BREAKING: OBAMA TO REJECT KEYSTONE XL

The Obama administration will announce it cannot approve the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline today, after Republicans inserted a rider into the payroll tax cut legislation that forced an executive-branch decision before the pipeline route is finalized. TransCanada, the foreign company that wants to build the 1700-mile pipeline to transport tar sands crude from Canada to Texas refineries, is rerouting the planned pipeline around Nebraska’s sensitive Sand Hills after local outcry. The Washington Post’s Juliet Eilperin reports that the administration will allow TransCanada “to reapply with an alternate route through Nebraska.”