Industry experts call Obama announcement ‘toothless’
Posted Mar 22, 2012 8:05 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Thursday is the big day many in the oil sector have been waiting for; U.S. President Barack Obama is expected to announce he’ll fast-track the regulatory process around the southern leg of the Keystone XL pipeline.
According to the White House, the President will expedite permits and review “vital infrastructure projects.”
He will also issue a presidential memorandum making the Gulf Coast section of the project a “top priority,” as the administration tries to free-up domestic crude in Oklahoma.
In a written statement, the administration says, “the need for pipeline infrastructure is urgent because rising American oil production is outpacing the capacity of pipelines to deliver oil to refineries.”
Analysts however say Obama is caving to pressure from the opposition as he tries to deal with the rising cost of gasoline.
“He’s trying to have it both ways and I think most people see through the politics of it,” says Bob Tippee, Editor of American-based Oil and Gas Journal. “You know the southern pipeline is important but it’s not going to carry great quantities of Canadian heavy oil to the Gulf Coast.”
Support for the pipeline has grown in recent months from Republicans and some Democrats.
The journalist and industry insider says the move is somewhat puzzling because the southern leg doesn’t require approval from the White House.
Obama panned the original route of Keystone XL because it ran through environmentally sensitive areas in Nebraska.
Other pipelines, Tippee adds, run through the Nebraska aquifer and with TransCanada willing to reroute the line, he expects Obama will wait until after the presidential election to approve the project.
“I believe that was the political thinking all along,” he says. “But now he’s kinda being forced to show some support for the pipeline without actually having to support the pipeline, that’s what he’s doing.”
