Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton today defended her department's review of a controversial Canada-to-U.S. oil pipeline in the wake of escalating conflict-of-interest charges from environmentalists opposed to the project.

In its evaluation of Keystone XL, a $7 billion proposal that would nearly double U.S. imports of Canadian oil sands crude if approved, "we have tried to not only listen to the experts but listen to people who have opinions -- often very well-informed opinions -- about this particular project," Clinton told a conference hosted by the liberal-leaning Center for American Progress think tank.

Keystone XL has sparked a political conflagration this year as green groups traditionally allied with the Obama administration accuse the State Department of bias in favor of the pipeline that it is currently reviewing for a cross-border permit. Those opponents have homed in on a former Clinton aide lobbying for the company behind the oil link and a contractor used by both State and that XL sponsor, Alberta-based TransCanada Corp. (Greenwire, Oct. 10).

Clinton declined to address the climate change concerns cited by a member of the audience at today's conference, which oil industry and GOP backers of the pipeline have dismissed as irrelevant given the prospects that oil sands crude imports are highly likely to swell whether or not Keystone XL is approved.

Calling the pipeline "a very emotional issue, which I'm very respectful of," Clinton added: "What we're trying to do at the State Department is follow the law."

Under existing law, any one of eight federal agencies -- including U.S. EPA, a critic of earlier environmental reviews State has produced on the XL line -- is empowered to object to a final ruling on the project from Clinton's department. If that occurs, the pipeline's fate would be referred to the White House through its Council on Environmental Quality.

Clinton also left the door open for State's latest estimate of a final decision on the pipeline to slip into 2012. "We will try to [finish the legal process for review] by the end of the year," she said.