Prior to President Obama’s speech on climate change Tuesday afternoon, the White House leaked stories that excited an influential subset of environmentalists who have been pushing the administration to kill the Keystone XL pipeline.
The reality of the speech was something different.
From the Associated Press, “Official: Obama to say Keystone XL pipeline should be OK’d only if it won’t increase emissions.”
From Huffington Post, “President Barack Obama will ask the State Department not to approve the construction of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline unless it can first determine that it will not lead to a net increase in greenhouse gas emissions, a senior administration official told The Huffington Post.”
Though ambiguous, those two descriptions created the impression that the White House had changed its approach to Keystone, and would thumb the scales against approving the pipeline
But Obama’s own remarks just a few minutes later were significantly less ambitious.
“Allowing the Keystone pipeline to be built requires a finding that doing so would be in our nation’s interest,” Obama said. “And our national interest will be served, only if this project does not significantly exacerbate the problem of carbon pollution. The net effects of the pipeline’s impact on our climate will be absolutely critical to determining if this project is allowed to go forward. It’s relevant.”
That finding refers to an environmental assessment conducted by the State Department. Contacted to explain the discrepancy, a White House official said Obama’s remarks — not the news stories — better reflected the administration’s policy.
The leaks seemed designed to create the impression among Obama’s supporters and even his environmental skeptics that the president was setting a tough new emissions standard for approving the pipeline, when in reality the President left the administration considerable flexibility in evaluating the project.
Republicans, and even some key opponents of Keystone on Capitol Hill, seemed to recognize the discrepancy.
“The standard the president set today should lead to speedy approval of the Keystone pipeline,” said Brendan Buck, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner. “Based on the lengthy review by the State Department, construction of the pipeline would not have a significant environmental impact. It’s time to sign off on Keystone and put Americans to work.”
Buck is referring to State Department findings that have come under question, including by Obama’s own Environmental Protection Agency. The question of whether Obama’s remarks will change the administration’s approach to Keystone thus hinges on whether the State Department will respond with a more rigorous analysis of the consequences building the pipeline in the U.S. would have on climate pollution.
For that reason, the project’s opponents aren’t letting up.
“The president must not give speeches about the dangers of global warming and then turn around and allow construction of the Keystone pipeline from Canada’s tar sands oil fields which would result in a huge increase in carbon emissions,” read an official statement from Sen. Bernie Sander (I-VT).
