Obama rejects Keystone XL pipeline(VIDEO) 오바마 '키스톤XL 송유관' 건설 환경문제로 승인 '불허'

Obama rejects Keystone XL pipeline

"미국 이익에 부합하지 않아", 

미 공화당 대선 주자들 강력 반발

캐나다 총리 "실망스럽지만 결정 존중", 

트랜스캐나다 "재신청하겠다"

Obama rejects Keystone XL pipeline

버락 오바마 미국 대통령이 6일(현지시간) 환경파괴 등을 이유로 미국과 캐나다를 

잇는 키스톤XL 송유관 건설 사업의 승인을 불허하기로 공식 결정했다.

VIDEO

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/11/06/politics/keystone-xl-pipeline-decision-rejection-kerry/

edited by kcontents 

케이콘텐츠 편집

버락 오바마 미국 대통령이 6일(현지시간) 환경파괴 등을 이유로 미국과 캐나다를 잇는 키스톤XL 송유관 건설 사업의 승인을 불허하기로 공식 결정했다. 오바마 대통령은 이날 오전 백악관에서 기자회견을 하고 이러한 결정을 발표했다. 앞서 이 사업 주체인 트랜스캐나다는 미국 정부에 다음 대통령 취임 때까지 사업검토를 연기해줄 것을 요청한 바 있으나, 오바마 대통령은 7년간 끌어온 이 사업에 대해 이날 이같이 공식 불허했다. 오바마 대통령은 회견에서 "국무부가 이 계획이 미국의 이익에 부합하지 않을 것이라고 판단했으며 나도 그 결정에 동의한다"며 "송유관을 건설하지 않는 게 의미 있고 장기적인 미국의 경제성장에 기여하는 한편 가스 가격을 낮추고 환경에 도움이 될 것"이라고 밝혔다.  조시 어니스트 백악관 대변인은 브리핑에서 국무부의 판단은 다음 달 파리에서 열리는 유엔 기후변화협약 당사국 총회를 염두에 둔 것이라면서 "지구상에서 가장 더러운 원유를 추출하는 송유관울 건설하는 것은 오바마 행정부의 기후변화 어젠다를 저해할 것"이라고 밝혔다 (워싱턴=연합뉴스) 신지홍 특파원

view a map of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline

By Elise Labott and Dan Berman, CNN

Washington (CNN)President Barack Obama on Friday rejected the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, ending the political fight over the Canada-to-Texas project that has gone on for much of his presidency.

Secretary of State John Kerry concluded the controversial project is not in the country's national security interest, and Obama announced from the White House that he agreed.

"America is now a global leader when it comes to taking serious action to fight climate change, and frankly, approving this project would have undercut that leadership," Obama said.

The massive project has been a seven-year political football during presidential and congressional elections that has pitted oil companies and Republicans against environmentalists and liberal activists. The State Department has been reviewing the project for much of Obama's time in the White House.

The proposed pipeline would span nearly 1,200 miles across six U.S. states, moving more than 800,000 barrels of carbon-heavy petroleum daily from Canadian oil sands through Nebraska to refineries in the Gulf Coast.

Obama's move comes as the White House continues to promote its environmental agenda and efforts to fight climate change. The Environmental Protection Agency this summer put forward new regulations limiting greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. And next month, Obama will attend the Paris climate talks run by the United Nations, he announced Friday. The White House is hoping to broker an international agreement committing every country to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and enact other policies to curb global warming.

The President has also stepped up his rhetoric on the need to address global warming, pushing back against Republicans and climate skeptics fighting his agenda.

"We know that human activity is changing the climate," Obama said during a visit to Alaska in late summer. "We know that human ingenuity can do something about it. We're even starting to see that we might actually have the political will to succeed. So the time to heed the critics and cynics is past. The time to plead ignorance is surely past. The deniers are increasingly alone, on their own shrinking island."

In a statement Friday, Kerry said the climate impact was the key factor. "The critical factor in my determination was this: moving forward with this project would significantly undermine our ability to continue leading the world in combatting climate change," he said.

Liberals and environmentalists, including top donors such as California's Tom Steyer, who has committed tens of millions of dollars to fighting pro-pipeline political candidates, protested Keystone and made it a cause celebre among Democrats.

The project was a major issue during the 2012 presidential campaign, when GOP candidate Mitt Romney said he would approve the pipeline. Republican candidates in the 2016 race have also pledged to let the project go forward.

House Speaker Paul Ryan didn't mince words in criticizing Obama's action. "This decision isn't surprising, but it is sickening," Ryan said in a statement.

"So sad that Obama rejected Keystone Pipeline," GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump tweeted. "Thousands of jobs, good for the environment, no downside!"

In his speech, Obama said that he believed Keystone has had an "over-inflated role in our political discourse, and said the project's potential to create jobs and the potential environmental threats were exaggerated.

"All of this obscured the fact that this pipeline would neither be the silver bullet to the U.S. economy proclaimed by some, or the death knell to climate proclaimed by others," Obama said.

Obama also cited falling gasoline prices as another argument against the project.

"While our politics have been consumed by a debate about whether or not this pipeline would create jobs or lower gas prices, we've gone ahead and created jobs and lowered gas prices."

The average price of regular gasoline hit $3.94 per gallon in April 2012 and stayed well above $3 for the rest of that election year. But this year, prices have been steadily below $3 per gallon.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has also been caught up in Keystone politics. In October 2010, Clinton indicated she was "inclined" to approve the project but has since backed away from that stance, and in September said she opposes it. Fellow Democratic presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Martin O'Malley also oppose the pipeline, and Clinton faced criticism from the left for not taking a firm stance.

Related: Hillary Clinton's 5 takes on the Keystone Pipeline

Sanders noted his long-standing opposition to the project in a statement Friday. "It is insane for anyone to be supporting the excavation and transportation of some of the dirtiest fuel on earth," he said. "As someone who has led the opposition to the Keystone pipeline from Day 1, I strongly applaud the President's decision to kill this project once and for all."

Friday afternoon, Clinton tweeted her approval.

 

"The right call. Now it's time to make America a clean energy superpower. -H," she tweeted.

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/11/06/politics/keystone-xl-pipeline-decision-rejection-kerry/

케이콘텐츠 

kcontents

"from past to future"

데일리건설뉴스 construction news

콘페이퍼 conpaper

.