Obama administration rejects Keystone XL pipeline

On Jan. 18, President Obama rejected a Canadian firm’s application for a permit to build and operate the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, a massive project that would have stretched from Canada’s oil sands to refineries in Texas. Here’s a look at some of the key players in the pipeline plan and the protests against it.

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May 24, 2011

William J. Burns testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on his nomination to be deputy secretary of state on Capitol Hill in Washington. On Jan. 18, Burns will announce that the Obama administration is rejecting a Canadian firm’s application for a permit to build and operate a massive oil pipeline across the U.S.-Canada border, according to people who have been briefed on the matter. However, the administration will allow TransCanada to reapply after it develops an alternate route through the sensitive habitat of Nebraska’s Sandhills.

Evan Vucci / AP

Jan. 11, 2012

Alex Pourbaix, TransCanada’s president for energy and oil pipelines, addresses North Dakota officials and oil industry representatives with Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., right, in Bismarck, N.D.. Pourbiax told officials that the Calgary-based company will soon have a new route that will allay worries for the proposed $7 billion pipeline designed to carry oil from Canada to refineries along the Gulf Coast.

James MacPherson / AP

Nov. 6, 2011

A mock oil pipeline is carried during a Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline demonstration near the White House in Washington. Pipeline opponents say extracting crude from sand emits three times more carbon than conventional oil production, contributing to global warming that Obama pledged to fight. They say their protest in Washington reflects public anger at corporate greed.

Andrew Harrer / Bloomberg

Oct. 7, 2011

Robert Palmer, who also goes by "Redwood Hippie," holds up a sign protesting the Keystone XL pipeline outside a State Department public hearing in Washington.

Andrew Harrer / Bloomberg

Oct. 7, 2011

Russ Girling, president and chief executive officer of TransCanada, listens during a news conference on the Keystone XL pipeline in Washington. BP 's oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico helped fuel environmentalists' opposition to TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline, Girling said. TransCanada had plans to build a 1,661-mile line to transport Canadian oil from Alberta to Texas refineries.

Andrew Harrer / Bloomberg

Nov. 6, 2011

A section of mock oil pipeline is carried during a protest in Washington against a proposal to build an oil pipeline from Canada to Texas.

Andrew Harrer / Bloomberg

Nov. 6, 2011

A protester contends that the pipeline could add to global warming and damage Arctic ecosystems.

Evan Vucci / AP

Nov. 6, 2011

Demonstrators gather at the White House. Thousands joined hands to form a human chain.

Evan Vucci / AP

Nov. 6, 2011

A demonstrator wears a Guy Fawkes mask on the back of her head. Such masks are commonly used in the protests associated with the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Joshua Roberts / Reuters

Oct. 7, 2011

Ashok Chandwaney of St. Mary's College joins crowds marching up 14th Street in the District toward the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial in protest of a proposed pipeline that would carry oil from tar sands in western Canada to the Texas Gulf Coast.

Tracy A. Woodward / The Washington Post

Oct. 7, 2011

Crowds protesting the Keystone XL pipeline gather outside the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington.

Tracy A. Woodward / The Washington Post

Oct. 7, 2011

The protesters stop at 14th Street and Madison Drive NW, near the Washington Monument, before joining other protesters from Freedom Plaza to march to the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial.

Tracy A. Woodward / The Washington Post

Oct. 7, 2011

Protesters from Freedom Plaza carry sheets sewn together and covered with names of supporters, titled "We the People." The protesters joined a separate group demonstrating against the proposed Alberta-to-Texas pipeline and marched up 14th Street towards the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial.

Tracy A. Woodward / The Washington Post

Oct. 7, 2011

Allaura Luebbe, right, and Jane Kleeb speak against the Keystone XL pipeline during a State Department public hearing on the pipeline in Washington. The proposed 1,661-mile pipeline would travel through Montana, South Dakota, Kansas, Nebraska and Oklahoma to Texas.

Andrew Harrer / Bloomberg News

Oct. 7, 2011

Russ Girling, chief executive of TransCanada, the company that wants to build the pipeline, speaks about the plan at a news conference at the American Petroleum Industry office in Washington. The pipeline needs the approval of the State Department, and some opponents have complained about the past association between Secretary of State Hilllary Rodham Clinton and TransCanada executive Paul Elliott, who was an aide in Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign. State Department officials have said they will be impartial.

Linda Davidson / The Washington Post

Nov. 30, 2011

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky. looks on as Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind. speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington to discuss the Keystone pipeline.

Susan Walsh / AP

The Keystone Oil Pipeline is pictured under construction in North Dakota in this undated photograph released on Jan. 18, 2012.

/ Reuters

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