White House contests report that Obama will reject Keystone

The White House is firing back at a story in Rolling Stone magazine that cites two Obama administration sources as saying President Obama has already decided to reject the Keystone XL pipeline.

The Rolling Stone article, published Wednesday, states “two high-level sources” in the administration said Obama “has all but decided to deny the permit for the pipeline.”

White House spokesman Matt Lehrich responded with a tweet Wednesday evening.

{mosads}”Nobody who knows POTUS’ thinking on Keystone is talking and nobody who is talking knows,” Lehrich said.

The article didn’t include the recent move by the State Department to stop the clock on its interagency review of the pipeline, which will likely postpone a decision on the $5.4 billion project until after the midterm elections.

Lehrich also said that the national interest review is being conducted by the State Department, emphasizing that the White House isn’t involved at this stage of the process.