Keystone pipeline could harm wildlife, Interior Department says

The LA Times notes: "A letter contradicts the State Department's draft environmental assessment of the pipeline, saying animals could suffer lasting damage."
Hah, I was present at the very protest rally at which the picture with this article was taken. Yahoo! In any case, my only concern with the findings contained in Interior's letter is this: What took so long?
Interior, in its letter, says, in part: "species displacement, increased predation rates and predator travel lanes, increased nest parasitism, vehicle collisions with wildlife … invasive plant species, increased wildfire risk, lower wildlife density, increase in collisions with power lines and electrocutions on power poles … and increase in poaching."
What is so damn hard to understand about this? Just the roads and other infrastructure that would go in as teh pipeline is built would harm our natural heritage.