TransCanada launches legal action over Keystone XL rejection

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

Business News | Wed Jan 6, 2016 5:00pm EST

TransCanada launches legal action over Keystone XL rejection

CALGARY, ALBERTA

TransCanada Corp sued the U.S government in U.S. federal court on Wednesday, alleging President Barack Obama's rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline exceeded his power under the U.S. Constitution.

Obama rejected the cross-border crude oil pipeline late last year, seven years after it was first proposed. TransCanada also filed legal action with NAFTA authorities saying the pipeline permit denial was "arbitrary and unjustified."

(Reporting by Nia Williams; Editing by David Gregorio)

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-transcanada-keystone-idUSKBN0UK2JG20160106

[DonCoquixote]

1. Hey Justin Trudeau

I thought Canada was getting into it's old routines, instead of taking up new habits.

[Nihil]

3. TransCanada is a corporation. Canada is a country. Trudeau has nothing to do with the former. (n/t)

[DonCoquixote]

5. save for the fact he supports this thing

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2015/11/06/obama-rejects-keystone-pipeline-us-media-reports.html
http://business.financialpost.com/fp-comment/terence-corcoran-gagnier-hands-justin-trudeau-a-pot-of-rotten-corporatism

in other words, he is more DWS than liberal.

[saturnsring]

2. exceeded in what way

[eridani]

4. This is under NAFTA

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2016/01/06/3736750/transcanada-sues-using-nafta/

TransCanada, the company behind the Keystone XL pipeline, announced Wednesday it is filing a claim under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), saying that the project’s permit denial was “arbitrary and unjustified.” TransCanada is seeking $15 billion in costs and damages due to the denial, and has also filed a separate lawsuit against the U.S. in federal court.

Under NAFTA, companies can sue governments that put investments at risk through regulation. If it proceeds, the case will go in front of an international tribunal. (A U.S. company sued Montreal in 2013 over a fracking ban, using the same rationale). The tribunal cannot overturn the permit denial, but it can force payment of damages.

A NAFTA challenge had been previously identified as a potential legal recourse for the company.In the notice to submit a claim for arbitration, TransCanada notes that two previous pipelines, carrying oil from the same tar sands region across the U.S. border, were both approved. This, TransCanada claims, suggests that the denial was political in nature, which is prohibited under NAFTA.

“Environmental activists … turned opposition to the Keystone XL Pipeline into a litmus test for politicians—including U.S. President Barack Obama — to prove their environmental credentials. The activists’ strategy succeeded,” TransCanada states in its filings. “Stated simply, the delay and the ultimate decision to deny the permit were politically-driven, directly contrary to the findings of the Administration’s own studies, and not based on the merits of Keystone’s application. The Administration’s actions violated U.S. obligations under the North American Free Trade Agreement (“NAFTA”).”