The former head of the U.S. Geological Survey in the Obama Administration has just come down on the side of approving the Keystone XL pipeline project to bring Canadian oil into the United States. 

Writing in Science Magazine, where she is editor in chief, Marcia McNutt concludes that the oil pipeline will not worsen greenhouse emissions. National Journal quotes from the editorial.

This position may seem incongruous with my personal crusade to minimize fossil fuel use, a desire rooted in scientific understanding that climate change is a real threat and that tar sands oil produces higher GHG emissions than many alternatives...

No
 method for moving hydrocarbons can be considered completely fail-safe. At least the current permitting process can, and should, be used to ensure that Keystone XL sets new standards for environmental safety. There is no similar leverage on the truck and rail transportation options, which produce higher GHG emissions and have a greater risk of spills, at a higher cost for transport.

McNutt, who headed the USGS until 2013, previously served as a top advisor to Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar. Now in the private sector, Salazar has endorsed completion of the pipeline, which will bring oil from Canada's tar sands south to Gulf Coast refineries.

“At the end of the day, we are going to be consuming that oil,” Salazar told an energy conference. “So is it better for us to get the oil from our good neighbor from the north, or to be bringing it from some place in the Middle East?”

The endorsements from the two former Obama officials reinforce the recent State Department Environmental Impact Statement that concluded completion of the pipeline would have no appreciable impact on greenhouse gas emissions. In short, the oil will be developed and transported, if not by pipeline, then by truck and rail.

A Nebraska county judge this week struck down a law allowing the state's governor to approve the pipeline's siting, a decision that will be appealed. Meanwhile, environmental opponents are throwing every argument against the wall, hoping something sticks.  But Keystone XL is the most studied pipeline project in history, and as McNutt's and Salazar's comments demonstrate, critics have been persuaded by the facts. President Obama must make a decision in 2014 -- approving the project -- or risk being seen as letting politics overrule sound science and the nation's need for stronger economic growth.

More ...

NPR interview with Marcia McNutt
TransCanada release, "Final Environmental Review Demonstrates Keystone XL Should be Approved"