The progressive group MoveOn.org is pressing Hillary Clinton to come out against the Keystone XL oil-sands pipeline, warning that she could lose Democratic voters if she doesn't take a stand against the project.
"Hillary Clinton's refusal to take a position raises the possibility that she is worse on climate change than 80 percent of the incoming Senate's Democratic Caucus," said Anna Galland, executive director of MoveOn.org Civic Action.
She warned: "If she's considering a run for president and wants the support of the party's base, Hillary Clinton should clarify that she opposes this dirty and dangerous pipeline."
Clinton, the Democratic front-runner if she decides to enter the White House race, has repeatedly declined to offer an opinion on Keystone.
"I can't really talk about it because I was in the office that has primary responsibility for making the decision. I don't want to inject myself into what is a continuing process or to in any way undermine my successor as he tries to make this decision," she said at an event in Canada last month, referring to John Kerry, who followed Clinton as secretary of State.
But Bill Snape, senior counsel for the Center for Biological Diversity, said there's no formal restriction preventing Clinton from offering an opinion on the pipeline. "She's a private citizen now," said Snape, whose group opposes Keystone. "Nothing in Clinton's secretary of State job would prevent her from taking a policy position at this point."