TransCanada officials call Obama’s plans a “step in right direction”
Posted Mar 21, 2012 7:26 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Despite a lack of confirmation, TransCanada calls reports that U.S. President Barack Obama will expedite the southern portion of the Keystone XL Pipeline, a “step in the right direction.”
“Our mandate has been and continues to be getting the appropriate approval for this project,” spokesman Terry Cunha tells 660News.
In the hopes of making it easier, the oil giant has effectively split the project in two, re-naming the last 800 kilometres as the Gulf Coast Project.
“It no longer needs a Presidential permit,” says Cunha. “It will only require a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and we believe we’ll be able to acquire that shortly.”
He says nothing’s changed, the project is identical and all they’ve done is remove the section from the original plans.
Keystone XL now stretches from Hardisty, Alberta to Steel City, Nebraska while the Gulf Coast Project runs from Cushing, Oklahoma to Texas.
“We identified to the U.S. government that the Gulf Coast project has enough commercial support to operate independently,” explains Cunha.
The goal is to move domestic oil from Cushing to refineries and eliminate higher priced foreign fuel sources from Mexico, Venezuela and the Middle East.
Cunha says they are committed to applying again for the presidential permit for Keystone and are currently working on re-routing the line through Nebraska.
They plan to re-submit in the coming weeks and will continue to work with the U.S. Army Corps to obtain the necessary permits.
President Obama will reportedly make his announcement Thursday.
