GOP uses Obama-Harper meeting to push Keystone oil sands pipeline

Top Republicans are using Wednesday’s summit between President Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to continue their effort to punish Obama politically for delaying a federal permitting decision on the proposed Keystone XL oil sands pipeline.

TransCanada Corp.’s proposed Alberta-to-Texas pipeline is a source of tension between Obama and Harper, who wants quick approval of the project that the administration has delayed a decision about until after the 2012 elections.

{mosads}“Today, the President welcomes Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to the White House, and it’s my hope that the prime minister convinces President Obama to reverse his recent decision to delay the Keystone XL pipeline,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said on the Senate floor Wednesday.

Harper is unlikely to force a quick decision out of the Obama administration, which last month ordered a new State Department evaluation of routes that keep the pipeline away from the ecologically sensitive Sand Hills region of Nebraska. But McConnell and other GOP officials nonetheless see a political opening to attack Obama on jobs.

“The president has said repeatedly that jobs are his top priority, says he wakes up every morning thinking about how he can create jobs. Yet here’s the single greatest shovel-ready project in America, ready to go, and for some reason he’s suddenly not interested,” McConnell said.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) wasn’t any kinder to Obama.

He cited the recent agreement between TransCanada and Nebraska politicians to reroute the project — a deal that project backers say should enable faster federal action.

“While it might make for inconvenient politics for the President, the administration is out of excuses and running out of time. Prime Minister Harper has made clear that if this project is not approved, American competitors, such as China, will gain from our loss,” Boehner said in a statement.

“This project is good for the economy, and it’s good for America’s energy security. With Nebraska already taking action, it is my hope that the President will use today’s meeting with the Prime Minister to announce the project’s approval,” he said.

{mossecondads}House GOP leaders may tuck a provision into their payroll tax cut extension bill that would effectively force quick federal approval of the pipeline.

Major business groups including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Petroleum Institute are lobbying hard for the project, as are several unions.

But the pipeline is politically treacherous terrain for Obama amid bitter opposition from environmental groups that, like unions, are a key part of his political base.

Environmentalists oppose the project because of greenhouse gas emissions from developing Alberta’s massive oil sands deposits, potential pipeline spills and other issues.