"The Obama administration on Thursday approved a pipeline to carry oil-sands fuel from Canada into the US, saying its action was designed to send 'a positive economic signal in a difficult economic period'.

Many environmentalists had expressed hopes that Hillary Clinton, secretary of state, would reject a permit to build the Alberta Clipper, a 1,000-mile pipeline designed to carry up to 800,000 barrels a day of fuel from Canada’s vast oil sands. But the State Department said greenhouse-gas emissions are best addressed through each country’s domestic policies and a strong international agreement.

After undertaking what it said was considerable evaluation, the US said it would permit Enbridge Energy to build the pipeline to advance a number of US strategic interests.

These interests include increasing the diversity of oil supplies for the US, amid political tension in many major oil-producing regions; shortening the transportation path for crude oil supplies; and increasing crude oil supplies from a major non-Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries producer."

Sheila McNulty reports for the Financial Times August 21, 2009. [2]