Kerry offers no timeline for Keystone decision

Secretary of State John Kerry isn’t getting into specifics on when he might send his recommendation on the Keystone XL pipeline to the president. 

As the Republican-controlled Congress prepares to send legislation that would greenlight the project, one of its first items, to Obama, the administration is steadfast on its veto threat.  

During a press conference with Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird and Mexican Foreign Secretary José Antonio Meade this weekend, Kerry said the “process needs to be honored, not circumvented.”

He said that all federal agencies will report Monday to the State Department on whether the $8 billion oil sands pipeline is in the nation’s interest.

“And at that point, it’s in our hands for me to make a recommendation to send to the president, [and] the president to make a decision at some point in the future,” Kerry said. 

Kerry said the State Department will “analyze and address” the information submitted by agencies as appropriate, but gave no indication on a timeline for his decision or the president’s.  

While the finish line is in sight for the six-year review of the pipeline, the White House has not backed down on its veto threat of legislation to approve the project that passed the Senate last week. 

The House has yet to say whether it will go to conference on the Senate’s bill or vote to pass it outright.