[Flash Walken]

Plummeting oil prices have undermined one of the primary arguments for building the Keystone XL pipeline, the Environmental Protection Agency has told the State Department in a letter that implicitly urges a White House rejection of the controversial project.

The EPA letter to the State Department’s special envoy on the issue also cites new analysis suggesting that the 1,100-mile pipeline would be more harmful to the environment than earlier studies had predicted. The note was released less than a week before the Republican-controlled House is expected to cast a vote that could put the pipeline’s fate squarely in the hands of President Obama.

Earlier analyses by the State Department had suggested that the pipeline would ultimately have little impact on the environment, since the oil extracted from TransCanada Corp.’s Alberta tar-sands mines would likely find its way to refineries and markets, even if it had to be shipped over costlier rail lines. But the recent drop in oil prices changes that calculus, wrote Cynthia Giles, the EPA’s assistant administrator for enforcement and compliance.

The Washington Post