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Trump to Sign
Orders Reviving Pipeline Projects
By Jennifer Jacobs
and Jennifer A Dlouhy
January 24,
2017 "Information
Clearing House"
- "Bloomberg"
- President Donald Trump intends to take action
today to advance construction of the Keystone XL and
Dakota Access pipelines, according to a person familiar
with the matter.
TransCanada Corp.’s
Keystone pipeline was rejected under former President
Barack Obama, and
Energy Transfer Partners LP’s $3.8 billion Dakota
Access project was stalled when the Obama administration
halted work on in on land near Lake Oahe in North Dakota
amid protests by Native American groups.
The moves,
taken on Trump’s fourth full day in office, illustrate
his plan to fulfill his campaign pledge to give the oil
industry more freedom to expand infrastructure, create
jobs and ease transportation bottlenecks.
TransCanada
climbed as much as 1.1 percent to C$63.25 at 9:33 a.m.
in New York.
Energy Transfer Equity LP and Energy Transfer
Partners LP climbed as much as 3.3 percent and 1.7
percent, respectively.
TransCanada had
no immediate comment on the president’s proposed actions
and Energy Transfer didn’t immediately respond to
requests for comment. A spokesman for the Standing Rock
tribe that opposes the Dakota project says they’ll
comment "if it happens."
White House
press secretary Sean Spicer on Monday said Trump’s goal
was to balance environmental protection and projects
that can grow jobs and the economy.
TransCanada may
need to submit another formal application to build the
pipeline. But the company’s plans for Keystone XL
already have been vetted, with years of environmental
scrutiny culminating in former President Barack Obama’s
2015 decision that the pipeline was not in the U.S.
interest.
TransCanada has
not said it would reapply for permission to build the
pipeline, but the day after Trump’s election,
the Calgary-based company said it was looking for ways
to convince the new administration of the project’s
benefits to the U.S. economy. The company has previously
said it remains "committed to Keystone XL."
Environmentalists
fiercely battled the project, making it a flashpoint in
broader debates about U.S. energy policy and climate
change. Landowners in the pipeline’s path warned that a
spill of dense crude could contaminate the Ogallala
aquifer, a source of drinking water that stretches from
Texas to South Dakota. And activists said it would
promote further development of oil sands in Alberta,
Canada that generally require more energy to extract.
Dakota Access
opponents say the pipeline would damage sites culturally
significant to Native Americans and pose an
environmental hazard where it crosses the Missouri
River. Earlier this month, the Department of the Army
withheld the final easement necessary for construction
beneath the lake.
The views
expressed in this article are solely those of the author
and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of
Information Clearing House.
Why The Keystone Pipeline Will
Actually RAISE Gas Prices In the U.S.:
Big Oil Is Gaming the System to Raise Domestic U.S.
Prices
Trump orders EPA media blackout;
Agriculture Department research service bans release of
new info to public:
The Trump administration has instituted what it
described as a temporary media blackout at the
Environmental Protection Agency and barred staff from
awarding any new contracts or grants. |
