TransCanada to sue US over Keystone

Canada

OTTOWA, January 7, 2016 – TransCanada plans to sue the US government after President Barack Obama did not approve the company’s request for a permit to build the Keystone XL pipeline, the midstream company announced Thursday. TransCanada is hoping to recover $15 billion in damages.

The company is using a notice of claim under the North American Free Trade Act to prove that Obama’s decision was “arbitrary and unjustified.”

The $5.7-billion proposed pipeline would have run between Canada’s oil sands and US refineries situated on the Gulf Coast.

The environmental impact of the proposed pipeline came under close scrutiny ahead of permitting, meaning that the project was put on hold for several years while being reviewed by the State Department. In November, the president rejected the plan on environmental grounds.

“TransCanada has been unjustly deprived of the value of its multibillion-dollar investment by the US administration’s action,” the company said in a Thursday statement.

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