Both of Arkansas' U.S. senators quickly released statements slamming President Barack Obama on Friday after his White House announcement rejecting plans to build the Keystone XL pipeline.
In statements, Sens. Tom Cotton and John Boozman both painted the president's decision to nix the proposed pipeline through Nebraska, South Dakota and Montana as a killer of Arkansas jobs.
"Worse, both he and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spent years pretending to deliberate this decision," Cotton said in a statement.
Boozman co-sponsored a January bill to approve the pipeline that was vetoed by Obama.
“Today’s announcement unfortunately comes as no surprise. The Obama Administration bowed to the pressure of far-left environmentalists and rejected the Keystone Pipeline on purely political grounds," Boozman said.
U.S. Rep. French Hill also criticized Obama's decision in a statement Friday afternoon.
"Once again, the President is choosing to appease far-left factions of his party over the majority of Americans," Hill said said. "This pipeline is supported by not only large numbers in Congress, but also by Canada’s newly elected progressive, environmentalist Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as well as labor unions throughout the United States."
Environmental groups were largely opposed to the pipeline, which would have created a shorter route to carry oil via pipeline from Canada to refineries in the Gulf of Mexico.
Read Saturday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details on rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline.
