State still reviewing Keystone despite request for a ‘pause’

Opponents of the Keystone XL pipeline were not surprised when TransCanada requested a delay in the State Department’s review of the project.

121-a-11-(Russ Girling, president and CEO, TransCanada, in teleconference)-“and can control”-TransCanada President Russ Girling says the fact that President Obama will be leaving office in 2016 has no bearing their request to the State Department to suspend its review of the Canada-to-Texas pipeline”.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: We’re not going to authorize a pipeline that benefits largely a foreign company, if it can’t be shown that it is safe and if it can’t be shown that, overall, it wouldn’t contribute to climate change.

The Nebraska approval process, which involves a route and environmental review, could take seven to 12 months, the company said.

Obama has said he expects to issue his final decision on Keystone before he leaves office in January 2017, and TransCanada evidently is concerned that he will reject the pipeline, given his growing skepticism about its purported value.

“We would like to finish this review process as swiftly as possible”, she said of the years-long review.

TransCanada insisted its request had nothing to do with presidential politics, citing ongoing legal questions in Nebraska over a route dispute as the reason to delay.

Environmentalists, however, see the request as a maneuver to buy time until President Obama’s term expires, in the chance that his successor is a pipeline-friendly Republican. By keeping a decision at bay for another year or more, TransCanada could await a potential resurgence in the price of oil while increasing its prospects for Keystone’s approval. “It’s time for the current umpire, President Obama, to reject this project once and for all”, said environmental activist Bill McKibben, co-founder of the group 350.org.

Pipeline supporters maintain it will create jobs and boost energy independence.

He said Obama has tried to ensure that the eventual decision is based on the merits of the project, as determined by experts.

Facing pressure to act, former Gov. Dave Heineman convened a special legislative session in late 2011 to pass new pipeline regulations.

The Calgary company Monday called for a delay while a Nebraska route review is underway, a process that could take seven months to a year.

Despite a sharp decline in oil prices, Girling said Keystone and other proposed pipelines remain viable.

TransCanada Corp. has asked the United States government to suspend its review of the $8 billion Keystone XL pipeline project, approval of which would have brought heavy oil from Alberta to U.S. refineries.

“We’ve received the letter, we’re looking at it and we’re going to get back to them”.

TransCanada, which reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit Tuesday, said it is pushing to develop Energy East, an alternative to Keystone XL.

Because it must cross the Canada-U.S. border, Keystone XL requires a Presidential Permit asserting that it is in the USA national interest.

In September, the company said it was filing an application with the Nebraska Public Service Commission for pipeline construction after withdrawing from a lawsuit filed by Nebraska landowners challenging the company’s claim to eminent domain for land intended for the pipeline. According to the State Department’s environmental review, at prices above $75 per barrel, producers would find it worthwhile to develop the tar sands with or without a pipeline.

The most recent hold-up was Nebraska’s concerns about the pipeline murking up ecologically sensitive parts of the state; to wit, TransCanada and the locals got together and drafted a new plan that was ultimately endorsed by the governor.