President Obama's Keystone XL Delay

On November 10, 2011, the Obama administration announced that no decision would be made on the long-sought Keystone XL pipeline. Instead, the administration would seek a new route and a new comprehensive environmental review, which would push a final decision into the first quarter of 2013, after the next presidential election.

The Keystone XL pipeline is a proposed $7 billion, nearly 1,700-mile, 36-inch crude oil pipeline that will stretch from the oil sands in Alberta, Canada to the Gulf Coast, bringing significant new oil supplies to refineries in the U.S.

With the Obama administration already behind schedule in approving this job-creating project, the U.S. House of Representatives voted in July 2011 to require a final decision by November 1, 2011. The bill drew strong bipartisan support, with 47 Democrats joining Republicans to vote yes on this project. However, the Obama administration dismissed it at the time, saying, “The bill is unnecessary because the Department of State has been working diligently to complete the permit decision process for the Keystone XL pipeline and has publicly committed to reaching a decision before December 31, 2011.”

With the administration’s refusal to make a decision, Congress has once again taken action to demand that President Obama approve the Keystone XL pipeline unless he finds that it is not in the national interest. H.R. 3765, the Temporary Payroll Tax Cut Continuation Act, was approved by the House and Senate and signed into law by President Obama on December 23, 2011. The bill requires the president’s decision within 60 days from enactment, which means a final decision on the Keystone XL pipeline will come by February 21, 2012. Use the clock below to see how long it has been since the day Congress called on President Obama - and the president agreed - to make a decision on this job-creating project.