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The Obama administration will reject the Keystone XL oil pipeline that has divided petroleum interests

The Obama administration will reject the Keystone XL oil pipeline that has divided petroleum interests and environmentalists for more than seven years, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday.

President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry, who was charged with making a recommendation on the controversial project, were scheduled to meet on Friday morning, ahead of public remarks by Obama at 11:45 a.m. (1645 GMT).

Keystone XL would have linked existing pipeline networks in Canada and the United States to bring more than 800,000 barrels per day of heavy crude oil and diluted bitumen from Alberta's oil sands to refineries in Illinois and, eventually, the Gulf of Mexico coast.

TransCanada Corporation, the Canadian company that had hoped to build the pipeline, first sought the required presidential permit for the cross-border section in 2008.

The proposal inspired a wave of environmental activism that turned Keystone XL into a rallying cry to fight climate change. Blocking Keystone became a litmus test of the green movement's ability to hinder fossil fuel extraction in Canada's oil sands.
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