Page 12 - NorthAmOil Week 47 2020

NorthAmOil COMMENTARY NorthAmOil

The fate of the Keystone
XL pipeline is more
uncertain.

prospects. In October, TC Energy said it was on the pipeline remains stalled while another
awarding more than $1.6bn worth of contracts review process is carried out before the permit
to six American unionised contractors to carry can be reissued.
out pipeline construction work across three
states, which is expected to support over 7,000 What next?
union jobs in 2021. Separately, the company has Keystone XL’s chances of survival will likely
said construction of Keystone XL can lead to the become clearer once Biden has taken office. In
creation of 11,000 US jobs in total. the meantime, it appears that TC Energy will
Now the company has said that its new agree- continue its efforts to portray the project as being
ment with NLE could serve as a model for deals in alignment with Biden’s agenda. The company
with other indigenous communities along Key- has also pledged to create a $10mn clean energy
stone XL’s route in both the US and Canada. It training fund and has talked up the steps it is tak- It was previously
hopes support by indigenous investors will be ing to reduce emissions.
another factor working in the pipeline’s favour. It was previously thought that once a pipeline thought that
“We’ve looked at the incoming Biden admin- is built, it is effectively safe from opposition. once a pipeline
istration’s Build Back Better plan and the steps However, the legal challenge against a separate
that we’ve already taken with Keystone XL, we pipeline – Dakota Access – has shown that this is built, it is
believe, have positioned it very favourably, par- may no longer be the case. Like Keystone XL,
ticularly as we bring jobs to the economy next Dakota Access now has to undergo another effectively safe
year, a key platform for the US government as review to have a permit reinstated. However,
we recover from the COVID-19 pandemic,” TC unlike Keystone XL, the pipeline was already from opposition.
Energy’s president of liquids pipelines, Bevin operational when the permit was withdrawn.
Wirzba, said during a webcast from the compa- There are fears that the court case over Dakota
ny’s investor day. Access will set a precedent for environmental
TC Energy has constructed about 200 km groups and other opponents to pursue more
of pipeline since the project was approved in legal challenges against pipelines even if they
March, including the border crossing, and has are already operational. As Keystone XL has
begun construction of 17 pump stations in the generally been more contentious than the Line
US states it traverses and Alberta, he said. Pro- 3 replacement – though there has been oppo-
gress was hampered by a court revoking one of sition to both – this suggests that even if Biden
the pipeline’s permits in April. The case was con- were to agree to allow the pipeline to be built, the
tested in the US Supreme Court, which upheld obstacles for TC Energy would not necessarily
the lower court’s ruling. As a result, construction end there.™

P12 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 47 26•November•2020