Tag: Keystone XL pipeline

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Alberta Canada Economic Ft Mac Politics U.S.

President Obama Rejects Keystone XL Pipeline, Mayor Blake Expresses Disappointment

Keystone XL pipeline, President Obama

President Obama recently announced his decision to reject the Keystone XL pipeline project application, a decision that has been in the works for 7 long years. Just hours after the decision was announced Fort McMurray Mayor Melissa Blake expressed her disappointment with the decision. Blake explained that Obama’s decision was not a big surprise but that it was a setback and a disappointment for the region. “It sort of had lead indicators all along that it probably wouldn’t find success. I think it’s unfortunate, because it doesn’t really round out (with) the evidence.” Many in Wood Buffalo and the United States believe that the decision by President Obama was motivated by politics instead of evidence and sound science.

The announcement about the Keystone XL pipeline by President Obama stated “Today we’re continuing to lead by example. Ultimately, if we’re going to prevent large parts of this earth from becoming not only inhospitable but uninhabitable in our lifetimes, we’re going to have to keep some fossil fuels in the ground rather than burn them.” Obama also called the oil product “dirtier crude oil.”. According to John Kerry, the U.S. Secretary of State, the pipeline would “facilitate transportation into our country of a particularly dirty source of fuel.” The decision comes as no surprise. Many have accused the Obama administration of playing fast and loose with the true facts involved in climate change and the role that oil and natural gas play in this change. Mayor Blake stated “Fundamentally, I would expect that people become a lot more informed than what they have been. It (shouldn’t) be a simple point-the-finger at the oilsands and blame them, it should be looking at the holistic approach and saying how do we as a nation make improvements in our (environmental) performance.”

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Alberta Canada Economic Ft Mac U.S.

Presidential Veto Puts Keystone XL Pipeline on Hold Once More

keystone XL pipeline, presidential veto

The Keystone XL pipeline bill finally passed the Senate and the House, but a presidential veto on the bill has caused the project to go back into limbo once more. Once the veto was apparent Mitch McConnell, the majority leader of the US Senate, announced that the chamber with a majority of Republicans would work on getting the votes necessary to override the veto by March 3. Although US President Obama had stated previously that he would veto the pipeline bill if it passed both chambers and reached his desk many hoped that Obama would pay attention to the majority of Americans who are for the pipeline, and the jobs and economic opportunities that the project would provide. In the veto message that Obama sent out he wrote “Through this bill, the United States Congress attempts to circumvent longstanding and proven processes for determining whether or not building and operating a cross-border pipeline serves the national interest.”

The presidential veto of the Keystone XL pipeline is just the latest issue with the project, and with the problems that American citizens and Republican legislators have with this administration. John Boehner, the Speaker of the House and a Republican, slammed the decision by the president. “The president’s veto of the Keystone jobs bill is a national embarrassment. The president is just too close to environmental extremists to stand up for America’s workers. He’s too invested in left-fringe politics to do what presidents are called on to do, and that’s put the national interest first.”

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Alberta Canada Economic Ft Mac Politics U.S.

Keystone XL Pipeline Decision Close, Presidential Veto Still Threatened

Keystone XL pipeline, presidential veto

According to Jim Prentice, the Alberta Premier, a Keystone XL pipeline decision appears to be close and the project should be in the final chapters, in spite of the fact that a presidential vet has been promised by US President Barack Obama if the Congress and House both allow the project to move forward. Prentice was in Washington DC on Monday and he met with White House representatives while he was there. The visit covered 4 days and occurred at a time when a newly elected Republican Congress is determined to push the pipeline through while President Obama is determined to stop it. A week ago there was passage of a bipartisan bill that approved the $8 billion pipeline project, but the votes were not enough to override a presidential veto if it comes down to this.

When asked about the Keystone XL pipeline project and a possible presidential veto during a press conference Prentice said “I’m not here to insert myself in the political dynamic that’s taking place between the president and the U.S. Congress. I’m just here to make sure that the facts are straight. I would say, based on the sense that I’ve had talking to people and the comments that were made by the Secretary of State (John) Kerry in Boston yesterday, there is a sense that we’re in the closing chapter of this whole discussion around the Keystone pipeline, but I cannot tell you whether that translates into days or weeks.” If the pipeline is vetoed successfully then Republicans will probably just attach it to another omnibus bill in the spring.

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Canada Economic U.S.

TransCanada Still Has Hope Keystone XL Pipeline Will Be Approved by New Congress

Keystone XL pipeline, TransCanada
Keystone XL pipeline, TransCanada

TransCanada still has hope that the Keystone XL pipeline will be approved by the new Congress, and the company is calling out the legislators in the US government to overcome a threatened veto by President Obama. When Republicans in the new Congress won a majority of seats this provided hope that the long stalled project would finally get back on track once more. President Obama has made his disapproval of this project very clear, to the point that some believe the US President wants to see Americans pay high prices for oil and gasoline. One of the first things taken under review by the Republican House of Representatives was the Keystone XL pipeline project. 60 senators took the step of co-sponsoring the bill and 63 more expressed that they would support the bill when it comes up on the floor. This gives the bill enough votes to pass the House and move on to the Senate.

When the Keystone XL pipeline bill was approved by the House of Representatives Josh Ernst, the White House Press Secretary, told journalists that “If this bill passes this Congress, the president wouldn’t sign it.” Even a presidential veto would not stop the bill if two thirds of Congress approves it though. Russ Girling, CEO and President of TransCanada, said “The review process for Keystone XL has been anything but a ‘well-established process. We are well over the six-year mark reviewing the final phase of Keystone with seemingly no end in sight. The bar continues to move again and again… It’s time to make a decision.”