The U.S. State Department released a draft environmental impact assessment of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline Friday, suggesting the project will have little impact on climate change.
Canada's oil sands will be developed even if U.S. President Barack Obama denies a permit to the pipeline connecting the region to Gulf Coast refineries, the report said. Such a move will also not alter oil consumption in the United States, it added.
The lengthy assessment did not give environmentalists the answer they had hoped for in the debate over the project's climate impact. Opponents say a presidential veto of the project would send a powerful message to the world about the importance of moving away from fossil fuels and make it more difficult for Canada to export its energy-intensive oil.