Keystone pipeline seen moving ahead on new route

[The Straight Story]

TransCanada Corp. (TRP)’s $7 billion Keystone XL oil pipeline still will move ahead with an alternate route after President Barack Obama’s decision to deny a permit, investors, public officials and analysts say.

Obama blamed congressional Republicans yesterday for imposing a deadline on his decision, which he said left no time to approve the project. His administration invited TransCanada to reapply, an overture the Calgary-based company promptly said it would accept.

Denying the permit pushes a final decision on the pipeline into 2013, safely past this year’s presidential election. John Stephenson, who helps manage $2.7 billion for First Asset Management Inc. in Toronto, said he bought 350,000 shares yesterday as TransCanada fell the most in 18 months.

“This is clearly the biggest infrastructure project on the continent, and once the election is settled, we believe it will be approved,” Stephenson said in an interview. “All the waffling just gives people an opportunity to trade around it.”

http://fuelfix.com/blog/2012/01/19/keystone-pipeline-seen-moving-ahead-on-new-route/

[Robb]

1. And the South shall rise again.

[Fawke Em]

9. What does the South have to do with this?

I mean, the pipeline cuts through several regions of the country.

Not sure I get your meaning.

[niyad]

2. so, they are invited to try another route, and get approval next year? why am I not surprised?

[The Straight Story]

3. I can see it now: We will let bush tax cuts expire, but have to approve pipeline

Or something similar

[niyad]

4. yes, the spin is endless

[Vincardog]

5. endless yes but the concessions only seem to go one way

Funny that, it seems almost like it was planned

[bigtree]

6. this is another one of those fantasized narratives

. . . like the ones which were so very certain he'd approve the thing yesterday. The industry poll said that 90% of their minions believed for certain that President Obama would approve the project yesterday.

There's nothing wrong with resetting the bar -- it's actually a pretty effective way to keep pressure on -- but this President has stood with environmentalists on this issue so far. Congress are the ones who caved, not this president, so I'd be a bit more cautious with the bets against the President this time around. In fact, it would behoove the folks who feel satisfied in their cynicism to call or write the WH and tell them you support their action and urge them to reject any future projects. You know, activism and advocacy and stuff like that.

[The Straight Story]

7. I didn't expect him to approve it

But am guessing, giving the outs given (re-apply, change it's course) after the election it will be approved. He can say it is now OK because he stood up them and got them to re-route it.

[bigtree]

10. you could just as easily surmise that the hedging is just politics

to shield himself against the onslaught of republican charges that he's denying cheap gas and denying jobs.

Didja miss all that? It's always amazing to me how folks tend to just allow the real opposition and the real forces against whatever we want to skate while we pile all the cynicism and blame on the easy target. It's just lousy politics and this is a political fight.

[The Straight Story]

11. Except when you have things like bush tax cuts and single payer

in your history where you sided with big business, people tend to be a tad cynical.

Trust does not come from a letter after your name, it comes for doing what is right.

His statement:

This announcement is not a judgment on the merits of the pipeline, but the arbitrary nature of a deadline that prevented the State Department from gathering the information necessary to approve the project and protect the American people. I’m disappointed that Republicans in Congress forced this decision, but it does not change my Administration’s commitment to American-made energy that creates jobs and reduces our dependence on oil. Under my Administration, domestic oil and natural gas production is up, while imports of foreign oil are down. In the months ahead, we will continue to look for new ways to partner with the oil and gas industry to increase our energy security –including the potential development of an oil pipeline from Cushing, Oklahoma to the Gulf of Mexico – even as we set higher efficiency standards for cars and trucks and invest in alternatives like biofuels and natural gas. And we will do so in a way that benefits American workers and businesses without risking the health and safety of the American people and the environment.

Deadline is now extended.

[bigtree]

13. bush cuts and single payer

There are plenty of opposite views about those two issues.

And I've read his statement. The rejection at this point doesn't allow Keystone to just pick up where they left off when we get to 2013. They'll have to start the process all over again. Even if the President ultimately does reject even another proposed route, keystone is free to keep trying, so I don't think their determination to continue -- and the President's stating of the obvious, that they are free to seek a viable route that can gain approval -- is any more of an indicator that he's ultimately approve the thing than any of the speculation so far has proven correct.

[Viking12]

8. The State of Nebaraska made yesterday's announcemnet essentially risk-free for the President.

Minus the chatter of RW hate radio, of course.

NE has yet to permit an approved route through their state. Without those permits in place, there isn't a plan for the State Dept to approve or deny. Once NE completes the 'environmental review' of the legislatively approved new route, TransAmerica will re-apply and the the pipeline will get approved.

[jimlup]

12. Fascinating - thanks /nt