CUSHING, Okla. (MCT) — President Obama said Thursday morning that his administration has assured the builder of the Keystone pipeline that the federal government will promptly review the southern leg of the project, which the company hopes to start building this summer.
“The southern leg of it, we’re making a priority,” Obama told a crowd of company officials, pipe workers and community members gathered here at the starting point of this stretch of the project.
The northern part of the project, Obama said, “we’re going to have to review to make sure that the health and safety of the American people are protected.”
The Obama administration has denied a permit for that northern pipeline, opposed by environmentalists because the original plans would have run it through environmentally sensitive lands.
Republicans questioned whether the president’s expedited review would actually advance the southern part of the project from Cushing to Port Arthur, Texas.
The builder is “moving forward with a southern portion of (the pipeline) that doesn’t require Mr. Obama’s signature,” said Brendan Buck, spokesman for House Speaker John A. Boehner. “So cue the political opportunism.”
Officials of TransCanada, the builder of the pipeline, were at the event but declined to comment.
