Keystone report raises pressure on Obama to approve pipeline

Pressure for President Barack Obama to approve the Keystone XL pipeline increased on Friday after a State Department report played down the impact it would have on climate change, irking environmentalists and delighting the project's proponents. The agency made no recommendation on whether Obama should grant or deny an application by TransCanada Corp to build the $5.4 billion line, which would transport crude from Alberta's oil sands to refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast. But the State Department said blocking Keystone XL - or any pipeline - would do little to slow the expansion of Canada's vast oil sands, maintaining the central finding of a preliminary study issued last year. "President Obama is out of excuses," said John Boehner, the Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives and a big Keystone proponent.

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