Kerry won’t budge on Keystone XL

Secretary of State John Kerry is showing no signs of which way he will swing on the Keystone XL pipeline.

“I’m engaged in a private and personal process within the department to look at the facts and I will make my judgement based on the facts to make a recommendation to the president,” Kerry said in an interview with MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell on Wednesday.

{mosads}”I’m not going to make any hints about what that might be.”

The State Department is currently in the national determination phase of its review, which lasts for 90 days. Then, Kerry must make a recommendation to President Obama on whether the pipeline is in the nation’s best interest.

Lawmakers, environmentalists and industry groups on both sides of the debate have pressed the administration increasingly since the State Department dropped it’s environmental impact review of the $5.4 billion dollar project.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) was the latest to weigh in on Wednesday. Boxer, along with Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), sent a letter to Kerry, urging him to “complete a comprehensive human health impacts study.”

Advocates of the pipeline say the latest tactics by Democrats like Boxer are an attempt to slow down the process further.  E2-Wire has more on her comments here.