Rep. Sullivan: Obama’s Keystone Move ‘a Con Job’

President Barack Obama’s apparent show of support for a section of the Keystone XL pipeline has been dismissed as “a con job” by Oklahoma Republican Rep. John Sullivan, according to CNSNews.com.

With Obama expected to announce Thursday he is speeding up the permit process for the Southern section of the proposed pipeline bringing Canadian oil to the United States, Sullivan told Fox & Friends ahead of the move that presidential approval is not needed for the section in question.

“It doesn’t cross any international lines,” Sullivan said about the section running from Cushing, Okla. — where Obama was due to make his announcement — to Port Arthur, Texas, and Houston, CNSNews.com reported.

Approval for the section must come from the states, the Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Sullivan told Fox & Friends, and that would happen “in spite of the president.”

“And I think this is nothing more than a con job. Oklahomans don’t appreciate very much this photo opportunity that he’s doing. And I don’t believe the American people are going to believe in this con job, either.”

However, government approval is needed for the northern section of the controversial pipeline, which would run from Nebraska to Canada, because it crosses an international border, Sullivan noted.

By traveling to western and Midwestern states in support of his energy plan, Obama was giving the impression he is “for energy, when he’s not,” Sullivan said in his television interview, reported CNSNews.com