Obama Administration Delays Keystone Decision Until After Election

Well, at least we know what one election issue will be.

The U.S. government won't be making a decision on whether to allow TransCanada Corp.'s Keystone XL pipeline to traverse the country until after next year's presidential election. The Obama administration says the State Department is now reviewing alternative routes for the pipeline, which had been originally slated to run through an ecologically sensitive region of Nebraska. Vociferous activists from that state and activists across the country have cautioned that the current route would pose a danger to an aquifer that provides drinking water to much of Nebraska, as well as threaten wildlife in the Sandhills region. The $7-billion pipeline would transport crude Alberta oil from the oil sands to refineries on Texas' Gulf Coast. The Harper government says they're not at all pleased with the Obama administration's decision, a trend that's becoming more and more common these days.