Hillary Clinton avoids Keystone at conservation group event

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NEW YORK - Hillary Clinton gave a sweeping speech on the environment Monday night, criticizing 'those who doubt the science of climate change' and strongly praising President Obama's record - without ever mentioning the controversial Keystone XL pipeline.

'The science of climate change is unforgiving, no matter what the deniers may say,' Clinton said during a nearly 30-minute speech at a dinner hosted by the League of Conservation Voters, criticizing the 'old false choice between protecting our environment and growing our economy.' She argued for the need to boost economic growth while finding new energy bridges to move away from fossil fuel dependence.

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Clinton praised last month's U.S.-China climate accord but described it as a 'beginning' instead of an end. And she left open the possibility of supporting 'fracking,' the drilling for natural gas, provided the right environmental protections are in place. But she said it shouldn't happen when the risk to specific areas is too great.

Clinton also remarked that the incoming Congress will have more lawmakers who 'want to turn back the clock' on environmental progress.

Clinton's speech was closely watched ahead of her likely 2016 presidential campaign, with climate change an issue of growing concern among liberal donors. In a sign of how the big-money politics around climate change have developed with Democrats, Clinton was seated next to Tom Steyer, the billionaire environmentalist who spent heavily in the midterms and is strongly opposed to the Keystone proposal.

The speech came two hours after Clinton hosted a New York-based fundraiser for embattled Louisiana Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu, who's now in a runoff and recently made an ill-fated push for the Keystone project in the Senate. Steyer has done nothing to assist the long-serving Democrat, who is trailing significantly ahead of Saturday's election.

At the fundraiser, which was closed to reporters, Clinton never mentioned the Keystone pipeline, according to an attendee. But she made a passing reference at one point to Landrieu doing what she had to do for her constituents.

Before Clinton spoke, League of Conservation Voters President Gene Karpinski slammed the pipeline as 'dirty and dangerous,' calling for its defeat.

'We're gonna kill that pipeline,' he insisted.

Clinton has been criticized by some environmental groups for not taking a position on the project, which is being reviewed by current Secretary of State John Kerry.

But her allies have said in the past that she doesn't want to get ahead of the sitting secretary of state by voicing an opinion. The LCV has been noticeably absent among Clinton critics on the pipline, and Karpinski gave her cover for not mentioning it, telling reporters after the speech that there was no reason for her to take a stand before a decision by the administration.

'She's already been asked about that,' Karpinski shrugged when reporters asked if he was troubled that she didn't discuss it. 'That's not her decision right now. You heard her praise president Obama many, many times....we're absolutely confident that (Kerry) will reject that pipeline.'

If anything, the evening was a reminder that, despite the controversy around the issue, major players in the environmental movement are so far unwilling to strongly take on the likely frontrunner for the Democratic nomination.

In her speech, Clinton said she realized that developing clean energy globally is 'going to be a tough sell' with too many nations experiencing 'slow growth and stretched budgets.'

'But I like to remind people that just as this challenge is obvious, so is the opportunity it represents,' Clinton said, saying there are significant economic impacts involved.

As she has in other speeches, she invoked Teddy Roosevelt and drew parallels between the challenges of his era and the current one.

She recalled the famous moment when she and Obama in 2009 crashed a meeting involving China and other countries at a global environmental summit and described that as one of many opportunities still to come to affect change.

Clinton was introduced by her husband's former Environmental Protection Agency head, Carol Browner, who compared the former first lady's work on the environment to work she has done protecting children.

Browner said introducing Clinton was like being the opener 'for The Rolling Stones.' And Karpinski repeatedly alluded to the possibility of another Clinton in the White House, at one point saying, as he intrdocued Browner, that she had served in the Clinton administration.

'I was going to say under the first President Clinton,' said Karpinski, to laughter.

He later told reporters he was pleased with her overall message.

'She made it clear that climate change is a real threat ... if you deal with it the right way it's actually gonna create jobs ... [and] save the planet,' he said.

As for her raising money earlier for Landrieu, he said, ' The Clintons and the Landrieu families have been friends going way way back in history.'