Obama: Keystone XL Pipeline Would Undercut U.S. Leadership On Climate Change | WFAE 90.7 - Charlotte's NPR News Source

Science & Environment Obama: Keystone XL Pipeline Would Undercut U.S. Leadership On Climate Change Published November 6, 2015 at 4:21 PM EST Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Listen • 0:48

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

President Obama has rejected the Keystone XL pipeline. The proposed pipeline which would've carried 800,000 barrels of oil a day from the Canadian tar sands to the U.S. Gulf Coast had been

under review for seven years.

KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:

Environmentalists celebrated the decision. Republicans attacked it. In his announcement at the White House today, Obama lamented that the issue had become a campaign cudgel.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

BARACK OBAMA: For years, Keystone pipeline has occupied what I frankly consider an overinflated role in our political discourse.

SIEGEL: Still, the president said approving the project would have undercut the United States' global leadership on climate change.

We'll get reaction to the decision in this country in a moment, but first we go to Canada where Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a statement that he was disappointed by the decision.

Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.