Barack Obama has rejected plans for a massive oil pipeline through the heart of the United States, sparking a huge row ahead of the Presidential elections.
He blocked the plans because he felt there was not enough time for a fair review before the deadline forced on him by Republicans.
The President’s move did not kill the project, but could again delay a tough choice for him until after the November elections for the White House.
But the implications of his decision rippled across the political spectrum, and stirred up the presidential campaign.
It even affected relations with Canada, a trusted US ally and neighbour.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said Canada is serious about building the pipeline to its West Coast, where oil could be shipped to China and other Asian markets.
He told Mr Obama he was profoundly disappointed that he had turned down the pipeline.
For a US electorate eager for work, the pipeline has become the very symbol of job creation for Republicans, but Mr Obama says the environment and public safety must be considered too.
The plan by Calgary-based TransCanada would carry tar sands oil from western Canada through a 1,700-mile pipeline across six US states to Texas refineries.
Mr Obama was already on record as saying no, for now, until his government could review an alternative route that avoided the environmentally-sensitive areas of Nebraska – a route that still has not been proposed, as the White House emphasises.
But he had to take a stand again by February 21 at the latest as part of an unrelated tax deal he made with Republicans.
This time, the project would go forward unless Mr Obama himself declared it was not in the national interest.
“This announcement is not a judgement on the merits of the pipeline, but the arbitrary nature of a deadline that prevented the State Department from gathering information necessary to approve the project and protect the American people,” Mr Obama said in a written statement. “I’m disappointed that Republicans in Congress forced this decision.”
Republicans hit back, with House of Representatives speaker John Boehner saying: “President Obama is destroying tens of thousands of American jobs and shipping American energy security to the Chinese.
“There’s really just no other way to put it. The President is selling out American jobs for politics.” Insisting that the pipeline would help the economy, he declared: “This is not the end of the fight!”