Amid talk U.S. President Obama is about to reject the Keystone XL pipeline, Alberta Energy Minister Marg McCuaig-Boyd says the provincial government will not intervene.
"It's in their hands," McCuaig-Boyd said in an interview.
North Dakota Republican Senator John Hoeven said this week that Obama will reject the proposed pipeline, and that the announcement will be made in August, after Congress adjourns for its summer break.
That comment was given additional heft Wednesday when White House deputy press secretary Eric Schultz said that a decision on Keystone would come during this administration.
The proposed pipeline would move bitumen from Alberta's oilsands to refineries in Texas. It has faced intense environmental opposition, both over concerns about leaks from the pipeline and about how much oilsands pipelines add to global greenhouse gas emissions.
Hoeven said Obama would reject Keystone on environmental grounds.
During the Alberta election campaign, now-Premier Rachel Notley said she would not make trips to the United States to lobby for Keystone XL. That policy continues to hold now that the NDP is in government
"We're going with the ones that are probably going to have the most success soonest," McCuaig-Boyd said. "Energy East has some promise and so does Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain. Those are the two right now to put our energies into."
McCuaig-Boyd said that Keystone XL is too caught up in U.S. politics to intervene.
