President Obama said he vetoed legislation authorizing the Keystone XL pipeline because Congress was “trying to circumvent” the review process.
“Well initially Keystone was vetoed because Congress was trying to circumvent the process that has been in place for years to evaluate all the aspects of it,” Obama said during an interview with WDAY in North Dakota.
{mosads}But the president didn’t stop there when explaining why he rejected the bill.
“Part of the reason North Dakota has done so well is that we have been very much promoting domestic, U.S. energies. I’ve already said I’m happy to look at how we can increase pipeline production for U.S. oil, but Keystone is for Canadian oil to send that down to the Gulf,” Obama said last week.
Obama added that the pipeline “bypasses the United States” and will create between 250 to 300 permanent jobs.
“We should be focusing more broadly on American infrastructure for American jobs and American producers, and that’s something that we very much support,” Obama said.
Obama’s comments that the pipeline “bypasses” the U.S. and would only carry Canadian oil, received “four pinnocchios” from the Washington Post on Monday.
The Washington Post fact-checker said Keystone would carry oil from North Dakota and Montana to the Gulf region.
Roughly 12 percent of the pipeline’s capacity is saved for crude oil from North Dakota’s Bakken region, according to a 2013 report from the Congressional Research Service.
Opponents of the pipeline argue the project would not benefit the U.S., increase emissions, and that the majority of the oil would be exported after its refined.