Gore delighted the crowd at the Center for American Progress event. | M.Scott Mahaskey/POLITICO Gore: Keystone an 'atrocity'

A fiery Al Gore urged President Barack Obama on Thursday to reject the Keystone XL oil pipeline, calling the controversial project an “atrocity.”

“This should be vetoed. It is an atrocity. It is a threat to our future,” the former vice president said during a Center for American Progress 10th anniversary event in Washington.


Gore criticized the Canadian oil sands that the pipeline would carry, arguing that approval of the project would be akin to a desperate drug addict looking for fresh veins.

“Junkies find veins in their toes when the ones in their arms and legs give out,” said Gore, a vocal climate advocate who has previously used the drug addiction metaphor to describe Keystone. “We are now at the point where we’re going after these ridiculously dirty and dangerous carbon-based fuels. And we’ve got to stop that.”

Gore delighted the progressive crowd at the CAP event, listing off a bevy of facts and figures about the threat of climate change.

“You think I’m passionate about this? You’re damn right I’m passionate about this,” said Gore, who got a standing ovation. “I do love this country, damn it. And our country is in very deep trouble.”

Gore lamented the broad “dysfunction” in Capitol Hill. “It’s pathetic,” he said.

Earlier in the event, Carol Browner, Obama’s former top climate change adviser, said she thinks the president will ultimately reject Keystone.

“I think at the end of the day he will say no, but there will be some twists and turns before we get there,” Browner said.

Browner served as Obama’s climate and energy adviser until 2011, when she left the administration and later joined CAP as a senior fellow. She previously served as EPA administrator during Bill Clinton’s administration.

She did not elaborate on her remarks about the pipeline.

Secretary of State John Kerry, who also spoke at the CAP event, will ultimately have to decide whether the Alberta-to-Texas pipeline would meet the U.S. national interest. He did not mention the pipeline during his speech, but he touted the economic promise of investments in energy.

“Energy policy is the solution to global climate change,” Kerry said during his remarks.

The State Department is expected to soon unveil a final environmental analysis of the pipeline, although the department’s final judgment about the national interest is not expected for at least several months.

Approval of the project seemed almost inevitable at one point, especially after former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton once suggested she was “inclined” to approve the project. A March State Department draft analysis said Keystone would have little environmental impact.

But in recent months, Obama has said the project can’t go forward if it would “significantly” increase greenhouse gas emissions, and he has hinted that Canada could do more to make the pipeline environmentally acceptable. He has also scoffed at Keystone supporters’ job-creation estimates and raised the possibility that Keystone could raise gasoline prices.

Some Republicans — like Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.), a top GOP lawmaker on the House Energy and Commerce Committee — have said they don’t believe Obama will approve the pipeline.

Earlier in her remarks, Browner gave the administration a good grade for its work on climate change and said the president has done all he can to address the issue in the face of resistance from Congress. She also touted the administration’s efforts to tighten fuel economy standards, improve energy efficiency and expand renewables.

Browner added that she has “confidence” in current EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, who she said has one advantage that Browner lacked during her time at the agency: McCarthy doesn’t have to argue with the White House about whether to tackle climate change, as Browner said she did under Clinton.

“Gina McCarthy doesn’t have to go over to the White House and argue whether or not she’s going to regulate greenhouse gases,” she said. “She only has to argue about the degree.”

Browner also expressed confidence that the EPA will be able to complete its work on climate change regulations before Obama leaves office. She said she believes Obama’s climate action plan, which he unveiled during a speech this summer, was written to ensure that the administration has enough time to complete the rules.

“They started from the last day in office and worked backwards to make sure it’s completely done,” she said.