TORONTO -- The head of the Canadian company behind the proposed Keystone XL pipeline denied Tuesday that political motivation drove its decision to ask the U.S. government to delay consideration of the project.
TransCanada's request that the State Department suspend its review of the Alberta-to-Texas pipeline could delay any decision until the next U.S. president takes office in 2017, potentially leaving the fate of the project in the hands of a more supportive Republican administration.
The request comes as many expect that President Barack Obama will reject the project, which has been a flash point in the debate over climate change and source of friction between the United States and Canada. Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Rodham Clinton and Bernie Sanders oppose the pipeline, but the Republican candidates support it.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the State Department is considering TransCanada's request, but added that Obama intends to make a decision about the pipeline before leaving office. Earnest said it was important to consider what could be motivating TransCanada's request.
"It seems unusual to me that somehow it should be paused yet again," Earnest said.
The State Department is not obligated to grant TransCanada's request to halt the review, which is required as part of the application process because the $8 billion pipeline would cross an international border.
The U.S. State Department said it will continue reviewing the project even as it considers TransCanada's request.
"We're going to get back to them; while that takes place we're not going to pause," State Department spokesman Elizabeth Trudeau told reporters in Washington on Tuesday.
The department didn't offer an estimate of when it would respond to TransCanada, and Trudeau said she didn't know whether the department would have to consult other U.S. government agencies. She also said she wasn't aware of any requirement for the U.S. to consult with Canada on the company's request.
TransCanada chief executive Russ Girling denied that the request has anything to do with an expected rejection of the pipeline. The company said a suspension of the review would be appropriate while it works to secure approval of its preferred route through Nebraska in the face of legal challenges. TransCanada said it expected it would take seven to 12 months to get approval from Nebraska authorities.
"We've tried to stay out of the politics of this situation and focus on the things that we're capable of doing and can control, and that's the regulatory process," Girling said.
"We have worked very hard for seven years trying to keep our head down and work our way through every twist and turn and every additional request to the regulatory process, and we are intent on continuing to do that until you get the regulatory approval and we have solved people's issues through that process," Girling said on a conference call with analysts and media.
The Keystone XL project has undergone repeated federal and state reviews since TransCanada announced the project in 2008. The 1,179-mile pipeline would run from Canada through Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska, where it would connect with existing pipelines to carry more than 800,000 barrels of crude oil a day from the Alberta oil sands to refineries along the Texas Gulf Coast.
Alberta has the world's third-largest oil reserves, with 170 billion barrels of proven reserves.
Opponents say the development of Alberta's oil sands requires huge amounts of energy and water and increases greenhouse gas emissions. They warn that pipeline leaks could potentially pollute underground aquifers that are a critical source of water for farmers in the Great Plains. Supporters maintain it will create jobs and reduce U.S. reliance on Middle Eastern oil. They argue that pipelines are a safer method of transporting oil than trains, pointing to recent derailments.
Delays in approving the pipeline have caused friction between the Obama administration and the government of Canada's outgoing conservative prime minister, Stephen Harper. Canada relies on the U.S. for 97 percent of its energy exports.
The recent election of Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau could change the contours of the Keystone debate. Trudeau, who will be sworn in Wednesday, supports Keystone but insists that relations between the two countries should not hinge on it.
Despite a sharp decline in oil prices, Girling said Keystone and other proposed pipelines remain viable. He said production has grown rapidly in Alberta and in the Bakken region since the company first applied for the permit in 2008. He said output is already high enough to make Keystone viable and added that pipelines are a cheaper option than moving oil by rail.
"This project remains very much in demand by our customers," Girling said.
Information for this article was contributed by Rob Gillies, Josh Lederman, Matthew Daly and Grant Schulte of The Associated Press; and by Justin Sink, Nicole Gaouette and Rebecca Penty of Bloomberg News.
A Section on 11/04/2015