Groups lobby State Department for approval of Keystone XL pipeline

WASHINGTON—The Obama administration is grappling with a bid to dramatically increase the flow of carbon-heavy Canadian crude to the U.S.
TransCanada Corp.’s proposed $7-billion Keystone XL pipeline, if approved, will be the single largest conveyor of Alberta bitumen to the U.S. - a 2,700-kilometer, 900,000 b/d line running all the way to the refineries of Houston, with the potential to double stateside consumption of Canadian crude.
The decision on Keystone rests with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, whose department must approve transboundary pipelines based on considerations of “national interest.”
Canada has been lobbying on multiple fronts - including a U.S. ad campaign in which the Alberta government extols ongoing efforts to lighten its oil sands footprint. Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach has written to Clinton, stressing what many oil sands supporters view as the Canadian industry’s most persuasive selling point, the fact that Canada is stable, reliable and not the Middle East.
Other lobby groups, including the oil-industry backed Consumer Energy Alliance, are stumping for Keystone, arguing that as many as 13,000 shovel-ready jobs will be created with the stroke of Clinton’s pen. The CEA calls the project a “no-brainer,” pointing to significant union backing led by the United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters.
Clinton’s State Department is two weeks into a 90-day countdown on the decision - but postponements are likely as other government agencies weigh in.
“There is a cautious optimism that the Keystone pipeline will go through - but perhaps not until after November’s midterm elections,” one consultant familiar with Canadian lobbying efforts in Washington told the Toronto Star.

Canadian union appeals NEB approval of Keystone XL pipeline

TORONTO - The Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada is charging that approval by Canada’s National Energy Board of the Keystone XL pipeline will result in tens of thousands of Canadian jobs being exported to Texas. The energy union filed leave to appeal the decision on April 9.
"The oil and gas industry has decided that the enormous economic development associated with upgrading and refining oil sands resources will take place in Texas, not Canada," said Dave Coles, president of the union.
The Keystone XL pipeline construction project will export 900,000 barrels of oil per day to the U.S. Gulf Coast - most of it unprocessed bitumen from the Alberta oil sands.
"This means the loss of tens of thousands of jobs in the Canadian oil upgrading and refining sector that either exist now, or that would have been created by projects that are likely to be canceled as a result of the dramatic expansion of oil export pipeline capacity to upgraders and refineries in the U.S.," Coles charged.
Keystone XL was opposed by CEP, the Alberta Federation of Labor, the Sierra Club as well as by Enbridge, Imperial Oil, BP and Nexen.
The companies argued that Keystone XL will create enormous excess export capacity, raise service costs on other pipelines and increase input costs to Canadian refineries by US$600 million in 2013.
"Not only will this project abandon the enormous opportunity of creating a diversified Canadian oil and gas industry," said Coles, "but it will seriously undermine the viability of existing refineries. Astonishingly, the NEB has signed off on the industry's plan as being the Canadian public interest. The Board has abandoned its mandate to the entirely ill-founded notion that a deregulated export market is in the Canadian public interest."
The legal argument filed by CEP alleges that the NEB made several fundamental errors of law, and failed to properly exercise its mandate to protect the Canadian public interest.
The National Energy Board approved the Keystone XL pipeline project on March 11, subject to the federal government giving it the final green light. CEP filed its appeal on April 9.

Canadian Joint Review Panel Agreement issued for Northern Gateway Pipeline

OTTAWA - The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency and the National Energy Board on Dec. 4 issued the Joint Review Panel Agreement, including the Terms of Reference, for the environmental and regulatory review of the Northern Gateway Pipeline Project proposed by Enbridge.
The joint review panel process will provide an opportunity for all hearing participants to make their views known on the project in an open forum. Public and Aboriginal groups are encouraged to bring their views on the Northern Gateway Pipeline Project forward to the Joint Review Panel once the Panel is established.
The Agreement was issued for public comment before being finalized. The Agreement describes the Panel's terms of reference as well as the process to be followed for conducting the joint panel review.
The Panel has a broad mandate under both the National Energy Board Act and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act to consider whether the project is likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects and if it is in the public interest.
After conclusion of the review process, the Panel will prepare a Panel Report setting out its conclusions and recommendations relating to the environmental assessment of the project.
Following the government response on the Panel Report, the Panel will then issue its reasons for decision under the National Energy Board Act.

Canadian oilsands exec mystified by firebombing of home in Edmonton

EDMONTON - A former top oil executive and his wife are searching for answers after the firebombing of their Edmonton home on the weekend left them homeless.
“My wife and I are deeply saddened by the loss of our home and our personal possessions,” said Jim Carter, a former Syncrude Canada Ltd. president and chief operating officer, in a news release.
“At the moment, we have very little information about what may have transpired or why,” Carter said.
Patrycia Thenu, an Edmonton police spokeswoman, said investigators are still hunting for a motive in the arson case, including possible connections to eco-terrorism. “Nothing has been ruled out,” she said.
Edmonton police revealed on Jan. 12 that several Molotov cocktails were recovered inside the charred remains of the Carters' luxury home in a southwest Edmonton neighborrhood.
A witness reported seeing four youths running from the area at the time the fire began on Jan. 10 around 8 p.m., according to police.
Nobody was in the two-story home at the time of the blaze, and damage is estimated at $850,000.