TransCanada, the Canadian companybehind the proposedKeystone XL Pipeline, announced Wednesday that it is launching two major lawsuits against the UnitedStates for rejecting the project, demanding the governmentcough up $15 billion Canadian dollars in compensation.
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The company is also making a separate claim under NAFTA and is seeking more than $15 billion in costs and damages.
It’s accusing President Obama of exceeding his power under the U.S. Constitution when he chose to kill the pipeline in November.
“The delay and the ultimate decision to deny the permit were politically driven, directly contrary to the findings of the administration’s own studies, and not based on the merits of Keystone’s application”, the company said in a statement, according to AFP. “Rather, it was a symbolic gesture based on speculation about the perceptions of the worldwide community regarding the administration’s leadership on climate change and the president’s assertion of unprecedented, independent powers”. The lawsuit doesn’t seek legal damages but wants to have the permit denial invalidated and requests that restricts any future president from blocking the pipeline’s construction.
One of the lawsuits has been filed through the North American Free Trade Agreement, using a provision that allows corporations to sue governments over environmental and public interest laws and the denial of projects.
Those officials are Secretary of State John Kerry, U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, and Secretary of the Department of Interior Sally Jewell.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said he was limited in what he could say about the pending litigation, but the decision was consistent with USA obligations to NAFTA.
In filing the NAFTA claim, TransCanada said it had “had every reason to expect its [XL pipeline development] application would be granted”, since the project had met the same criteria the US State Department used when approving other similar cross-border pipelines.
TransCanada explained that the Congress regulate interstate and foreign commerce under the U.S. Constitution. The controversy over the pipeline started shortly after Obama was elected president. Keystone XL would have transported more than 800,000 barrels of crude oil each day from the Canadian tar sands in Alberta to oil refineries in Texas.
News that a multinational corporation is using a free trade agreement to yet again challenge American domestic policy is troubling, but not surprising.
“We have just seen the announcement”.
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Phase 4 was rejected by the Obama administration after six years of review and an intense lobbying campaign by environmental groups, including 350.org, a group focused on trying to stop large-scale global climate disruption due to excessive dumping of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere as a result of fossil fuels burning.
