"Obama Expresses Scepticism Over Keystone Pipeline"

"President says pipeline’s extension from Canada to Nebraska would do little to reduce American energy prices, and generate only a limited number of US jobs"

"US President Barack Obama has delivered his most sceptical remarks yet on the future of the Keystone oil pipeline, claiming its controversial extension from Canada to Nebraska would do little to reduce American energy prices and generate only a limited number of US jobs, but could add to the infrastructure costs of climate change.

Speaking during an end-of-year press conference just one day after Republicans promised fresh legislation designed to force the project’s approval, the president departed from official White House neutrality on an upcoming review by the State Department to deliver a withering assessment of its merits, claiming his opponents were wrong to insist the pipeline was a 'magic formula' for economic growth.

'At issue in Keystone is not American oil; it is Canadian oil that is drawn out of tar sands in Canada,' he said when asked if he was minimising the benefits. 'That oil currently is being shipped out through rail or trucks, and it would save Canadian oil companies and the Canadian oil industry an enormous amount of money if they could simply pipe it all the way through the United States down to the Gulf.'"

Dan Roberts reports for the Guardian December 20, 2014.

SEE ALSO:

"Keystone 'Not Even Nominal Benefit' To Us Consumers, Obama Says" (The Hill)

"Obama Sounds Like He’s About to Reject the Keystone Pipeline" (Mother Jones)