Keystone XL rejection leads TransCanada to sue Obama administration

[JDPriestly]

Source: CBS

The company said Wednesday it has filed a notice of intent to initiate the NAFTA claim on the basis that the denial was not justified.

"TransCanada has been unjustly deprived of the value of its multibillion-dollar investment by the U.S. administration's action," said the company in a release.

The firm says it will be looking to recover $15 billion US in costs and damages as a result of what it says is a breach of obligations under Chapter 11 of NAFTA.

"TransCanada asserts the U.S. administration's decision to deny a presidential permit for the Keystone XL pipeline was arbitrary and unjustified," the company said.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/transcanada-lawsuit-keystone-xl-pipeline-1.3392446

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The TPP is up for a vote soon, maybe next week.

The bills for our trade policies, the big bills, will have to be paid by taxpayers.

Be sure to call your members of Congress to ask them to vote against the TPP.

It will be worse than NAFTA.

[OnyxCollie]

1. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

[PatrickforO]

2. Screw 'em. Let 'em sue!

And do call your rep and senators about TPP. The poster is right.

[Betty Karlson]

3. I had the same feeling: with TPP, Obama wouldn't have a chance against this moloch multinational.

[FreakinDJ]

4. The Republicans will vote FOR the TPP just because they are sueing Obama

[djean111]

7. The Republicans AND Obama (and the DINOs) all are in favor of the TPP.

Obama and the GOP are on the same page here.

Obama is not getting sued; we taxpayers are getting sued. And it will get worse with the TPP and TPIP.

[Gawdless Pinko Lib]

9. Exactly

Obama and the Repubs are buddy buddy on TPP.

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

11. I would occur to me that this is/was part of the plan...

... to get TPP approved in Congress. Another way of ratfucking.

[pampango]

6. They also filed a suit in federal district court in Texas alleging Obama exceeded his constitutional

powers. It might succeed. republicans have had some luck with such suits and this one was filed in Texas so the climate is favorable for conservatives.

To succeed in the NAFTA filing TransCanada would, as I understand Chapter 11, have to prove that it was treated differently than an American pipeline company would have been.

... each NAFTA Party must accord investors from the other NAFTA Parties national (i.e. non-discriminatory) treatment and may not expropriate investments of those investors except in accordance with international law.

http://www.state.gov/s/l/c3439.htm

TransCanada says it has also filed a lawsuit in the U.S. Federal Court in Texas asserting that President Barack Obama's decision to deny construction of Keystone XL exceeded his power under the U.S. Constitution. "The denial reflected an unprecedented exercise of presidential power and intruded on Congress's power under the Constitution to regulate interstate and international commerce," TransCanada said.

A group of environmental, land and tribal organizations — including the Sierra Club and 350.org — issued a statement saying the company was "throwing the corporate equivalent of a temper tantrum" in hopes of "forcing American taxpayers to pay them billions of dollars to recoup their losses." The group called it an "ill-fated project that they spent seven years trying to bully the U.S. into letting them build."

Greenpeace Canada agreed, saying the company's arguments do not add up. "Their legal argument is, since no president before has taken serious action on climate change, Obama shouldn't be allowed to either," Keith Stewart of Greenpeace Canada said. Cyndee Cherniak of LexSage said the odds are historically against TransCanada ...

See the lawsuit documents that TransCanada filed here.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/transcanada-lawsuit-keystone-xl-pipeline-1.3392446

It is not surprising that TransCanada would want a republican, pro-pipeline congress to make the decision on the pipeline.

[Vinca]

8. Well, what's most obvious is they probably need the money.

With oil at $33 a barrel, they're about $70 short of making a profit from shale oil. They either have to get their Wall Street buddies to manipulate the market again or call it a day.

[Astraea]

10. I hate to use this excuse

But we're the world's superpower, we can do what we like.

You know where to stuff your treaties.

[TexasBushwhacker]

12. Yup. Not to mention we could just quit buying their oil n/t