Keystone XL: Not dead yet?
Keystone XL: Not dead yet?
By Timothy Cama - 11/10/15 06:00 AM EST
The Hill
President Obamas rejection of the Keystone XL oil pipeline might not be the end of the road for the controversial project.
TransCanada Corp. has pledged to explore its remaining options for building the Canada-to-Texas pipeline, including filing a new application with the State Department.
There is a chance its not dead, said Steven Paget, an analyst at FirstEnergy Capital in Calgary, Alberta.
In a Friday statement, TransCanada declined to offer specifics about its next steps. But observers say the main options are filing an international challenge under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), seeking an act of Congress to override Obama or waiting until a new president takes office in January 2017 to file for a new permit.
....snip.....Freshman Rep. Brian Babin (R-Texas) is asking his colleagues in Congress to sign a letter to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, urging him to hold off any efforts to stop Keystone, reroute it away from the United States or otherwise change it. After President Obama leaves office, decisions such as approval of the Keystone XL pipeline will fall upon his successor, the letter says. Simply put, if the American people choose a president who supports building Keystone XL, that president can reverse this misguided decision and authorize the project the day he or she takes office.
...Paget noted that TransCanada has a big financial stake in what happens to Keystone next;
the developer has already sunk $2.6 billion into the project....snip....The Canadian Press reported in August that TransCanada was actively exploring its rights under NAFTA if Obama rejected the proposal.
The company has certain economic rights under the 1994 treaty, and
it could ask a tribunal to mandate compensation from the United States for rejecting the pipeline, or even require that the project be approved....
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/259611-keystone-xl-not-dead-yet
NAFTA, the anti-Democracy, job-killing gift that keeps on giving!