With respect to approving the Keystone XL pipeline, President Obama officially has been put on the clock.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee on Monday unveiled a live “Keystone Clock,” that keeps track of the time elapsed since the project was first submitted for federal approval. It now stands at 1,606 days, as Keystone was first submitted to the State Department for approval on Sept. 19, 2008.
The massive pipeline, which would bring Canadian oil sands south through the U.S. to Gulf Coast refineries, is still under review by the Obama administration.
Pressure continues to mount on the White House from both sides of the debate, with Republicans and the oil and gas industry pushing the president to green-light the project, while the environmental movement wants to see it stopped.
A decision isn’t expected until the summer, at the earliest.
The new “Keystone clock” can be seen at http://energycommerce.house.gov/content/keystone-xl.
