What does Hillary Clinton mean by putting the White House “on notice” over the Keystone XL pipeline? In an appearance yesterday in New Hampshire, the Democratic frontrunner once again refused to provide an answer on whether she supports approval of the project that would bring millions of barrels of Canadian oil to Gulf Coast refineries, creating tens of thousands of jobs and allowing for more fuel to improve North America’s self-sufficiency. However, Hillary said her reticence has been intended to allow Barack Obama to make a decision on the project, and that her patience is coming to an end.

Of course, if she had acted on it while at State …

Hillary Clinton on Thursday said her decision on the controversial Keystone XL pipeline was coming “soon.”

During a question-and-answer sesson at a Boys and Girls Club here, a clearly frustrated Clinton explained why she has withheld her opinion on the 1,179-mile-long project that would move oil from Canada to refineries in the United States.

“I have been waiting for the administration to make a decision. I thought I owed them that,” Clinton said. “I can’t wait too much longer. I am putting the White House on notice. I am going to tell you what I think soon because I can’t wait.”

Bloomberg gives the campaign context for this, which is that the Left has been pressuring her to reject it:

The Democratic presidential candidate’s comments come amid sustained pressure for her to explain her position from environmental groups on the left, which have adopted the State Department’s permit process on the pipeline as a key symbol.

In the past, Clinton has noted that while serving as secretary of state during President Barack Obama’s first term, she “put together a very thorough, deliberative, evidence-based process to evaluate the environmental impact” of the proposed pipeline, which would run from Alberta, Canada, to Nebraska. As she rolled out the first round of her climate change proposals in July, she said that she would “refrain from commenting [on Keystone] because I had a leading role in getting that process started and we have to let it run its course.”

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, her chief opponent for the Democratic nomination, has made clear that he opposes the construction of the pipeline and has criticized Clinton for not taking a position.

Hillary’s claim here that she wants to wait for the White House to act first isn’t new. In July, she told a town hall that “I want to wait to see what [Barack Obama] and Secretary [John] Kerry decide.” She was so adamant at that point about waiting that she concluded her answer by saying, “If it’s undecided when I become President, I will answer your question!”

Now the timeline for the pipeline has been moved up the line, so to speak, and it’s worth pondering why that may be. Bernie Sanders has gained a lot of ground on Hillary since late July, even surpassing her in New Hampshire and perhaps in Iowa by playing hard to Hillary’s left. One of the issues on which Sanders has hammered Hillary is Keystone, a critical ideological marker for the Left. They want it killed, and they are not going to forgive anyone who gives it a pass to proceed.

Hillary hints in this clip that she doesn’t want to expand access to fossil fuels, but still won’t say yes or no on the pipeline. Until now, Hillary had hoped that the White House would take the question off the table one way or the other so that it deflates Sanders’ attacks while not forcing her to take a position, preserving her reach with both the hard-Left progressives and the unions that want the work. That’s clearly no longer a tenable strategy, and so now we have Hillary sending up a flare to Obama asking him to pull her chestnuts out of the fire.

She’s not putting Obama on notice. She’s sending out an SOS. It’ll be interesting to see if Obama tosses her a life-ring.