NWF wants closer look at Keystone XL

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WASHINGTON, Dec. 17 (UPI) -- A U.S. environmental group called for a closer look into the Keystone XL pipeline, though supporters said it's another stalling tactic for the project.

A Texas judge last week lifted a restraining order for construction of the Gulf Coast project, the U.S. leg of the planned Keystone XL pipeline. A landowner accused TransCanada, the company planning the pipeline, of offering misleading information about the type of crude oil designated for the project.

Keystone XL would carry so-called tar sands oil, a type of crude seen as more corrosive and more environmentally harmful than conventional crude oil.

Jeremy Symons, vice president of the National Wildlife Federation, told Fox News that his group wanted the U.S. government to take a closer look at the pipeline proposal.

"We need an honest reassessment and it's up to the president to look at all environmental impacts," he said.

The NWF said Keystone XL would move the country away from some of the low-carbon ambitions outlined by U.S. President Barack Obama.

Don Canton, a spokesman for U.S. Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., told Fox, however, that NWF was throwing up road blocks.

"This recent tactic by opponents is just another attempt to slow or kill (the) project," he said.

The U.S. government needs to sign off on the entire project because the pipeline would cross the U.S.-Canadian border.