Big news: We won. You won.
That’s Bill McKibben’s headline at Tar Sands Action (full statement below).
In a stunning reversal of a “done deal,” the Obama administration has sent the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline back to review at the State Department:
… the Department has determined it is necessary to examine in-depth alternative routes that would avoid the Sand Hills in Nebraska in order to move forward with a National Interest Determination for the Presidential Permit.
There will be a “supplemental” environmental impact statement — presumably one that isn’t rigged (see “Bombshell: State Department Outsourced Tar Sands Pipeline Environmental Impact Study to ‘Major’ TransCanada Contractor.” It “could be completed as early as the first quarter of 2013.”
Yes, Obama has punted this until after the election, but don’t undersell what just happened. Bill McKibben is the man most responsible for leading the charge to kill the pipeline, and as he wrote me, “a done deal has come spectacularly undone.” He added:
The people spoke very loudly, and thankfully the president appears to have heard them. We have had few enough even partial victories on climate change in Washington. That makes this a very important day.
In his statement at Tar Sands Action, McKibben writes, “most analysts are saying [the delay] will effectively kill the project.“ While we must continue to hold Obama’s feet to the fire burning planet, I agree with that assessment.
The people, the 99%, have won a victory over the 1% — the only group that would have profited from this pipeline.
Here is the McKibben’s eloquent, must-read statement (followed by the State Department’s and Obama’s):
Republicans in Congress and on the presidential campaign trail have spent much of the year trying to gut social safety net programs vital to the livelihood of America’s poor and elderly citizens. From House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) 
