Aide distances White House from Keystone pipeline decision

A top aide to President Obama is putting some space between the White House and the federal decision over whether to approve the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline.

Heather Zichal, the top White House energy and climate aide, noted Wednesday that it’s the State Department that is in charge of reviewing and ultimately making a decision on the Alberta-to-Texas pipeline.

“The reality is that it is the State Department and they will pursue the process under the executive order to make a national interest determination,” Zichal said during remarks at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

She’s referring to a 2004 executive order that puts State in charge of permitting for pipelines that cross international borders.

Zichal steered the focus to State in response to a question about whether approval of the project might be coupled with new Canadian commitments to curb greenhouse gas emissions, and a follow-up inquiry about where the decision on the project will reside.

But while the State Department is formally leading the review, Obama indicated in 2011 that he will ultimately be the decider on Keystone, a project that many business groups and unions want but green groups bitterly oppose.

And many observers believe a decision on Keystone, a pipeline that would bring Canadian oil sands to Gulf Coast refineries, will be a White House call despite the formal review occurring at Foggy Bottom.

Zichal said that State would release a supplemental environmental review of the project in the “not too distant future.” But it’s not clear when a final decision will arrive.