The day after she rolled out her plan on climate change, Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton said in New Hampshire that voters may have to wait until she’s president before finding out her position on the Keystone XL pipeline.
At a town hall meeting in Nashua, New Hampshire, a man asked Clinton if she would sign a bill supporting the controversial pipeline — “yes or no, please,” he insisted.
“Well,” she replied, pausing. “This is President Obama’s decision and I am not going to second guess him,” Clinton continued, saying she would wait to see what Obama does. “If it’s undecided when I become president, I will answer your question.”
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As secretary of state, Clinton oversaw the approval process for the pipeline, which required clearance from her department because it crosses an international boundary. But since stepping down, Clinton has consistently refused to weigh in on the controversial project, which has become public enemy number one for climate activists.
Her 2014 memoir is packed with almost 600 pages of “Hard Choices” from her tenure as America’s top diplomat, but contains no mention of deliberations over the pipeline.
The pipeline is still pending before the State Department, now under Secretary John Kerry, and Clinton said it would be inappropriate for her to interfere with the decision process.
On Monday, Clinton rolled out an ambitious climate plan. Some environmentalists, like 350.org founder Bill McKibben, said that while he admired pieces of Clinton’s plan, she was only “half the way there” because she did not take a position on Keystone and other issues.
Republicans were quick to hit Clinton on the dodge, with the Republican National Committee saying, “With her second dodge on Keystone in as many days, Hillary Clinton is making it abundantly clear she’ll say or do anything to get elected.”
Alex Seitz-Wald