TransCanada attacks Cornell report on Keystone XL jobs

TransCanada has criticized a study from the Cornell University Global Labor Institute stating that the company's Keystone XL project would only generate up to 4,650 temporary direct construction jobs for two years. 

"Why groups like (the Natural Resources Defense Council) and Cornell continue to question job creation in the United States is a concern," said Terry Cunha, a spokesman for TransCanada. "We fully understand the jobs that are needed to build a piece of infrastructure of this size. We like to think of ourselves as the experts," Cunha added.

Obama rejects Keystone XL line from Canada, triggering controversy

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration on Jan. 18 denied a permit for the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada, touching off a torrent of criticism from Republicans, whom the White House blamed for forcing a decision.

President Barack Obama, who was under a 60-day deadline imposed by congressional Republicans, left open the door to approve the 1,661-mile pipeline in the future. He also suggested the possibility of an alternative pipeline that could get Canadian oil sands crude to refineries and ports in Texas.

The company that wants to build Keystone XL, TransCanada Corp., said on Jan. 18 that it would apply for a new permit which, if approved, would allow the pipeline to be built by late 2014.

Environmentalists had made the project a test case on whether the administration was serious about fighting climate change. And though Obama didn't rule out future pipelines, they declared victory.

Business groups, congressional Republicans and the GOP's presidential candidates hammered Obama for rejecting the project, which they said would create jobs.

In a statement, Obama said he was siding with his State Department and denying the permit because of a "rushed and arbitrary deadline" that congressional Republicans attached to a payroll tax-cut extension in December.

"This announcement is not a judgment on the merits of the pipeline, but the arbitrary nature of a deadline that prevented the State Department from gathering the information necessary to approve the project and protect the American people," Obama said.

Obama said his administration would "continue to look for new ways to partner with the oil and gas industry to increase our energy security," and he said that would include a potential pipeline from Cushing, Okla., to the Texas Coast. An existing Keystone pipeline from the oil sands ends at Cushing. Extending it could be an alternative way of getting the oil sands crude to the Gulf Coast.

The administration's decision was a delay, but not necessarily the end of the line, when it comes to linking Canada's oil sands with Texas. The State Department last summer said it found no major environmental problems with the pipeline, but later it changed course because of concerns about the pipeline's route through Nebraska's sensitive Sand Hills region and asked for a review of alternative routes.

TransCanada president Russ Girling said the company would reapply for a permit and "largely maintain the construction schedule of the project." He said a route would be found by October to avoid the Sand Hills.

But he charged that "until this pipeline is constructed," the U.S. will continue to import oil from "foreign countries who do not share democratic values Canadians and Americans are privileged to have. Thousands of jobs continue to hang in the balance if this project does not go forward."

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney, who spoke before the administration announced its decision, blamed Republicans for launching a "purely partisan effort to score a political point." He said the State Department had warned that forcing a decision within 60 days "would make it virtually impossible for an adequate review."

He said the concerns under review included environmental effects on air and water quality in Nebraska and a request by Nebraska's governor to consider an alternate route.

"We don't even have an alternate route identified yet, so how could anyone possibly review it thoroughly in the manner that is expected in this process?" he said.

Carney insisted Obama doesn't necessarily oppose the construction of pipelines.

"This president's commitment to expanding domestic oil and gas production is firm," he said.

Environmental groups opposed the Keystone XL pipeline chiefly because of climate change, but also because of the risk of oil spills. Canada's oil sands require more energy to extract and refine the crude, and that means a greater release of greenhouse gases than from refining conventional oil. They also argued that oil sands crude wouldn't improve energy security because it could be exported from Texas ports. 

President Barack Obama's rejection of TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline demonstrates a "clear lack of leadership" and that politics played a role in the ruling, said Jack Gerard, president and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute. Gerard said that API would pursue all legal and legislative options to get the pipeline constructed. "These are serious national decisions that shouldn't be made on political whims. The president has fallen victim to a small group that is anti-oil and gas," he added.

President Barack Obama should overturn his decision to reject TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline, several House Republicans said, arguing that otherwise job generation and the country's push for energy independence would be affected. "It's not too often that the president of the United States has the opportunity, with one swipe of his pen, to increase private sector jobs by thousands of employees, while at the same time increasing our energy independency and energy security," said Rep. Ben Quayle, R-Ariz. "This is the wrong decision at the wrong time," he added.

Republicans are studying alternative ways to get TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline built after the Obama administration decided to reject the project. "This is not the end of the fight. Republicans in Congress will continue to push this because it is good for our country, it is good for the economy and it's good for the American people," said House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee will hold a hearing next week on President Barack Obama's rejection of TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline, and committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., has invited Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to testify. The State Department was in charge of the review of the project.

