2016 Clinton steers clear of commenting on Keystone The Democratic presidential frontrunner won’t weigh in the controversial pipeline that was once under her purview at the State Department.

DES MOINES, Iowa — Despite rolling out a set of climate change goals Sunday night, Hillary Clinton declined once again to take a position on the proposed Keystone XL pipeline on Monday, deferring to the State Department.

After touring a green-certified transit station in Des Moines, Clinton told reporters that she wouldn’t comment on the pipeline because she had played a leading role in starting the process to review the project while she was secretary of state.


“No other presidential candidate was secretary of state when this process started, and I put together a very thorough deliberative evidence-based process to evaluate the environmental impact and other considerations of Keystone,” Clinton said.

“As such, I know there is a very careful evaluation continuing and that the final decision is pending to be made by Secretary Kerry and President Obama. Very simply, the evaluation determines whether this pipeline is in our nation’s interest and I’m confident that the pipeline impacts on global greenhouse gas emissions will be a major factor in that decisions, as the president has said. So I will refrain from commenting because I had a leading role in getting that process started and I think we have to let it run its course,” she said.

On Sunday evening, Clinton rolled out the first elements of her climate change platform, calling for moving the economy on “a path towards deep decarbonization by 2050” and “enough clean renewable energy to power every home in America” by 2027.

On Monday, Clinton said she will soon lay out a plan for how to pay for her goals but that she intends to be a “good fiscal steward” for investments that will pay off in the future.

“A lot of these changes will pay for themselves. So there will be front-end money needed,” Clinton said. “But there are ways of making those investments and getting a return on those investments that will redound to the benefits of the American taxpayer. So I will be talking about energy and climate security, modernizing North American infrastructure, about safe and responsible production, especially making sure tax payers get a fair deal for development on public lands and areas that I think are too sensitive for production that should be taken off the table.”

Clinton also said she would stop the “giveaways to big oil companies” and extend tax incentives to clean energy.

As for convincing a possible Republican-controlled Congress to join on the climate change bandwagon, Clinton said she hopes to be able to call for a “ceasefire” on climate change.

“Making this a central issue in my campaign, I hope, will give me the momentum to be able to go to the congress and say, ‘Look, cease fire.’ We need to make the transition and we can do it and save money at the same time and create millions of new jobs and businesses that will be to the benefit of our country, so stay tuned,” Clinton said.