After top Canadian officials made their rounds on Capitol Hill this week to push for Keystone XL’s approval, Secretary of State John Kerry still wouldn’t budge on an end date for the controversial decision.
Kerry said he hopes a decision on the proposed oil-sands pipeline will be made soon, but didn’t give specifics.
{mosads}”We are currently engaged in an environmental impact statement analysis,” Kerry said of the timeline on Friday. “We aren’t at that point yet, they haven’t finished it.”
“I can promise my friends in Canada that all appropriate effort is being put into trying to get this done effectively and rapidly,” Kerry said of finalizing the review.
He met with his Canadian and Mexican counterparts on Friday morning to discuss energy and climate change issues.
On Thursday, Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird met with Sens. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), John Hoeven (R-N.D.) and John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), among other lawmakers individually.
Baird pushed for the administration to end the “limbo” on Keystone XL during his press conference with Hoeven.
Hoeven said he may push to attach the project to a must-pass bill, like the debt ceiling legislation, if President Obama doesn’t approve it.