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TransCanada ploy rebuffed Asks State Department for ‘pause’ on Keystone XL pipeline review; White House says Obama wants to make decision before end of term GARY PARK For Petroleum News
TransCanada’s attempt to keep its Keystone XL pipeline alive may have been short-lived.
In making what is seen as a final bid to avoid rejection by President Barack Obama, the Canadian pipeline company asked the U.S. State Department to “pause” its review of the pipeline.
It sent a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry on Nov. 2, introducing a new twist to the U.S. regulatory process that has stalled approval of the US$8 billion pipeline to deliver 700,000 barrels per day of Alberta oil sands crude and 100,000 bpd of Bakken production to Gulf Coast refineries.
The surprise move appeared to fall short of gaining a reprieve from the Obama administration.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters Nov. 2 that Obama wants to make a ruling on Keystone XL, partly because of his desire to focus on environmental issues during the final 14 months of his term.
He said the TransCanada request “seems unusual” for a project that has been involved in regulatory hearings and court challenges for more than seven years.
TransCanada Chief Executive Officer Russ Girling said the request stems from the company’s application to the Nebraska Public Service Commission for approval of its preferred route through the state.
He said that when the Nebraska right of way was challenged last year the State Department “found it appropriate to suspend its review until that dispute was resolved. We feel that under the current circumstances a similar suspension would be appropriate.”
Granting the pause would give Obama a chance to start patching up his relationship with Canada under newly elected Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and move beyond the increasingly testy dealings with Stephen Harper.
Review could last 12 months The Nebraska PSC review is expected to last up to 12 months, which could pass a final U.S. decision on the pipeline to the next U.S. president, with TransCanada hoping the White House and Congress will be in the control of Republicans who have been pro-Keystone.
However, Girling told analysts Nov. 2 that TransCanada has tried to stay out of politics from the time it announced Keystone XL and the latest move is no exception.
“There’s things we can control. There’s things we can’t control. And obviously we’re focused on those that we can,” he said.
Jane Kleeb, a Nebraska political activist who organized ranchers against the pipeline, urged Obama to ignore TransCanada’s request, describing it as the company’s “last chance to try and save their project.”
Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org, said TransCanada is “asking for extra time from the referees and clearly hoping they will get a new head official after the election. It’s time for the current umpire, President Obama, to reject this project once and for all and go to the Paris (climate change conference at the end of this month) as the first world leader to stop a major project because of its effect on the climate.”
Tiernan Sittenfeld, vice president of the League of Conservation voters, said that suspending the current State review would be “absurd ... this is nothing more than another desperate and cynical attempt by TransCanada to build their dirty pipeline ... if they get a climate denier in the White House in 2017.”
Michal Moore, with the University of Calgary School of Public Policy, said a pause would mean TransCanada could “literally re-create the project ... and revisit it in the presence of a new president, (or at least) get some negotiating room later on, no matter who’s elected president.”
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