Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper spoke Wednesday to officials with the TransCanada company that wants to build the Keystone XL pipeline, shortly before he meets with President Obama at the “Three Amigos” summit in Mexico, according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
The CBC said Mr. Harper met with TransCanada officials in Mexico City before he traveled to a neighboring city to meet with his fellow North American leaders.
Mr. Harper is expected to urge Mr. Obama to approve the controversial pipeline, which would connect oil sands in Alberta to refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast by cutting through the American heartland.
Mr. Obama has put off a final decision on whether to green-light the project, much to the chagrin of Republican lawmakers who say the project would create jobs.
Republicans said the White House has run out of excuses after the State Department said the $7 billion project would have little to no impact on climate change because the oil will be dug up and sold somewhere, regardless.
Environmentalists, however, have made their opposition to the project one of their top priorities.
The president’s allies in the environmental community have only intensified their opposition entering this month, and continue to charge that Mr. Obama’s legacy on global warming, a central issue for this White House, rests largely with his decision on the pipeline.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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