U.S. expected to give green light to Keystone XL pipeline.
STATE DEPARTMENT
CALGARY• The U.S. State Department is expected to approve TransCanada Corp.’s Keystone XL pipeline on Friday, eliminating a crucial hurdle for the project after more than eight years of political wrangling.
Several news reports on Thursday, citing anonymous sources, said Tom Shannon, undersecretary for political affairs, would sign the crossborder permit. U.S. secretary of state Rex Tillerson, the former Exxon Mobil Corp. CEO, recused himself from the department’s proceedings.
A presidential permit for Keystone XL, which has been widely expected under the new administration, would give TransCanada a key regulatory approval on the highly divisive pipeline proposal. The approval would reverse a veto by former president Barack Obama in late 2015, who rejected the project on environmental grounds.
TransCanada s pokesperson Terry Cunha said the company had “no insight” as to whether U. S. authorities would approve the roughly US$8-billion proposal.
Monday would mark the end of the 60- day timeline set for a decision on the project, set in January. U. S. President Donald Trump invited TransCanada to resubmit its application to the State Department during his first week in office.
“The U. S. Department of State will be in compliance with the deadline laid out in the Jan. 24, 2017, presidential memorandum regarding construction of the Keystone XL pipeline,” the official said in an email, The Associated Press reported.
Trump’s executive order to eventually approve the project came with several conditions, including that the pipe be manufactured using U.S. steel. That condition was reversed as reports emerged that a significant portion of steel to be used in the project had already been manufactured and delivered to various storage yards.
Much of the steel pipe was manufactured by an Arkansas-based company majorityowned by Indian conglomerate Welspun Group. A Saskatchewan- based company owned by U. K.- based Evraz PLC also supplied a portion.
Beginning around 2011, Keystone XL became a symbolic battleground, fuelled by concerns over possible pipeline leaks and broader worries over climate change.
Some local residents along the route, as well as environmental groups, vehemently opposed the project. Greenpeace Canada issued a statement following the reports, saying it would continue to resist TransCanada’s efforts.
“An alliance of Indigenous and climate-action communities stopped KXL before, and we will do it again,” the group said.
While the presidential permit is a significant step, the company still needs to secure several state- level permits before construction can begin.
On Feb. 16 TransCanada filed an application to the Nebraska Public Service Commission, a state where opposition to the pipeline has been the most acute.
The Nebraska Supreme Court approved the project in 2015, but local landowners and environmental groups have filed several lawsuits in retaliation.
Keystone XL would deliver more than 800,000 barrels per day of mostly heavy oil from Hardisty, Alta., to Nebraska. From there, existing pipelines would transport the oil to refineries in the U.S. Gulf Coast.