While lots of lame stream media write it up that way. The Presidential Permit is actually issued by the State Department.
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2014/02/221643.htm#KEYSTONEXL
So this environmental impact statement is only one factor that the Secretary will take into account as he weighs many other elements in making a decision. Obviously, for the Secretary, climate and environmental priorities are part of his decision making, quite frankly. So again, we’ve talked a lot publicly about it. That’s where the process is right now, that there is this document that has been put out. Agencies have 90 days, public has 30 days, and the Secretary will take into account all of that as he makes a decision.
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http://www.state.gov/e/enr/applicant/index.htm
The Secretary of State has the authority to issue Presidential Permits for cross-border liquid (water as well as petroleum product) pipelines and other cross-border infrastructure. The Bureau of Energy Resources Office of Energy Diplomacy receives and processes permit applications.
It’s an easier question to answer if you just follow the money from Warren Buffett.
Who got money from Buffett?
Buffett is the ONLY reason the pipeline doesn’t go through.
It’s funny - he’s trying to rewrite history so that Vanderbilt wins, not Rockefeller. Rockefeller built pipelines in order to break his dependency on the railroads for shipping oil.
Buffett’s just taking us all back to the century previous to this is all. Expect more train accidents.
Executive Order (EO) 13337 delegates to the Department of State (the Department) the authority to receive applications for Presidential permits for cross-border facilities and outlines a process for the Department to determine whether granting such permits would be in the national interest. On November 10, 2011, the Department concluded that it required more information before a determination could be made regarding the Keystone XL pipeline application for a Presidential permit. The time period provided in the Temporary Payroll Tax Cut Continuation Act of 2011 is not adequate for the Department to conduct the necessary analysis to gain the additional information.
The Department therefore recommended that the President determine that the permit application for the Keystone XL pipeline filed on September 19, 2008 (including amendments) be denied and that he determine the Keystone XL pipeline, as presented and analyzed at this time, does not serve the national interest. The President concurred with the Department’s recommendation and made that determination on January 18, 2012.