Obama administration: No ‘pause’ in review of Keystone XL project

Meanwhile, cross-town rival TransCanada earlier this week asked Secretary of State John Kerry to pause the USA review of its Keystone XL pipeline project, first proposed in 2008, while it seeks approval in Nebraska.

“We’ve told TransCanada that the review process will continue”, State Department spokesman John Kirby said.

“Trudeau has repeatedly said that he wants to keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius-that promise is not consistent with support for the Keystone pipeline”, said Leehi Yona, a leading environmental activist in Canada and the U.S. “We believe the answer is clear and the choice is Keystone XL”, Cooper added.

The State Department must issue a recommendation because the project crosses the border with Canada.

Environmentalists said TransCanada’s bid to halt its review – despite oil industry leaders’ criticisms of the lengthy scrutiny – was a ploy aimed at avoiding a presidential permit denial in hopes that a president with a more favorable view of the project would be elected next November. It has faced numerous regulatory delays and legal challenges and the pipeline’s fate now sits, as it has for years, in the hands of the State Department, which has been conducting a review.

He pointed to the fact that five reports and thousands of pages reviewed by the State Department during the application process have pointed to favorable economic news for the US if the pipeline is approved.

For procedural delay the state level review in Nebraska has been noteworthy. It would connect the northern portion of the pipeline with its southern portion which transports crude to oil refineries along the Gulf of Mexico in Texas. “We’re confident that President Obama will build on his climate leadership once again by swiftly rejecting this dirty pipeline”. But it does not fit into the Obama climate-change agenda, and is opposed by huge Democratic donors such as California’s Tom Steyer, who spent heavily in the last election on anti-pipeline U.S. Senate candidates, including Michigan’s Sen.

TransCanada chief executive Russ Girling denied that the request has anything to do with an anticipated rejection of the pipeline. Supporters argue the project would create jobs, open markets for Canadian crude and displace US imports of crude from the Middle East and Venezuela.

During his remarks at a rally for the legislation held outside the Capitol, Sanders, who is running for President as a Democrat, extensively slammed Republicans who resists climate change action.

TransCanada Corp.is taking a new approach to the potential development of the Keystone XL pipeline.

TransCanada says it will submit its modified plans for the Energy East pipeline to the National Energy Board.