Keystone XL Pipeline Permit Denied

The Obama administration today rejected TransCanada's application for a permit to build the Keystone XL pipeline from the tar sand fields of Alberta, Canada to U.S. oil refineries on the Gulf of Mexico.

The proposed pipeline would cost an estimated $7 billion, span six states, and stretch across more than 1,700 miles--some of it through environmentally sensitive areas and past communities of people who are worried about the potential health effects of possible oil spills, air pollution, water contamination and greenhouse gas emissions.

Supporters argue that the pipeline is needed to create jobs and reduce America's dependence on oil from nations that are sometimes hostile to U.S. interests. Opponents say that the uncertain number of jobs the pipeline would create--many of them temporary low-paying jobs rather than the permanent high-wage jobs usually cited by pipeline advocates--are not worth the health and environmental risks the pipeline poses.

Learn more about today's decision and what comes next.

Also Read:

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