Republicans pushed President Barack Obama to reject TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline when they shortened the decision-making schedule for the project, said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. "If the Republicans care so much about the Keystone pipeline, they would not have narrowed the president's options by putting it on the time frame that they did," Pelosi said. "They left him very little choice."

Lawmakers consider ways to expedite Keystone XL pipeline construction

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The House Energy and Commerce Committee held a hearing on the Keystone XL Pipeline on Dec. 2.

Lawmakers reviewed alternatives to expedite construction approval. Labor union and oil production company representatives testified.

The 1,700-mile, $7-billion pipeline would carry oil from Canada to refineries in Texas.

Jane Kleeb, executive director of the anti-pipeline group Bold Nebraska, testified along with Alex Pourbaix, president of the TransCanada pipeline company.

A group of Senate Republicans recently unveiled legislation to move forward on the Keystone XL Pipeline project. Sen. Dick Lugar (R-Ind.), who co-authored the bill with Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.), said on Nov. 30 that it was time to "pursue domestic energy alternatives and reduce the need for foreign oil."

The plan would require a State Department permit to allow the pipeline project to move ahead within 60 days, unless President Obama determines that doing so not in the national interest.

Obama said he would veto any legislation aimed at expediting the Keystone XL approval.

U.S. delays decision on Keystone XL until after 2012 election

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Obama administration, under pressure from officials in Nebraska and environmental activists, announced on Nov. 10 that it would review the route of TransCanada's proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline, effectively delaying any decision about its fate until after the 2012 election.

The State Department said in a statement that it was ordering a review of alternate routes to avoid the environmentally sensitive Sand Hills region of Nebraska, which would have been put at risk by a rupture of the 1,700-mile pipeline carrying dilbit extracted from oil sands formations in Alberta to refineries in Oklahoma and the Gulf Coast.

The move is the latest in a series of administration decisions pushing back environmental matters beyond next November's presidential election to try to avoid the heat from opposing interests - business lobbies or environmental and health advocates - and to find a political middle ground.

The proposed project by TransCanada put the president in a political squeeze between the demand for a secure source of oil and the thousands of jobs the project will bring, and the loud agitation of environmental advocates who threatened to withhold electoral support next year if he approved it.tar sands

TransCanada says it won’t budge on Keystone XL route

NORFOLK, Neb. - The speaker of the Nebraska Legislature said he will return to the lawbooks to consider the state's options after the developer of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline on Oct. 11 again delivered an emphatic "no" to pleas to reroute the project.

TransCanada Inc. officials said, however, that they would consider additional safety measures for the pipeline, which would carry partially refined crude oil from Canada's oil sands area through the groundwater-rich Sand Hills of Nebraska, on the way to refineries along the Gulf of Mexico.

The comments came after a nearly 4½-hour meeting involving several TransCanada officials and four key state senators in the private law office of State Sen. Mike Flood, speaker of the Legislature.

Nebraska lawmakers are considering holding a special legislative session this fall to force a change in the route. That's a move favored by the state's two U.S. senators, one congressman and Gov. Dave Heineman, as well as a growing number of state senators.

Four of those lawmakers spent more than half of the Oct. 11 meeting urging a route change to alleviate fears that a leak could foul groundwater.

But Alex Pourbaix, TransCanada's president for energy and oil pipelines, said changing the route would require at least a two-year delay for a federal environmental review.

Such a delay, Pourbaix said, would be unacceptable for the Texas oil refineries that would be customers for the 700,000 barrels of diluted tar-sand oil from Canada.

Environmental study of Keystone XL done by firm with ties to TransCanada

NEW YORK - The U.S. State Department assigned an important environmental impact study of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline to a company with financial ties to the pipeline operator, flouting the intent of a federal law meant to ensure an impartial environmental analysis of major projects.

The department allowed TransCanada, the company seeking permission to build the 1,700-mile pipeline from the oil sands of northern Alberta to the Gulf Coast in Texas, to solicit and screen bids for the environmental study.

At TransCanada's recommendation, the department hired Cardno Entrix, an environmental contractor based in Houston, even though it had previously worked on projects with TransCanada and describes the pipeline company as a "major client" in its marketing materials.

While it is common for federal agencies to farm out environmental impact studies, legal experts said they were surprised the State Department was not more circumspect about the potential for real and perceived conflicts of interest on such a large and controversial project.

John D. Echeverria, an expert on environmental law, referred to the process as "outsourcing government responsibility."

The subsequent study, released at the end of August, found that the massive pipeline would have "limited adverse environmental impacts" if operated according to regulations. That positive assessment removed one of the last hurdles for approval of the pipeline.

Cardno Entrix also played a substantial role in organizing the hearings on the project for the State Department, the last of which was held Oct. 7 in Washington.