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For TransCanada’s Keystone Pipeline, a Rocky Road

Pipes for TransCanada’s Keystone pipeline sitting stacked in an Oklahoma storage yard in 2012. But two years into the process, then-Sen. Mike Johanns, a Republican, saw opposition brewing in his home state of Nebraska, through which the nearly 1,200-mile pipeline was supposed to pass. He advised Russ Girling, TransCanada’s chief executive, to change the pipeline’s route to defuse a fight with environmentalists and Nebraska landowners allied against the project. Instead, TransCanada chose to plow ahead. “Honestly, in all my years in government, I’ve never seen such an enormous miscalculation,” Mr. Johanns said earlier this year. “They made a lot of assumptions that this thing was going to skate right through the Obama administration.” On Wednesday, the State Department denied TransCanada’s request earlier this week to suspend its permit application for Keystone —a move that would have essentially punted the pipeline decision to after the 2016 elections. The Obama administration […]

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State Department Says It Will Complete Keystone XL Permit Review

The State Department sent a letter Wednesday to the company, formally rejecting its bid to dela y consideration of the controversial pipeline that would carry crude oil from Canada’s oil sands to the Gulf Coast, a department spokesman said. “We have communicated to them our intention to continue the review,” State Department spokesman John Kirby said. “We’re not required to pause it based on an applicant’s request, there’s no legal basis to do that.” Mr. Kirby added that a lot of interagency work has gone into reviewing the project. The decision to move forward with the final State Department review puts the future of the project in jeopardy. The Obama administration is widely expected to reject the proposed pipeline in the coming weeks or months, bringing to a close the yearslong drama on its fate. TransCanada on Monday asked the State Department to suspend its cross-border permit application—a move […]

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Obama administration to continue Keystone XL review, despite suspension request

The Obama administration on Tuesday said it will continue to process TransCanada’s application for a permit to build the Keystone XL pipeline, even as it considers the company’s request to suspend the review. "We would like to finish this review process as swiftly as possible," Department of State spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau said in a briefing with reporters. "We will issue a response [to TransCanada], but we’re going to continue our review process." White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest, saying he found TransCanada’s request "unusual," said President Barack Obama still intends to rule on the presidential permit before he leaves office in January 2017. "There’s no doubt that this debate has been heavily influenced by politics, and the president is doing his best to try to shield the actual process that will consider the merits of the project from those politics," Earnest said in a briefing. TransCanada late Monday sent […]

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Obama administration is sending response on Keystone XL to TransCanada: official

Pipes for Transcanada Corp’s planned Keystone XL oil pipeline are pictured in Gascoyne, North Dakota in this November 14, 2014 file photo. The U.S. State Department is in the process of sending a response to TransCanada Corp on its plea to pause the review of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, a department official said on Tuesday. There was no estimate of when the response would be sent, and the State Department’s review of the pipeline was continuing on Tuesday. TransCanada asked the department on Monday to delay the review of the pipeline that would help link Canada’s heavy oil fields to U.S. refineries. TransCanada’s move was widely seen as an attempt to avoid rejection by President Barack Obama, who has been increasingly focused on the environment, and to take its chances with his successor in 2017.

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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TransCanada requests suspension of Keystone XL permit

A depot used to store pipes for Transcanada Corp’s planned Keystone XL oil pipeline is seen in Gascoyne, North Dakota November 14, 2014. TransCanada Corp ( TRP.TO ) said on Monday that it has requested the suspension of the U.S. review for its Keystone XL crude oil pipeline, a surprise move that comes just after the White House indicated it plans to rule on the controversial project before the end of President Barack Obama’s term in office. Calgary-based TransCanada sent a letter to the U.S. State Department to suspend its application while the company goes through a state review process in Nebraska. "We are asking State (Department) to pause its review of Keystone XL based on the fact that we have applied to the Nebraska Public Service Commission for approval of its preferred route in the state," TransCanada Chief Executive Russ Girling said in a statement. The news comes […]

