rus said:
TransCanada has already said they're going to reapply:
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57368450-503544/senators-introduce-bill-to-move-keystone-xl-forward/
No doubt there's political games; I suspect the administration would dearly love to see southern states with refineries ( which would be fed by this pipeline ) suffer job losses and increased economic hardship. Not like they're voting for him, so they're the enemy.
Then again, maybe it's as simple as using energy policy to enrich allies:
http://news.investors.com/Article/591960/201111161727/Billionaire-Buffetts-Bakken-Boom.htm
Do you actually read these articles before you post links?
But Carney suggested that Republicans in Congress were the reason that the pipeline was denied in the first place, citing their decision to add a measure into the bill to extend the payroll tax credit that would force a quick decision on the matter. When he announced his decision to reject the pipeline earlier this month, the president cited the GOP-imposed deadline, which he said would make it impossible for the State Department to make an informed decision on the matter.
"A process was in place, consistent with precedent, where the State Department was reviewing the request for a permit here. When significant concerns were raised about the pipeline route, not least by the Republican governor of Nebraska, a decision was made to seek an alternate route, one that did not run through territory that -- over the aquifer there in Nebraska," Carney said Monday. "The State Department made that decision. The president concurred in that decision. It required an expansion of the time period to review the request, as would be appropriate because it was an alternate route; an alternative route that as far as I know still has yet to be identified."
Congressional Republicans, Carney argued, forced the president's hand on the issue despite "absolutely clear warning from the State Department that doing so would put them in an untenable position."
"The Republicans, with absolutely clear warning from the State Department that doing so would put them in an untenable position, chose instead, for political, partisan reasons, to insert this extraneous measure in the payroll tax cut extension, thereby all but ensuring that the State Department would recommend denying the permit because it could not grant a permit on a pipeline route that hadn't even been identified," he said.
Let's remember the alternate route option wasn't because Dem allies were chaining themselves to anything. Obama's shown little sign of wanting to kill the pipeline, but did agree to the State Dept's suggestion of an alternate route proposal induced by Nebraska state Republican polls around a Nebraska aquifer.
But, you're sure that obvious political games of Republican simply fucking everyone else over on an issue they think they can cudgel the president on come fall couldn't be the explanation even given the solar flare like obviousness...
Even Republican aides are on record over this,
Republicans seemed all too aware of this possibility. “It’s a question of whether we’d rather have the pipeline or the issue,” a GOP aide said in December. They chose the issue, bringing into question how much they care about the pipeline itself. Indeed, not forcing a decision would have neutralized the politics surrounding the matter.
...
Reapplying for the project isn’t simple — it’s time consuming and costly, and if the shippers that have partnered with TransCanada decide to take their business elsewhere, the whole thing could go bust.
“Even if this just constitutes a delay it still cuts into their future earnings,” says Andrew Leach, a professor at the Alberta School of Business in Canada.
He cited analyst Steven Paget of First Energy Capital who put the losses at 15 percent of 2015 earnings. According to Paget, the rejection could delay the project by three years — and that’s just one problem.
“TransCanada can certainly reapply for a permit for a modified pipeline, but we foresee several possible problems with this: for instance, shippers may walk away from their contracts with TransCanada,” he wrote, according to The Canadian Press. “If this happens, another pipeline company could lure away these shippers if it could convince them that it could deliver a functioning pipeline sooner than TransCanada has done.”
“It’s possible that these companies will pull out and the pipeline will no longer be viable,” Leach said, while noting he’d be “very surprised if they didn’t reapply and take that process all the way to the finish.”
“If you ask anyone in TransCanada’s office, they were much happier before the payroll tax rider because they had the root agreement,” Leach said.
TransCanada intends to reapply with a slightly new route meant to circumvent an environmentally sensitive region in Nebraska. In a conference call with reporters, Assistant Secretary of State Kerri-Ann Jones suggested that while the State Department can piggyback off of the research that’s already been done on Keystone, the review process must begin anew, including a new Environmental Impact Statement.
“If TransCanada comes in with a new application, it will trigger a new review process, a completely new review process,” she said. “We cannot state that anything would be expedited or - at this time. It would just have to go through all of the requirements that are needed for this kind of application review. So I couldn’t really speak to when such a review could be finished.”
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/keystone-xl/2012/01/
It's perfectly legal for them to do what they did politically, but if you're someone with no real dog in the pipeline, there's only one set of dicks in this drama.
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