President Barack Obama announced Friday morning that he is rejecting the Keystone XL pipeline proposal, NBC News reported.
The president, citing concerns about the impact on the environment and a political climate that overly-hyped the pipeline's benefit, said the effort "would not serve the interests of the United States."
"While our politics have been consumed with whether this pipeline would increase jobs and lower gas prices, we have increased jobs and lowered gas prices," Obama said.
The pipeline would transport oil from heavy tar sands in Alberta, Canada to the Gulf Coast. The 875-mile northern portion has been projected to cost an estimated $8 billion to build and has faced serious contention from the likes of environmentalists, Democrats and landowners in its path.
