President Obama has rejected the construction of TransCanada’s proposed 1,179-mile, 800,000-barrel-per-day Keystone XL crude oil pipeline. Obama said the pipeline “would not make a meaningful long-term contribution to our economy.”
The New York Times notes the decision comes just before a U.N. summit meeting in Paris in which Obama hopes to establish an agreement with other nations on battling climate change. A decision on the pipeline has been years in the making, and in that time it has become a contentious issue with clear battle lines drawn between industry and environmental advocacy groups.
The American Petroleum Institute called the decision an “assault to American workers” that will cost thousands of jobs. A recent State Department study estimated the project would have supported 42,000 temporary jobs during its two-year construction period and about 35 permanent jobs.
