Premier Redford speaks out over U.S. decision to delay pipeline
Posted Nov 10, 2011 8:23 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Alberta Premier Alison Redford is disappointed with the U.S. State Department after it chose to delay the Keystone XL Pipeline and she’s heading south to find out.
She adds the decision is a setback for Alberta’s oil industry, pushing the $7 billion project until early 2013.
The pipeline would carry millions of barrels of crude each week from the oilsands to American refineries in Texas, but the U.S. is looking for alternate routes so it avoids an aquifer in Nebraska.
Meanwhile, Calgary-based TransCanada Corporation remains optimistic that the project will ultimately move ahead at some point.
In a release, President and Chief Executive Officer Russ Girling said his company is confident the pipeline will be approved, saying it is too important to the U.S. economy and the national interest of the U.S. for it not to proceed.
Each day the project is delayed, TransCanada has to pay about $1 million in storage and other fees as part of a clause the company signed when negotiations first began.
