Skip to main content

The White House's position (or, rather, lack thereof) on Keystone XL has little to do with environmental policy, and everything to do with political optics. Whatever doubt remaining on this point is fast evaporating with President Barack Obama's apparent intention to further prolong his thumb-twiddling on the controversial pipeline project.

Last week's long-awaited State Department report, which concluded that the 1,900-kilometre pipeline linking Alberta's oil sands to Gulf Coast refineries would have no significant climate impact, was supposed to start a 90-day clock for the White House to formally review the report before deciding whether to approve the $6-billion project. Calgary-based pipeline giant TransCanada Corp. has already been waiting five years for the go-ahead.

And it will wait longer. Over the weekend, White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough indicated the President won't be rushed, that the 90 days is really the minimum before he issues his decision. Mr. Obama wants to consult some more, with various other U.S. government departments and agencies.

The President has already had plenty of time to consult. He has been kicking around the Keystone football for more than three years now. He has waffled and delayed and postponed and insisted he needs more time, to be sure his decision is based on (as Mr. McDonough put it) "the most sound science."

Or, perhaps, the most sound political timing. As Keystone drags on, it looks more like an effort for the administration to avoid unpopular fallout from its Democrat voting base than a strong commitment to protecting the environment against the perceived evils of fossil fuels. Indeed, there's little evidence that this White House has much of an issue with oil at all.

U.S. crude production is up 50 per cent since Mr. Obama took office – driven by a massive expansion in drilling that has quadrupled output from environmentally-controversial shale plays. In the Gulf of Mexico, where the explosion of BP's Deepwater Horizon rig caused an unprecedented ecological disaster less than four years ago, drilling has been allowed to surge far beyond its pre-disaster levels. Shipments of crude oil by rail lines – including those that run through major urban centres – nearly doubled last year alone, and have increased 40-fold under the Obama Administration.

If this White House has a pro-environmental policy concerning the production and transportation of fossil fuels, it's sure hiding it well.

No, this is all about trying to figure out how to sell this pipeline to voters who once upon a time thought they had elected an administration that wanted to clean up carbon emissions. Mr. Obama still hasn't figured out how to do it. He was previously able to push back his decision until after his own re-election in 2012, but now he has members of his party who would rather he not approve Keystone while they are running for re-election in the midterm vote this November. That suggests Mr. Obama may well stall for another nine months or more.

Maybe that's sound politics, but it's shoddy administration. Further delays are no longer justified; further delays for purely political reasons are just poor leadership. The stakeholders in this massive project – from pipeline builders to refiners to land owners to suppliers to workers to producers, on both sides of the Canada/U.S. border – deserve an answer. They've waited long enough, and you've waffled long enough, Mr. Obama.

Report an error

Editorial code of conduct

Tickers mentioned in this story

Study and track financial data on any traded entity: click to open the full quote page. Data updated as of 18/03/24 4:20pm EDT.

SymbolName% changeLast
TRP-N
TC Energy Corp
+0.17%40.28
TRP-T
TC Energy Corp
+0.06%54.52

Follow related authors and topics

Authors and topics you follow will be added to your personal news feed in Following.

Interact with The Globe