After Clinton made her comments, Republican candidate and former Florida governor Jeb Bush's campaign tweeted, "Hillary Clinton finally says what we already knew. She favors environmental extremists over US jobs."

Industry trade group the American Petroleum Institute president Jack Gerard called Clinton's opposition to the pipeline "a missed opportunity to seize the true potential of our energy renaissance."

Pointing to what he described as the US administration's "years of indecision" over the project, Gerard said: "Who thought seven years ago when the Keystone permit was first initiated that 2016 presidential candidates would be weighing in on KXL?"

Environmental group 350 Action called Clinton's position "a huge win for our movement" and said it "ups the pressure" on President Barack Obama to reject the project once and for all. Billionaire environmental activist Tom Steyer said that "now every Democrat running to lead our country must oppose Keystone XL because of this new political reality."