President Delays Decision on Keystone XL Pipeline

By Jim Cason on 11/02/2011 @ 10:30 AM

Tags: energy

President Barack Obama's decision to delay approval of the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico is a victory for the broad coalition of environmentalists and other activists that had opposed the project.

The 1,700-mile pipeline carrying a heavy form of crude oil extracted from oil sands formations in Alberta to refineries in Oklahoma and the Gulf Coast sounded like a bad idea from the beginning. Quaker Earthcare Witness described the Alberta Tarsands as "an enormous environmental disaster."

Although FCNL's work is focused on lobbying Congress, many friends and several participants in our Annual Meeting joined the crowds that surrounded the White House on November 6 to urge the president to not allow the pipeline to go forward. I had dozens of friends who came into town for that protest and for the earlier White House demonstrations in late August.

Of course the president hasn't stopped the project, just delayed it until after the next election. Still everyone from the The New York Times (which described the decision as "the right move") to the business press acknowledged that the decision was at least in part a response to the massive protests against the pipeline.

The Keystone XL Pipeline project reaffirmed for me the importance of the work that many groups are doing to try and improve environmental literacy in this country. Maybe it will also create some momentum that will help persuade Congress to cut subsidies for oil and gas production in this country.