The Keystone XL Pipeline Debate

Hour 1

The Obama administration recently rejected the hotly contested proposal to build a 1,700-mile pipeline from Western Canada to Texas. The Keystone XL pipeline would carry 800,000 barrels of oil from the tar sands in Alberta across to refineries in the Gulf of Mexico. President Obama said that his administration denied the permit because it was given insufficient time to review the project. The pipeline developer, TransCanada Corp., has said it will reapply for a new application. Supporters of the pipeline, many of whom are Republicans, argue that the project will create thousands of jobs and help wean America off Middle Eastern oil. Opponents counter that extracting the tar sands oil would dramatically increase global warming. This hour, we’ll debate the Keystone XL pipeline with SUSAN CASEY-LEFKOWITZ, director of the International Program for the National Resources Defense Council, and ROBERT BRYCE, senior fellow with the Center for Energy Policy and the Environment at the Manhattan Institute. We’ll also examine Obama’s energy policy as laid out in his State of the Union address with the New York Times’ MATTHEW WALD.

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[audio: 013112_100630.mp3]