On Monday, the oil company TransCanada asked the U.S. State Department to temporarily suspend its review of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline-a move, critics said, calculated to punt the decision until after the November 2016 elections. “The Department is not required to pause at the applicant’s request”.
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Supporters argue the project would create jobs, open markets for Canadian crude and displace USA imports of crude from the Middle East and Venezuela. Former Gov. Dave Heineman approved a Nebraska route for Keystone XL in 2013 after a review by the state Department of Environmental Quality.
CEO Russ Girling said the company was still on track to meet its 2020 target for the completion of Energy East, but also admitted that the price tag for the project could rise given the incoming Liberal government’s promise to overhaul the process for approving major energy projects, which could include more stringent standards. And White House press secretary Josh Earnest reiterated Tuesday that Obama still hopes to issue his verdict on Keystone XL before he leaves office.
TransCanada Corp scrapped plans to build a port in Quebec and said on Thursday it will have only one crude oil export terminal for its Energy East pipeline project.
While Republican presidential candidates have said they support the Keystone pipeline, the Democratic candidates said they oppose it.
Even if Obama rejects the project – whether now or next year – TransCanada could reapply, possibly under the administration of a president with a more favorable view on Keystone XL. “But somehow when it comes to climate change there are massive attacks on scientists who tell us the truth about climate change”.
Environmental groups have been pressuring the administration to reject the pipeline, which would carry carbon-intensive oil from Canada’s oil sands of Alberta south by about 1,200 miles, through the Midwest down to the Gulf of Mexico where it would be prepared for export. Meanwhile, the US President has continued his work to shore up his administration’s climate legacy in other ways, which has already included executive actions and regulations aimed at slashing carbon emissions from power plants, as well as methane emissions from the oil and gas sector, among others. That’s less than seven percent of total production by USA energy companies. Alberta has the world’s third largest oil reserves, with 170 billion barrels of proven reserves.
“Our efforts will continue to demonstrate that Keystone XL is in the national interest of the United States”, Mark Cooper, a spokesman for the Calgary-based company, said in an e-mail on Wednesday. “The price of oil is $40 per oil again today”.
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Newly elected Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who was sworn in on Wednesday, has supported the Keystone XL pipeline, while pledging to improve Canada’s climate change record.
