United States/Canada - Canada's finance minister announced his feeling that the Keystone XL pipeline project will be revived after the United States' presidential elections.
Finance minister Ron Liepert said the United States' government's stance on the pipeline is likely to shift toward its approval. Given that one of the Republican Party's candidates - almost all of whom have expressed their support for it - or Obama - who won't have to face any threat the environmental side of his base presents to him - his assertion may be spot-on.
Although President Obama delayed the project, Canada's government is continuing to look for more options such as shipping their tar sands oil through the West Coast to Asia or using the Eastern Seaboard using one of the country's pipelines. Earlier this month Stephen Harper, Canada's Prime Minister, visited China to talk to the country's government about shipping their oil to the country.
"We believe Keystone will be revived and approved after the presidential election, but it's not a sure thing," said Liepert.
Fears of how the proposed pipeline would affect the Midwest's water supply, where America gets a vast amount of its food resources, have prompted environmentalist groups to oppose its construction. One of the main fears is that a pipeline rupture would devastate the aquifer, while another is the gas output would forever destroy the climate due to the massive CO2 emissions.
Thinking Obama's delay was caused at least in part to the environmentalist side of the left, a majority of Republicans have been trying to introduce a legislative bill which would require Obama to make his decision before the presidential election while promoting the idea that Keystone XL's passage would "create more jobs", a claim which has been proven wrong numerous times.
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