President Trump signs an executive order related to the oil pipeline industry at the White House on Jan. 24. (Shawn Thew/Pool via Bloomberg)The State Department faces two deadlines Monday for deciding whether to approve the Keystone XL pipeline, but while a green light is widely expected, the company that would build the project said talks were still in progress. But in late 2015, shortly before the international climate conference in Paris, Obama, citing national interests and the contribution the pipeline would make toward climate change, made the decision himself to reject Keystone XL. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, the former chief executive of ExxonMobil, has recused himself from making a decision about the Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry up to 830,000 barrels of crude oil a day. Five years ago, the Keystone XL project ran into objections from Nebraska landowners and environmentalists, many of them worried about potential damage to the state’s massive Ogallala water aquifer and fragile Sand Hills region.

Source: Washington Post March 23, 2017 21:50 UTC