U.S. Discriminated Against Keystone XL Pipeline Proposal

[Was the Obama administration’s rejection of the application to build the Keystone XL pipeline from Alberta, Canada, to Oklahoma a political move based on applying a double standard to the Canadian proposal? If so, why?]

[Why so? Because the U.S. has constructed enough pipeline in the last 5 years to equal 10 Keystone projects but this particular pipeline would have crossed an international border.]

TransCanada had sought to build 875 miles for its Keystone XL…[but] President Obama rejected its application, saying:

“Shipping dirtier crude oil into our country would not increase America’s energy security.”

…During the 7 years TransCanada was applying to the U.S. State Department to extend its Keystone pipeline across the U.S. border, other pipelines expanded rapidly within the U.S., according to a report by the Financial Post. From 2009 to 2013, more than 8,000 miles of piping was built. In 2014, mileage increased over 9% to reach 66,649 miles, Association of Oil Pipe Lines (AOPL) data shows…

President and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute, Jack Gerard, said in a media conference call:

“It’s ironic that the administration would strike a deal to allow Iranian crude onto the global market while refusing to give our closest ally, Canada, access to U.S. refineries.”

The number one source of crude oil for the U.S. is Canada. In August, the amount of Canadian crude oil shipped to the U.S. rose to a record 3.4 million barrels a day. Since 2010, crude oil imports from Canada have risen by a million barrels per day.

The U.S.-based oil industry is growing too. A Houston-based pipeline company, Enterprise Product Partners, projected last week that by 2018 it will have spent a total of $7.8 billion on such projects. Shipping company Magellan Midstream Partners, based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, announced this week that it had increased its budget to purchase capital and equipment to move oil from $200 million to $1.6 billion.

Meanwhile, Enbridge, another Canadian energy transportation corporation, has already doubled the quantity of oil it delivers to the U.S. without an application process, as its routes don’t cross a national border.

…Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall viewed the rejection by the Obama administration as putting politics “ahead of its relationship with its most important trading partner, Canada.”

Original source: https://www.rt.com/usa/321128-usa-built-keystone-pipeline-equivalents/ (© Autonomous Nonprofit Organization “TV-Novosti”, 2005–2015. All rights reserved.)

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