Alberta premier writes PM demanding compensation

EDMONTON — Premier Jason Kenney has asked the Canadian government to push the U.S. government to reimburse the $1.5 billion it stands to lose from the cancellation of Keystone XL and to reimburse TC Energy, the project proponent, for the money it has sunk into the project.

In a letter sent to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Thursday night, Kenney makes the case that he’s been making all week: The cancellation of a cross-border permit via executive action, and Canada’s acquiescence without a fight, will set a bad precedent that endangers Canadian business, especially when Joe Biden has “Buy American” provisions in his campaign platform.

“We must find a path to a reconsideration of Keystone XL within the context of a broader North American energy and climate agreement,” the letter says.

Much of the letter rehashes what Kenney has argued this week: That the Keystone XL project is dramatically different from the one that was under consideration during the Obama administration; that the federal government must put in place retaliatory tariffs to protest Biden’s decision; and that the project has massive union-worker contingents.

“At the very least, I call upon the government of Canada to press the U.S. Administration to compensate TC Energy, and the Government of Alberta, for billions of dollars of costs incurred in the construction of Keystone XL to date,” Kenney writes. “For the United States to retroactively cancel the permit, on the basis of which investment decisions were made, is a clear violation of the investorprotection provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement.”

The Alberta government, in the spring of 2020, put up more than $1 billion in taxpayer money to fund the construction of the pipeline, which runs fromhardisty, Alta., to Steele City, Nebraska. It also offered up billions more in loan guarantees.