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Obama Administration: GOP Keystone XL Poison Pill Would Force A Permit Denial

If Rep. Lee Terry’s (R-NE) legislation to expedite the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline review process is attached to the payroll tax cut bill, as Republicans and polluter lobbyists intend, the administration would be forced to deny the necessary permits, a State Department spokesman said today. “Should Congress impose an arbitrary deadline for the permit decision, its actions would not only compromise the process, it would prohibit the Department from acting consistently with National Environmental Policy Act requirements by not allowing sufficient time for the development of this information. In the absence of properly completing the process, the Department would be unable to make a determination to issue a permit for this project.”

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