A passing grade for Keystone

President Obama came under renewed pressure to decide on the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline.

President Obama came under renewed pressure to decide on the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline, after a long-awaited State Department report released last week found that the $5.4 billion project would have no “significant” impact on climate change. According to the report, the 875-mile pipeline, which would transport 830,000 barrels of crude oil daily from the tar sands of Alberta, Canada, to existing pipelines in Steele City, Neb., would add as much carbon emissions to the atmosphere every year as 5.7 million cars would. The report concludes, however, that the Canadian oil would be burned in any case, leaving no environmental reason to block the pipeline.

Federal agencies now have 90 days to present their views on the pipeline. The president has said he will give his approval “only if this project does not significantly exacerbate the problem of carbon pollution.”

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