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Kerry wants Keystone pipeline decision in ‘near term’
Secretary of State John Kerry said Friday that a federal decision on the proposed Keystone XL oil sands pipeline should arrive in the “near term,” but did not define what “near term” means.
Kerry, after meeting with Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird, said his State Department predecessor, Hillary Clinton, had established a “very open and transparent process, which I am committed to seeing through.”
“I can guarantee you that it will be fair and transparent, accountable, and we hope that we will be able to be in a position to make an announcement in the near term,” Kerry said of the proposed Alberta-to-Texas pipeline.
“I don’t want to pin down precisely when, but I assure you, in the near term,” he added.
The State Department is heading the federal review of TransCanada Corp.’s proposed pipeline to bring Canadian oil sands to Gulf Coast refineries.
Reuters, citing an unidentified U.S. official, reported in late January that a final administration decision could be pushed back until at least June.
Canadian officials, as well as business groups and a number of major unions, are lobbying for the project. TransCanada Corp. CEO Russ Girling met with a senior State Department official on Thursday about the pipeline.
But environmentalists strongly oppose it, and some are casting the decision as a test of President Obama’s resolve on climate change.
Baird, in public remarks with Kerry after their bilateral meeting at the State Department, said the pipeline is a “huge priority.”
But both men more also sought to emphasize what has been broader cooperation on energy between the two nations. Canada is already the largest source of U.S. oil imports.
Baird noted that both nations have pledged to try and reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 17 percent, from 2005 levels, by 2020, and talked up Canadian efforts to phase out “dirty” coal-fired power and other steps.
Kerry also talked up the two nations’ energy ties, even as Keystone remains unresolved.
“Canada is our largest energy supplier and our shared networks of electrical grids keep energy flowing both ways across the border,” Kerry said. “As we move forward to meet the needs of a secure, clean energy future on this shared continent, we are going to continue to build on our foundation of cooperation.”
—This post was updated at 5:10 p.m.
