Later today, President Barack Obama will lay out his plan for action on climate change in a speech at Georgetown University. The White House will be unveiling a number of "green initiatives" - which, no doubt, will entail billions of more in "investments" - to go along with executive initiatives that empowers the Environmental Protection Agency to target coal and other affordable carbon-emitting energy.
The Huffington Post is reporting that President Barack Obama will ask the State Department not to approve the construction of Keystone XL pipeline unless it can first determine that it will not lead to a net increase in greenhouse gas emissions.
"As the executive order on Keystone contemplates, the environmental impacts will be important criteria used in the determination of whether the Keystone pipeline application will ultimately be approved at the completion of the State Department decision process," said the senior administration official. "In today???s speech, the president will make clear that the State Department should approve the pipeline only if it will not lead to a net increase in overall greenhouse gas emissions."
It is still possible, as some have noted, that Obama's push on climate change may give him some breathing room to move forward with Keystone - a decision has to be made ostensibly in conjunction with the State Department.
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