TransCanada seeks suspension of its KXL permit request

TransCanada has asked the Obama administration to suspend its yearslong review of the Keystone XL pipeline project.

It was not immediately clear whether the administration would grant the request. In a letter, TransCanada asked that the State Department review is halted, so that the company could finalise the Nebraska portion of the pipeline route at state level.

Critics have suggested that the move is a bid to dodge a near-certain rejection of the pipeline.

“In order to allow time for certainty regarding the Nebraska route, TransCanada requests that the State Department pause in its review of the presidential permit application,” TransCanada said in the letter.

TransCanada’s move comes as the State Department was in the final stages of review, with a decision to reject the permit expected as soon as this week.

Reports suggest that TransCanada signaled in September that it was shifting its strategy when it dropped state legal challenges and efforts to seize land in Nebraska for the pipeline.

Allowing the delay would push off a decision until after the 2016 presidential election. All Democratic candidates for president, including Hillary Clinton, say they are opposed to the pipeline. All Republican candidates say they support it.

Edited from various sources by Elizabeth Corner

Sources: New York Times, Wall Street Journal, CBC

Read the article online at: https://www.worldpipelines.com/project-news/03112015/transcanada-seeks-suspension-of-its-kxl-permit-request/