With the stroke of a pen, U.S. President Joe Biden didn’t just cancel the Keystone XL pipeline. In the eyes of some, he’s cancelled Alberta.

EDMONTON – In light of U.S. President Donald Trump’s go-ahead for the Keystone XL pipeline, Canadian environmentalists are urging Ottawa to take another look at the controversial project it approved seven years ago.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive orders advancing the construction of pipelines are drawing condemnation from the Native American and religious groups that have opposed them.

WASHINGTON - U.S. President Barack Obama may have denied the permit for construction of the Keystone XL pipeline to carry oil from Alberta to U.S. Gulf Coast refineries, but Nebraskans Susan and Jim Dunavan aren't so sure the $8-billion project is dead yet.

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama's decision to deny a permit for the 1,700-mile Keystone XL pipeline to carry Canadian crude oil to Gulf Coast refineries should have surprised no one, not even the project's staunchest supporters.

The president promised he would nix the permit after Congress inserted a deadline for his decision in the bill extending the middle class tax cut passed just before Christmas. In denying the permit, Obama said it was not because the project wasn't needed but rather that the 60 days he was given to make up his mind was far too short to complete a second environmental review of the pipeline route, including a 92-mile stretch through the ecologically sensitive Nebraska Sandhills.

Witnesses lined up early this morning at the State Deptartment to offer their views on a $7 billion pipeline project designed to carry up to 800,000 barrels of oil daily from Canada to the U.S. Gulf Coast.

On one side were representatives of the energy industry who say the project would produce thousands of construction jobs and reduce U.S. dependence on Middle East oil. The other included religious and environmental groups concerned that extracting oil in Canada’s northern boreal forest will accelerate climate change and harm the livelihood of First Nations people.

The project has raised sensitivities in both the U.S. and Canada as debates have revolved around the benefits of economic development and  jobs in a deep recession and the long-term impact on climate change.

WASHINGTON - Maryknoll Father Jim Noonan hopes the five or so hours he spent in jail recently will be noticed by U.S. President Barack Obama.

A staff associate in the Maryknoll Office of Global Concerns, Noonan, 77, was among 65 people arrested Aug. 20 during the first day of a planned two-week protest to call attention to the environmental dangers he believes are posed by a proposed-mile pipeline to carry Canadian crude oil to refineries in Oklahoma and Texas. Through Aug. 30, nearly 600 people had been arrested.

"I wanted to do anything I possibly could to be a voice," Noonan told Catholic News Service after his arrest for participating in the first sit-in. "I wanted to ask the president please do not authorize this pipeline because your children and your grandchildren will rue the day that this was authorized."

Noonan's angst is aimed at preventing Obama from signing a permit allowing construction of the Keystone XL Project by TransCanada Corp., from Montana to Texas. The pipeline expansion, opponents believe, would open the door to a rapid increase in oil mining in northern Alberta, endangering a fragile ecosystem and escalating the release of greenhouse gases.