WASHINGTON – The Trump administration has granted a permit for construction of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, according to the company behind the project.
TransCanada, the Calgary-based firm that has been trying to win approval for the pipeline for years, announced Friday morning that the State Department has signed and issued a construction permit for the project.
“This is a significant milestone for the Keystone XL project,” said Russ Girling, TransCanada’s president and chief executive. “We greatly appreciate President Trump’s administration for reviewing and approving this important initiative, and we look forward to working with them as we continue to invest in and strengthen North America’s energy infrastructure.”
The move comes two months after Trump, only days into his presidency, signed an executive order aimed at reviving the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines. Both had drawn massive protests and had been stalled by the Obama administration.
In a statement Friday, the State Department said that in reviewing TransCanada’s application in light of Trump’s recent executive order, officials determined that issuing a permit “would serve the national interest.” It said the undersecretary who signed the permit, Thomas A. Shannon, Jr., had “considered a range of factors, including but not limited to foreign policy; energy security; environmental, cultural and economic impact; and compliance with applicable law and policy.”
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, the former chief executive of ExxonMobil, had recused himself from the decision.
In halting the Keystone construction in late 2015, Obama argued that the project would contribute to climate change because it would carry tar sands crude oil, which is especially greenhouse-gas intensive because of the energy required to extract the thick crude. That announcement followed a similar finding by the State Department, which oversees applications for cross-border pipelines.
TransCanada had said it would be interested in reviving the pipeline, which would carry up to 830,000 barrels of crude oil a day, but those plans looked tenuous until Trump took office.
The company last month also filed for approval from Nebraska’s Public Service Commission, which is necessary for construction and in cases where the company resorts to using eminent domain because landowners refuse to let construction take place. TransCanada has said that it has agreements covering 90 percent of the route in each of the three states the pipeline will cross.
The pipeline also traverses Montana and South Dakota. In Nebraska, it would connect with other pipelines linked to oil refineries along the Texas Gulf Coast.
Five years ago, the Keystone XL project faced stiff opposition from Nebraska landowners and environmentalists, many of them worried about potential damage to the state’s massive Ogallala water aquifer and fragile Sand Hills region. In response, the company moved the pipeline’s path farther east. But even that route is sure to face resistance.
In its statement Friday, the company said it “will continue to engage key stakeholders and neighbors throughout Nebraska, Montana and South Dakota to obtain the necessary permits and approvals to advance this project to construction.”
(c) 2017, The Washington Post