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Keystone XL decision will come on Obama’s watch

White House says to expect a decision on the Keystone XL pipeline at some point during the Obama presidency. Planner TransCanada asked for a delay in the federal review process while Nebraska weighs the pipeline’s route through the state. Photo courtesy TransCanada WASHINGTON, Nov. 3 (UPI) — A decision on the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada is expected at some point during the Obama presidency, a White House spokesman said. "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," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said. Pipeline planner TransCanada submitted its application to build the Keystone XL oil pipeline across the U.S.-Canadian border more than six years ago. In a change of course, the company said it was now asking the U.S. State Department, tasked with vetting the pipeline, to […]

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Canadian Crude Still Flows to U.S. Despite Keystone Pipeline Delay

TransCanada Corp. TRP 0.92 % ’s decision to postpone the Keystone XL Pipeline won’t have much effect on the U.S. energy industry, experts say, largely because American refiners have found other ways to get crude oil from Canada. Oil imports from Canada set a new record in August, averaging 3.4 million barrels a day, according to data released Monday by the U.S. Energy Department. In fact, the U.S. has bought 64% more Canadian crude so far this year than it did in the same stretch of 2008, the year TransCanada first asked the U.S. government for permission to build the pipeline that would run from Alberta to Texas. That is an extra 1.2 million barrels of oil flowing into the U.S. from Canada every day, or 45% more crude than Keystone XL would have carried had it been constructed. On Monday, TransCanada asked the State Department, which reviews cross-border […]

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TransCanada Profit Falls 12%, But Results Top Expectations

TransCanada Corp. TRP 0.92 % on Tuesday reported a 12% decline in third-quarter earnings and said it hit the pause button on its controversial Keystone XL project to best assure its long-term success. Calgary, Alberta-based TransCanada late Monday said it had asked the U.S. State Department to suspend its permit application for Keystone XL while awaiting approval in Nebraska regarding the pipeline’s route through that state. “It’s our view that the State Department process should not continue in the current time in its current path if there’s going to be new information provided from a review in Nebraska,” TransCanada Chief Executive Russ Girling said during a conference call on Tuesday. The administration of President Barack Obama had been expected to reject the long-delayed project, which would carry 830,000 barrels of Canadian crude a day from landlocked Alberta to refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast. The pipeline operator has to […]

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TransCanada requests suspension of Keystone XL permit

A depot used to store pipes for Transcanada Corp’s planned Keystone XL oil pipeline is seen in Gascoyne, North Dakota November 14, 2014. TransCanada Corp ( TRP.TO ) said on Monday that it has requested the suspension of the U.S. review for its Keystone XL crude oil pipeline, a surprise move that comes just after the White House indicated it plans to rule on the controversial project before the end of President Barack Obama’s term in office. Calgary-based TransCanada sent a letter to the U.S. State Department to suspend its application while the company goes through a state review process in Nebraska. "We are asking State (Department) to pause its review of Keystone XL based on the fact that we have applied to the Nebraska Public Service Commission for approval of its preferred route in the state," TransCanada Chief Executive Russ Girling said in a statement. The news comes […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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TransCanada Suspends Request for Permit to Build Keystone Pipeline

Photo A field near Bradshaw, Neb., through which the Keystone XL oil pipeline would run. TransCanada, the company seeking to build the 1,179-mile pipeline, wants to delay the project. Credit Nati Harnik/Associated Press WASHINGTON — The company seeking to build the Keystone XL oil pipeline asked the Obama administration on Monday to suspend its yearslong review of the project, potentially bringing an abrupt halt to a politically charged debate that had become part of a broader struggle over President Obama ’s environmental policies. It was not immediately clear whether the administration would grant the request, which was swiftly denounced by environmental activists as a bid to dodge a near-certain rejection of the pipeline. Allowing the delay would push off a decision until after the 2016 presidential election. The company’s request introduced a new element of uncertainty into the administration’s decision-making process, offering the potential to free Mr. Obama from […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple