WASHINGTON – Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins released the following statement after the Obama Administration announced its decision to block the construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline:

 “President Obama’s decision to block the Keystone Pipeline is simply another example of this White House putting election politics before economic recovery.  While the President’s friends in the environmental lobby may be cheering, the tens of thousands of hard working Americans who won’t have a job because of this decision are certainly not.”

“The Keystone Pipeline is an environmentally safe project that has adopted safety standards which go far beyond anything required of any pipeline in existence today. Additionally, the Keystone Pipeline will help lessen our dependence on Middle Eastern oil, while creating 20,000 direct American jobs and over 100,000 indirect American jobs.  The President has had more than three years to make a decision on the pipeline as it has been studied and developed, and blaming his decision on a 60 day deadline put in place after three years of study is nothing but a political farce.  We should move forward on final construction of this immensely important project immediately.  But as the President told his Jobs council just yesterday, ‘Obviously this is an election year,’ so we clearly shouldn’t expect much from the Obama White House.”

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