The Rosebud Sioux Tribe of South Dakota set up a camp known as Oyate Wahacanka Woecun, or Shield the People, to protest the Keystone XL Pipeline. Photo from Facebook
The controversial Keystone XL Pipeline has been in the federal review process far longer than any other cross-border project, the Associated Press reports. According to the AP, it has taken an average of 478 days to approve or deny similar pipelines. The Keystone application has been under review for more than five times as long. Officially, the Department of State coordinates the process. A final decision rests with President Barack Obama, who has said he will make one before he leaves office in January 2017. "Our answer is going to be the same, which is, as you know, this is under a review process at the State Department," White House spokesperson Eric Schultz said at a July 29 press briefing. "That particular process is a process that predates this administration, so I’m not going to have any update for you from here." In April 2004, then-president George W. Bush issued Executive Order 13337 to require all cross-border applications to be submitted to the State Department. TransCanada, a Canadian firm, first submitted the Keystone application in September 2009. Get the Story:
Keystone XL review drags on 5 times longer than average (AP 8/12)
Keystone XL Opponents Quiz TransCanada About Man Camps (Indian Country Today 8/12)
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