{"id":5480,"date":"2012-03-23T10:09:30","date_gmt":"2012-03-23T15:09:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=5480"},"modified":"2012-12-19T15:01:02","modified_gmt":"2012-12-19T21:01:02","slug":"what-obamas-cushing-visit-means-for-oklahoma-and-the-keystone-pipline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2012\/03\/23\/what-obamas-cushing-visit-means-for-oklahoma-and-the-keystone-pipline\/","title":{"rendered":"What Obama’s Cushing Visit Means for Oklahoma and the Keystone Pipline"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Joe Wertz \/ StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n

President Barack Obama visited an Oklahoma pipe yard on Thursday and pledged his support for the southern portion of the Keystone pipeline project.<\/p>\n<\/div>

In a muddy Oklahoma storage yard with a backdrop of towering pipe sections, President Barack Obama on Thursday pledged to fast-track and prioritize the Keystone Gulf Pipeline, freeing up a bottleneck of oil to flow from storage in Cushing to refineries in south Texas.<\/p>

Basically, Obama pledged to speed up what\u2019s already started.<\/p>

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\u201cI’m directing my administration to cut through the red tape, break through the bureaucratic hurdles, and make this project a priority,\u201d Obama told the receptive crowd at the event, which was closed to the public and consisted mostly of supporters and news media.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Joe Wertz \/ StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n

Scores of pro-drilling signs were spotted in Cushing, Oklahoma, a small city and oil center located a few miles from the pipe yard where President Barack Obama spoke.<\/p>\n<\/div>

On Thursday, Obama issued an executive order that creates a steering committee to improve permitting processes in general, as well as a memo directing federal agencies to coordinate and expedite their reviews to speed up decisions on domestic pipeline projects like the Oklahoma-to-Texas portion of Keystone.<\/p>

\u201cWe\u2019re making this new pipeline from Cushing to the Gulf a priority,\u201d Obama said. \u201cThe northern portion of it we’re going to have to review properly to make sure that the health and safety of the American people are protected.\u201d<\/p>\n

Drilling Down<\/h3>

In January, the Obama administration rejected TransCanada\u2019s permit for the Keystone XL pipeline, which would have transported crude from oil sands in Canada to the Gulf Coast of Texas.<\/p>

Keystone XL requires presidential approval because it crosses an international boundary. The pipeline project was plagued<\/a> with major routing issues in Nebraska\u2019s ecologically sensitive Sand Hills region, and environmentalists praised the permit rejection.<\/p>

[module align=”right” width=”half” type=”pull-quote”]<\/p>

\u201cThe president urgently needs to reexamine his policies, not deliver more speeches taking credit for the accomplishments of others.\u201d<\/p>\n

-Gov. Mary Fallin<\/h6>

[\/module]<\/p>

TransCanada later announced plans to start construction on the 485-mile Oklahoma-to-Texas portion, which doesn\u2019t require presidential approval. Completion of the southern pipeline leg would help relieve a bottleneck in Cushing, one of the largest crude oil storage facilities in the world, and eventually be connected to the northern portion of the Keystone system.<\/p>

TransCanada is rerouting the Nebraska portion of the northern pipeline. In a press conference after Obama\u2019s remarks, Robert Jones, the company\u2019s vice president for the Keystone project, and said TransCanada will reapply for a presidential permit \u201cin the next few months,\u201d and hope to begin construction next year.<\/p>

Presidential approval of the full Keystone XL pipeline might come easier if construction starts after the November election. The pipeline and Obama\u2019s permit denial have played a big part in primary politics, especially here in Oklahoma.<\/p>\n

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Click here to read President Obama's executive order to expedite application approvals.<\/p>\n<\/div>

Republican presidential candidates Newt Gingrich<\/a> and Rick Santorum<\/a> both made primary stops in big energy in Oklahoma. Both cheered oil and natural gas drilling and blasted federal regulation of the energy industry.<\/p>

Faced with public unrest<\/a> over high gas prices, Obama scheduled a four-state energy tour that includes Nevada, New Mexico and Ohio. Thursday\u2019s stop in Oklahoma was a symbolic gesture by Obama to show that booming oil and natural gas companies are part of what he\u2019s touted as an \u201call-of-the-above energy strategy.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cMy administration has approved dozens of new oil and gas pipelines over the last three years \u2014 including one from Canada,\u201d Obama said. \u201cAnd as long as I\u2019m President, we\u2019re going to keep on encouraging oil development and infrastructure, and we\u2019re going to do it in a way that protects the health and safety of the American people. We don\u2019t have to choose between one or the other, we can do both.\u201d<\/p>

If someone suggests that his administration is suppressing domestic oil production, they\u2019re not paying attention, Obama said.<\/p>

Of course if you ask Republicans, Oklahoma lawmakers and energy executives, that\u2019s precisely what Obama has done.<\/p>\n

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Joe Wertz \/ StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n

President Barack Obama shook hands and met with supporters after his speech in Ripley, Oklahoma.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Jobs, But How Many?<\/h3>

Obama\u2019s support of the Keystone Gulf Pipeline means he won\u2019t actively try to sabotage it, Gov. Mary Fallin said<\/a>.<\/p>

\u201cPresident Obama\u2019s rhetoric is matched with a policy record that is aggressively anti-energy and continues to stifle economic growth in Oklahoma and throughout the nation,\u201d Fallin said. \u201cThe president urgently needs to reexamine his policies, not deliver more speeches taking credit for the accomplishments of others.\u201d<\/p>

Fallin\u2019s sentiment was echoed by U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe<\/a>, U.S. Rep. Frank Lucas<\/a> and Attorney General Scott Pruitt<\/a>.<\/p>

Energy independence is a big part of the Keystone discussion, but the project\u2019s potential for job-creation has also become a political talking point.<\/p>

TransCanada and its supporters claim that the full Keystone XL project would create 20,000 construction and manufacturing jobs and more than 100,000 direct, indirect and induced jobs.<\/p>\n

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