11.02.15

Hoeven Statement on TransCanada Suspending Its Application for a Presidential Permit for the Keystone XL Pipeline

WASHINGTON – Senator John Hoeven today issued the following statement in response to the decision by TransCanada to suspend its application for a presidential permit for the Keystone XL pipeline project:

“After waiting over seven years for a permit from the Administration, TransCanada today suspended its long-delayed application for a presidential permit to build the Keystone XL pipeline project.  It is clear President Obama was going to deny the permit.  The costly delay has prevented the company from proceeding on a new pipeline that would have brought oil from Canada and the Bakken to U.S. refineries and jobs and revenue to local communities.

“If the long delay hasn’t already had a chilling effect on the willingness of other companies to invest in important energy infrastructure projects in the United States, an outright denial certainly would. And TransCanada had been given every reason to believe its application would be denied by the current administration, despite the protracted review period and multiple favorable findings. Consequently, the company itself has been forced to delay the project further, and that’s unfortunate.

“Instead of making it harder to produce and transport energy in the US and Canada by denying and discouraging projects like the Keystone XL pipeline, the United States needs to empower investment in the energy infrastructure needed to move oil and gas as safely and efficiently as possible, enabling our country to achieve North American energy independence. We must learn the lesson of history and avoid the pitfall of returning to our reliance on OPEC and the Middle East for oil.

“I and a bipartisan group of my colleagues have repeatedly made the case that the Keystone XL pipeline is not only about energy, but also about jobs, economic activity and, in the larger scheme of things, building the right kind of energy infrastructure for a stronger and safer America. We will continue to work to make sure that a company that follows, and even exceeds, the rules can build the energy infrastructure our nation needs.”

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