Obama Likely to Make Keystone Decision By End of Term

“In order to allow time for certainty regarding the Nebraska route, TransCanada requests that the State Department pause in its review of the presidential permit application”, the company said in its filing. The department has jurisdiction over the pipeline because it crosses a US border.

TransCanada (TSX:TRP) plans to build a 4,600-kilometre pipeline to transport 1.1 million barrels of Alberta crude daily through Quebec to be refined in New Brunswick and shipped overseas.

President Barack Obama has yet to say whether he would support the project, but all of the Democrats running in 2016 are against it, while all of the Republicans running are for it, the AP reported. That would take months or even a year, pushing approval of the pipeline into the next presidential administration.

“It would seem that TransCanada is looking to take a step back from the situation and hopefully return under more favorable conditions, possibly a more supportive Republican administration”, said Stan Wong, director of wealth management at ScotiaMcLeod. A senior Liberal Party source told Reuters on Tuesday that Energy East could go ahead if it passes a robust environmental review.

Under that timeline, rejecting the proposed TransCanada Corp. pipeline could send an important signal to world leaders about the USA commitment to combating climate change, possibly emboldening negotiators and driving a stronger deal.

“TransCanada officials did not withdraw the Keystone XL application, they requested a pause”, spokesman John Kirby said in an emailed statement Wednesday afternoon. “I note that when the status of the Nebraska pipeline route was challenged a year ago, the State Department found it appropriate to suspend its review until that dispute was resolved”. The department was responding to a letter on Monday to Secretary of State John Kerry, in which TransCanada requested a suspension of the assessment while Nebraska regulators conduct their own.

TransCanada’s move was seen by many as an attempt to avert a rejection from an administration that has become increasingly activist on climate change issues as it closes in on its final year in office.

“Our efforts will continue to demonstrate that Keystone XL is in the national interest of the United States”, Cooper added.

Obama is concerned the method used to extract oil in Canada would be “extraordinarily dirty”, a description the Canadian government has argued is unfair.

In spite of all that opposition, oil exports have continued to rise.

Canada, which relies on the US for 97 percent of its energy exports, needs infrastructure in place to export its growing oil sands production.