Obama "inclined to approve Keystone".

[Eugene]

1. Updated story at link: Obama pitches clean-fuel car plan in Chicago but signals retreat on Keystone

Source: The Guardian

Obama pitches clean-fuel car plan in Chicago but signals retreat on Keystone

Suzanne Goldenberg, US environment correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Friday 15 March 2013 21.31 GMT

Barack Obama's grand vision of action on climate change shrank to $200m a year to fund research into clean fuel cars, with signs of retreat on the big environmental issues of the day.

Friday's initiative – hyped in advance by the White House – marked the first move by Obama to make good on the stirring promises of climate action offered in his inaugural speech and state of the union address.

But on the most immediate environmental decision in his in-tray — the future of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline project – White House officials indicated on Friday that Obama's green and liberal supporters would be in for a disappointment. Officials signalled that the president was inclined to approve the project.

Meanwhile, there were signs that the Environmental Protection Agency was retreating on a move to curb carbon emissions from new coal-fired power plants

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Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/mar/15/obama-congress-electric-cars-research