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Administration to delay Keystone pipeline again

Neil Munro White House Correspondent
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Republicans jumped on the news that the Obama administration is delaying judgment on the Keystone XL pipeline by another six months.

“Americans have already waited >4yrs for #KXL, time for POTUS to say ‘yes,'” said a 11:14 a.m. tweet from the office of House Speaker Rep. John Boehner.

 

The GOP push-back came shortly after Reuters reported Thursday that the administration will not announce until June whether it will approve or reject the proposed plan to build an oil-carrying pipeline from Canada to Texas.

The $7 billion plan is expected to generate work for the U.S. manufacturing center, and for many blue-collar construction workers, but is opposed by environmental groups.

“We’re talking the beginning of summer at the earliest,” said Reuters source. “It’s not weeks until the final decision. It’s months.”

The application to build the pipeline is being reviewed by officials at the Department of State.

In November 2011, the administration postponed a pending decision on the pipeline. The new delay will have delayed the decision by roughly 18 months.

Since the November delay, Canadian officials have pushed ahead with plans to pump the oil to a Canadian port for sale overseas.

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