In the United States the administration of President Barack Obama has further delayed its decision on the controversial Keystone XL pipeline project, with no conclusion now likely until after US mid-term elections in November.
President Obama has said he will have the final say on whether to allow the pipeline connecting Canada’s oil sands region to Texas refiners.
Reuters Newsagency reports several government agencies had been given until May to weigh in on the decision and this had raised expectations of a final decision by mid-year.
The latest delay is expected to reinforce a White House strategy to energise President Obama’s liberal-leaning base before November elections in which Democrats risk losing control of the US Senate.
Environmentalists, worried about the project’s effect on climate change, have put enormous pressure on the president to reject the pipeline, staging demonstrations outside the White House and protests in states where he travels.
Reuters reports a decision to approve it now could have prompted that vocal group, which was instrumental in electing President Obama in 2008 and 2012, to sit out the November congressional elections.
The State Department has now said it is extending the agency comment period, citing a need to wait until the Nebraska Supreme Court settles a dispute over what path the $5.4 billion TransCanada Corporation project should take.
“That pipeline route is central to the environmental analysis for the project and if there are changes to the route it could have implications,” a senior State Department official told Reuters.
The legal process will likely continue past November and might stretch into next year, meaning more delays for the politically charged issue that has been on the drawing board for more than five years.
By linking Canadian fields to refiners in the Gulf Coast, the 1900-kilometre pipeline would lift an energy patch where heavy oil is abundant but that is reached only by burning vast amounts of fossil fuels.
The oil industry argues projects like Keystone can reduce the US reliance on Middle East oil while partnering with one of the country’s closest political allies, Canada.
Delaying Keystone means “the US will continue to rely on suspect and aggressive foreign leaders for the eight to nine million barrels of oil that is imported every day,” TransCanada Corp chief executive Russ Girling said.
Keystone opponents say consuming carbon fuel to wrench oil sands crude from the ground will worsen climate change and the pipeline meant to carry up to 830,000 barrels a day will only spur more production.
They expect President Obama to reject the project and so fulfill a commitment to battling climate change.
The move is likely to infuriate Canadian politicians who have grown increasingly irate over delays.
Reuters reports Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s office was “disappointed that politics continue to delay a decision,” his spokesman said.
In the near-term, delaying Keystone XL is likely to rattle the Canadian oil sector.
