Boehner: Presidents so far on the wrong side of the American people that hes now praising the companys decision to start going around him.
Texas Insider Report: WASHINGTON D.C. The White House on Monday welcomed a Canadian companys plan to build an oil pipeline from Oklahoma to Texas after President Barack Obama blocked the original Keystone pipeline application from Canada.
The new proposal by TransCanada does not require presidential approval because it does not cross a U.S. border. The 485-mile pipeline is expected to cost about $2.3 billion and be completed next year pending approval by federal state and local governments. The company said it would create about 4000 construction and support jobs.
The Obama administration had suggested development of an Oklahoma-to-Texas line to alleviate an oil bottleneck at a Cushing Okla. storage hub.
Obama rejected the Keystone XL pipeline last month citing uncertainty over a route that avoids the environmentalIy sensitive Sand hills region in Nebraska. He said there was not enough time for a fair review before a deadline forced on him by Republicans. The action put off a tough choice on the pipeline project which has become the focus of a heated political fight but did not kill it.
Pipeline supporters - including congressional Republicans and many business and labor leaders - call it an important job creator while opponents say it would transport dirty oil" from tar sands that requires huge amounts of energy to extract. They also worry about a spill.
White House press secretary Jay Carney said Monday that Obama was pleased with TransCanadas latest announcement.
Moving oil from the Midwest to the world-class state-of- the-art refineries on the Gulf Coast will modernize our infrastructure create jobs and encourage American energy production Carney said in a prepared statement. We look forward to working with TransCanada to ensure that it is built in a safe responsible and timely manner and we commit to take every step possible to expedite the necessary federal permits."
TransCanada said Monday it still hopes to build the full 1700-mile Keystone XL pipeline which would carry oil derived from tar sands in Alberta Canada to refineries along the Texas Gulf Coast. The proposed $7 billion pipeline would run through Montana South Dakota Nebraska and Kansas before reaching Oklahoma.
Carney said Obamas Jan. 18 decision to delay the pipeline in no way prejudged future applications" by Canada for the full 1700-mile project.
Russ Girling president and CEO of TransCanada said the Oklahoma-to-Texas pipeline will transport growing supplies of U.S. crude oil to meet refinery demands
in Texas.
Gulf Coast refineries can then access lower-cost domestic production and avoid paying a premium to foreign oil producers" he said adding that the project should reduce U.S. dependence on crude from outside North America.
Republican House Speaker John Boehner called the White House comments puzzling.
The president is so far on the wrong side of the American people that hes now praising the companys decision to start going around him Boehner said.
If the president thinks this project is good for America he knows how to make it happen right away. Until he does hes just standing in the way of getting it done."
Sen. James Inhofe R-Okla. said the pipeline could create more than 1000 construction jobs in Oklahoma alone.
Of course this smaller pipeline would in no way replace the need for the larger Keystone XL project but a pipeline from Cushing to the gulf is a no-brainer" he said.
Susan Casey-Lefkowitz international program director for the Natural Resources Defense Council said the new shorter pipeline was a ploy" to avoid State Department review of the Keystone XL project which she said would raise U.S. oil prices send tar sands oil overseas endanger U.S. homes and waters and contribute to worsening climate change.
