WASHINGTON – The Obama administration is resisting pressure to offer a clear timeline for a decision on the Keystone XL pipeline.
Attacks from partisan opponents and questions from U.S. media are being met with the same response: don’t expect a date now for a decision on whether the pipeline goes ahead.
There were about a dozen questions on the subject at the daily White House press briefing Monday.
On the Senate floor, the top Republican in the chamber demanded approval of the project soon.
The chatter has been prompted by last Friday’s release of the State Department’s environmental review of the project.
The review indicated that under foreseeable market conditions, the pipeline to bring Canadian crude south would not increase greenhouse-gas emissions.
Project opponents promise to keep fighting in court and in the political arena, as Secretary of State John Kerry prepares his recommendation.
The final decision almost certainly rests with President Barack Obama.
A spokeswoman for Kerry said he’ll make a recommendation sometime during this mandate, which ends in January 2017.