The State Department said it 鈥渘eeds to undertake an in-depth assessment of potential alternative routes in Nebraska鈥� to address the 鈥渆nvironmental sensitivities鈥� of the current route.
The president issued a statement that acknowledged the environmental concerns as well as questions that had been raised about the State Department鈥檚 vetting process.
But it may all just boil down to election-year politics. It would have been hard for Obama to avoid paying some political price.
A green light would have meant the president would likely become a convenient target of the protesters currently storming the nation鈥檚 major financial districts. They would say his decision was further evidence he is less interested in limiting greenhouse gas emissions and endorsing an energy policy that reduces the demand for fossil fuels than he is serving the interests of big oil companies.
However, Obama likely had more to lose if he stood in the project鈥檚 way. Campaign foes would say he was working against the national interest by harming energy security and preventing job creation, the same argument that worked against him when he declared a moratorium on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico after last year鈥檚 oil spill.
As it is, his decision to delay the process came under immediate fire from House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, who called the move 鈥渁 thinly-veiled attempt to avoid upsetting the President鈥檚 political base before the election.鈥�
鈥淢ore than 20,000 new American jobs have just been sacrificed in the name of political expediency,鈥� Mr. Boehner said. 鈥淏y punting on this project, the president has made clear that campaign politics are driving US policy decisions 鈥� at the expense of American jobs.鈥�
