MAD DUCK: Dakota Pipeline Project Halted as Obama Administration Denies Permit for Last Leg.

The Obama administration said Sunday that it had denied a permit needed to complete the last leg of an oil pipeline across the Midwest, prompting cheers from opponents but warnings that the move could be short-lived since President-elect Donald Trump supports the project.

The nearly 1,200-mile Dakota Access pipeline, extending from North Dakota across parts of South Dakota and Iowa and ending in Illinois, is nearly complete, except for a 1,100-foot crossing of a Missouri River reservoir.

And:

Pipeline experts said it was extremely rare for an administration to intervene in a permitting process typically handled by career civil servants. The advanced stage of the project’s construction made the Obama administration’s move even more unusual, and experts said they believed it could be easily overturned.

“Clearly this is being directed politically from the administration,” said Brigham McCown, a former top pipeline administrator for the Transportation Department during the George W. Bush administration. “What it says is that even if you have your permits in hand, the government might change the rules on you once construction is almost done.”

Obama has begun the last leg of his “Screw You, America” tour.

Of course, “live by the pen and phone, die by the pen and phone.” President Trump can undo Obama’s whims at will.