WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The construction of the Keystone XL pipeline would not pose a significant threat to the climate, US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Gina McCarthy said.
"No, I don’t think that any one issue is a disaster for the climate, nor do I think there is one solution for the climate change challenge that we have,” McCarthy told the Washington-based newspaper Politico on Monday when asked whether the Keystone pipeline would be a disaster for climate change.
In February 2015, US President Barack Obama vetoed the construction of the controversial pipeline, explaining that US Congress tried to circumvent a long-standing procedure of determining if the cross-border project serves US national interests.
McCarthy stressed, however, that the EPA’s assessment of the pipeline did not result in any final conclusions about the project.
US lawmakers have been sharply divided on whether to construct the Keystone Pipeline that would would connect Alberta, Canada and the US Gulf Coast and bring an additional 830,000 barrels of oil per day to US refineries, according to the US Congress.
Following Obama’s veto, US House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner called the President’s action a “national embarrassment,” and vowed that Congress would not give up its efforts to allow building the pipeline.
