Well, this is cute.

In his big climate-change speech earlier this week, President Obama expounded upon the new raft of regulatory measures he’s enacting via executive authority to defend the planet in the face of obstinate Congressional inaction. One of the more tantalizing tidbits was the potential hint he dropped about the Keystone XL pipeline’s fate, intoning that the pipeline should only be approved if the pipeline is found to not “significantly impact” carbon pollution.

Some environmentalists took the line as a positive sign, but still others were worried that it was an indication that the Keystone pipeline’s approval is indeed on its way. The State Department’s review earlier this year found that the pipeline’s construction would be pretty much carbon neutral, because a lack of pipeline means companies will instead turn to rail and trucks (and, oh yeah — let’s not forget that Canada is going to develop and sell their oil sands whether or not the United States is the buyer reaping the economic benefits).

Which is precisely why green groups are currently panicking, and absolutely insisting that the State Department throw out their findings and do a new environmental impact report in light of “significant new information,” or something. Riiiiiight.

The organizations argue the data and events cited in their request obligate Foggy Bottom to perform another review of the Canada-to-Texas pipeline.

“The significant new information described in this letter demonstrates that the DSEIS (draft supplemental environmental impact statement) relies on an overly-simplistic, outdated view of a rapidly-changing oil market,” the groups said in a petition made public Thursday.

The petitioners include the Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council, Oil Change International, National Wildlife Federation, Center for Biological Diversity and Bold Nebraska. …

The environmental organizations, however, said that draft has “been widely disputed, not only by the undersigned groups but by the scientific community, industry analysts, and the Environmental Protection Agency.” …

But green groups have expressed hope that Secretary of State John Kerry will be conducive to taking another look at emissions.

Maybe Kerry will be all too happy to oblige their request, as a fellow climate crusader. He’d only been in office a month when State’s draft review came out, and as Mary Katharine suggested earlier this week, I’m sure President Obama would be all too glad to give in to yet another excuse to delay the decision — but the green movement is really grasping at straws here, and their desperation is all too evident.