Washington, D.C. – With news reports indicating the President will formally reject the Keystone XL Pipeline, Congressman Tim Murphy (PA-18) called on Congress to intervene and overturn the decision. 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.

“After three years of waffling, President Obama’s final decision on the Keystone Pipeline is that American energy production and job creation is not in the national interest. I am stunned. Instead of bringing significant new oil supplies to refineries in the United States, the President apparently prefers we continue to send $129 billion to OPEC countries and keep our unemployment rate hovering at ten percent. I am going to do all I can in Congress to overturn this terrible decision because not only do we need this pipeline to create tens of thousands of jobs, many of which will directly impact our local economy, we need it to bring energy security to America.”

The President’s veto of the job-creating pipeline comes after three years of indecision. With the Obama Administration already behind schedule in approving the project, Rep. Murphy and the House of Representatives formally voted in July 2011 to require a final decision by November 1, 2011 (H.R. 1938, North American-Made Energy Security Act).

In August 2011, the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) was released, addressing all outstanding concerns raised by the Environmental Protection Agency, and was in fact largely supportive of the project. Just as the comment period on the FEIS neared completion, and the State Department appeared ready to issue a National Interest Determination, 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.