NO ‘ PAUSE’ IN POLITICAL GAMESMANSHIP OVER KEYSTONE

TransCanada’s postponement request may not delay White House’s decision

Political gamesmanship has long been a hallmark of the Keystone XL pipeline review and TransCanada’s pre- emptive request for a postponement in the process ahead of a much- anticipated decision is simply the latest example.

TransCanada’s sudden aboutface presumably throws “the politically fraught project into an indefinite state of limbo, likely beyond the 2016 U. S. election” — as the Wall Street Journal surmised — but it’s not at all certain that U. S. President Barack Obama will feel compelled to adhere to a schedule dictated by a foreign company for a project he’s publicly criticized.

TransCanada wants the U. S. State Department to “pause” its review until a Nebraska court rules on the route.

The Guardian newspaper in England — underlying the global interest in the KXL saga — said TransCanada’s surprise request may allow Obama “to escape one of the most controversial decisions in his in- tray” as his second term in office winds down.

Environmentalists dismissed it as a cynical tactic to avoid the expected rejection by the administration while the State Department said the review will continue as it considers the request.

TransCanada chief executive Russ Girling said Tuesday that suspending the review likely gives the $ 8- billion project first proposed eight years ago its best chance for approval, but he denied playing politics despite years of intense lobbying to secure approval for the 830,000- barrel- a- day cross- border pipeline.

“We believe that a pause to resolve the Nebraska route gives the best opportunity to achieve overall approval of the project,” he said. “This project remains very much in demand by our customers.”

“Unusual” is how the White House characterized TransCanada’s request.

“Given how long it’s taken — it seems unusual to me to suggest that somehow it should be paused yet again,” spokesman Josh Earnest told a news briefing. “There’s reason to believe there may be politics at play here.”

The pipeline became a diplomatic issue for the U. S. and Canada as outgoing Prime Minister Stephen Harper actively championed access to markets for Canadian oil.

Just last week, Royal Dutch Shell cancelled its 80,000 barrel-a-day Carmon Creek oilsands project in part because of the lack of pipelines to move crude to global markets.

Earnest said Obama has tried to ensure the decision is based on the merits of the project.

TransCanada said it’s simply looking for a level playing field — the project has touched off a historic debate between environmental activists and the oil industry — as it makes the case for the final leg of the Keystone pipeline system from Alberta’s oilsands that’s already delivered more than one billion barrels of oil to refineries in Texas.

The court process in Nebraska started in September and is expected to take up to a year.

Even after cutting about 200 staff this year, TransCanada listed $ 35 billion in projects in development during its thirdquarter results and said it is on schedule with the contentious 1.1- million barrel- a- day Energy East pipeline by 2020, as it becomes the company’s flagship development project with KXL languishing amid regulatory delays.

TransCanada has $ 2.4 billion US invested in Keystone XL but said spending is now limited to regulatory issues and it’s repurposing some equipment for other projects. “When the status of the Nebraska pipeline route was challenged last year, the State Department found it appropriate to suspend its review until that dispute was resolved,” Girling said. “We feel under the current circumstances a similar suspension would be appropriate.”

Not everyone sees it the same way. Anthony Swift of the Natural Resources Defense Council in Washington noted TransCanada “can withdraw the permit application but it does not have the power to suspend the administration’s decision process.”

Obama doesn’t need a map of Nebraska — or the judgment from the state’s highest court — to determine if Keystone XL is in “the national interest.” His decision isn’t about the steel in the ground but oil and the implications on global climate from extending the hydrocarbon economy that can be addressed in single highly symbolic act.

It appears to be far more about Paris than Omaha.

The UN climate conference begins later this month in Paris and it is a platform for Obama to ensure his presidential legacy as he rallies support for global action on greenhouse gas emissions. Rejecting KXL ahead of Paris would get the world’s attention but Obama has shown he won’t be pushed into any action by Harper, Republicans in Congress or TransCanada.

As Earnest repeated again this week: “Our expectation at this point is that 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.”

Speculating about Obama’s plans should give anyone pause for thought.