TC Energy Killing Proposed Keystone XL Pipeline

    TC Energy is pulling the plug on its proposed Keystone XL crude oil pipeline after Canadian officials failed to persuade the Biden administration to reverse its cancellation of the company’s permit on the day the president took office.   

       The Calgary-based company, previously known as TransCanada, said Wednesday it would work with government agencies “to ensure a safe termination of and exit from” the partially built project. 

    The pipeline would have transported crude from the oil sand fields of western Canada and the shale formations of Montana and North Dakota to Steele City, NE, where it would have joined the original Keystone pipeline to Gulf Coast refineries.

      Supporters argued the $8-billion dollar 1,200-mile pipeline would reduce dependence on overseas crude oil and create thousands of good paying jobs during the construction phase.

      Opponents worried the project would increase pollution and climate change because oil sands have a higher level of contaminants than other forms of crude. They also cited the threat of leaks and the higher costs of refining oil sands. 

    . Then-President Barack Obama rejected the permit for Keystone XL in 2015, but Donald Trump approved the permit after he took office. 

     The project halted when a federal judge ruled the environmental review of the project was inadequate, but Trump rescinded the permit – rendering the judge’s order moot – and issued a virtually identical one that allowed construction to start last year.

    Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau objected to Biden’s move, but provincial officials complain Trudeau didn’t try harder. 

     The attorneys general from 21 states, nearly all Republicans, had sued to overturn Biden’s cancellation of the contentious project.