Updated

Obama Administration: NO to Keystone XL Pipeline

Levi Rickert, editor-in-chief in Native Challenges. Discussion »

WASHINGTON - In what is considered a victory for American Indians and environmentalists, the Obama Administration rejected the controversial Keystone XL pipeline. The announcement came at 3 pm at the US State Department that handles international affairs.

The US State Department and President Obama have concurred to reject the Keystone XL because it is not to serve the national interest to approve the pipeline without adequate time to fully analyze the environmental impact.

Victory for American Indians

The pipeline was proposed to come from Alberta, Canada through the United States to the Gulf of Mexico in a 1,700 mile route that would have gone right through the states of Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas on its way to the Gulf of Mexico for storage and export overseas. The pipeline would have carried 700,000 to 900,000 barrels of crude oil per day.

The proposed pipeline coming down through the Plains states has caused great concern, particularly among the Lakota in South Dakota because it would have crossed in two different locations the Mink Wiconi Rural Water pipeline. The Mni Wiconi Rural pipeline provides drinking water from the Missouri River to the Rosebud, Oglala and Lower Brule Lakota Nations.

Calls by the Native News Network this afternoon to Chairman John Yellow Bird Steele, Oglala Sioux, went unreturned by press time.

In November, the Obama administration announced it would delay a final decision on the Keystone Xl pipeline until after this year's presidential election. However, Congress inserted a Keystone provision into the payroll tax extension. The legislation calls for President Obama to make a decision by February 21st.

“This is not the end of the fight,”

said House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, stated shortly after the announcement was released this afternoon.

It is reported that Republicans in Congress will try other means to have the Keystone XL pipeline proceed, over the objections of the Obama administration. They maintain some 20,000 jobs will be created from the pipeline. However, experts dispute the claim as being overly exaggerated.

Here is the link to the Department of State: Announcement on the Keystone XL Pipeline.

Updated 5:40 pm est; updated 5:05 pm est; posted January 18, 2011 4:40 pm est