White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Tuesday that the State Department is looking over TransCanada’s request to put the review on hold until the pipeline’s route through Nebraska is settled.
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“At this stage, we have received the letter. Do you think that the review has proceeded as swiftly as possible?”
A previous lawsuit, which caused the State Department to pause the Keystone XL permit review, failed in January when the Nebraska Supreme Court fell one vote short of the majority it needed to address a constitutional challenge.
Obama has long argued that he would judge the pipeline based on whether it accelerates the effects of climate change, and secondarily on whether it would significantly affect how much Americans pay for energy. “It’s time for the current umpire, President Obama, to reject this project once and for all”, environmental activist Bill McKibben, co-founder of the group 350.org, told the AP news agency. He replied, “The president will make a decision before the end of his administration on the Keystone pipeline, but when exactly that will be, I don’t know at this point”.
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. Analysts said that for the pipeline company, the delay was likely viewed as a better outcome than an outright denial.
While not opposed outright to Keystone XL, he has expressed more reservations about the potential environmental impact of the project than his predecessor, Stephen Harper. If the company’s request is granted, it could punt a decision on the project to the next administration. Republican Gov. Pete Ricketts has said the Keystone XL will be the safest pipeline in Nebraska, providing jobs and tax revenue to local governments.
In the past year a global rout has slashed oil prices by more than 60 percent, prompting drillers to curtail spending and rein in new projects. Hillary Rodham Clinton, the front-runner for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, opposes the pipeline but the Republican candidates support it.
Shippers with contracted space on Keystone XL remain committed to the project, said TransCanada CEO Russ Girling in an earnings call Tuesday.
He also said that the pipeline would not be approved if it mostly benefited Canadian companies and would contribute to climate change. “The need to move this crude oil safely between a supply location and a market location doesn’t go away”. With a pending seven- to 12-month review of the proposed pipeline route by the Nebraska Public Service Commission (PSC), TransCanada is seeking another pause. Polls have also shown that a majority of residents support the pipeline.
She said the USA will respond to the request but will continue its review.
In any case, the Obama administration continued to delay its decision on whether or not to grant the necessary approvals to allow construction.
As recently as late September, the company indicated it was committed to the pipeline, writing in a blog post that “our focus remains on securing a permit to build Keystone XL”.
If and when he does “something”, most observers believe the president could reject the pipeline because of environmental concerns.
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TransCanada has already built a 487-mile-long leg of Keystone that runs from Cushing, Okla., to Nederland, Texas.
