Canada Confident Keystone XL Will Be Approved

TORONTO (AP) – Canada’s natural resources minister says he’s confident the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline project from Canada to Texas will be approved because it meets President Barack Obama’s requirement that it not lead to an increase in greenhouse gas emissions.

Joe Oliver responded to Obama’s comments earlier Tuesday that the pipeline should be approved only if it does “not significantly exacerbate the problem of carbon pollution.”

Oliver pointed to “Obama’s very own State Department” which he said concluded in a report this year “that there would be no increase in greenhouse gas emissions.”

Canada says the project would be a welcome economic boost, and Alberta’s premier has warned that its rejection would mar relations with the U.S.

State Department approval is needed because the project crosses the border.