TransCanada Corp. (NYSE: TRP) received approval for the Keystone XL Pipeline by the U.S. State Department, the company said March 24, ending a years-long battle for the 1,179-mile cross-border pipeline application.
“This is a significant milestone for the Keystone XL project,” Russ Girling, TransCanada’s president and CEO, said in a statement. “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.”
President Donald Trump will announce the permit alongside Girling at the White House later March 24, according to a Reuters report.
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The Keystone XL application was a contentious, drawn-out process under former President Barack Obama, who finally rejected the pipeline in November 2015, about six years after receiving the application.
On Jan. 24, four days after he was sworn in, Trump signed an executive order inviting TransCanada to re-submit an application for the Keystone XL, which the company did on Jan. 26.
Trump's order directs the secretary of state to reach a final decision within 60 days of TransCanada’s submission of the permit application. Trump also ordered the State Department to use the Keystone’s 2014 environmental assessment for its review.
Trump told reporters after signing the order that “we are going to renegotiate some of the terms” of the Keystone XL project. “And if they like, we will see if we can get that pipeline built—a lot of jobs—28,000 jobs, great construction jobs.”
Independent forecasts by the State Department estimate the line will support tens of thousands of direct and indirect jobs and contribute roughly $3.4 billion to U.S. GDP, TransCanada said.
On March 24, the State Department's undersecretary for political affairs, Tom Shannon, signed and issued a presidential permit to authorizing the construction of the Canada-to-U.S. oil pipeline.
In conjunction, TransCanada said it also discontinued its $15 billion North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) suit filed against the U.S. over Keystone XL, ending its U.S. constitutional challenge.
Emily Patsy can be reached at epatsy@hartenergy.com.
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