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Keystone Pipeline I
The Keystone Pipeline System, stretching 4,324 km (2,687-miles) in length, plays a key role in delivering Canadian and U.S. crude oil supplies to markets around North America. The Canadian portion of the pipeline runs from Hardisty, AB, east through Manitoba where it turns south and crosses the border into North Dakota. From there, it runs south through South Dakota to Steele City, Neb., where it splits – one arm running east through Missouri for deliveries into Wood River and Patoka, Ill., with the other running south through Oklahoma to Cushing and onward to Port Arthur and Houston, TX. Keystone XLWas a planned 1,179-mile (1,897km) pipeline running from the oil sands of Alberta, Canada, to Steele City, Nebraska, where it would join an existing pipe. It could carry 830,000 barrels of oil each day. It would mirror an existing pipe, also called Keystone, but would take a more direct route, boosting the flow of oil from Canada.
July 2008: TC Energy Corp. — then called TransCanada Corp. — and
ConocoPhillips, joint owners of the Keystone Pipeline, propose a
major extension to the network. The expansion, dubbed Keystone XL,
would carry hundreds of thousands of barrels of oilsands bitumen
from Alberta to Texas.
2009: As the U.S. State Department wades through comments based on
an environmental assessment of the project, TransCanada starts
visiting landowners potentially affected by the pipeline. Opposition
emerges in Nebraska.
June 2009: TransCanada announces it will buy ConocoPhillips’s stake
in Keystone.
March 2010: The National Energy Board approves TransCanada’s
application for Keystone XL, though the OK comes with 22 conditions
regarding safety, environmental protection and landowner rights.
April 2010: The U.S. State Department releases a draft environmental
impact statement saying Keystone XL would have a limited effect on
the environment.
June-July 2010: Opposition to Keystone XL begins mounting in the
United States. Legislators write to then-secretary of state Hillary
Clinton calling for greater environmental oversight; scientists
begin speaking out against the project; and the Environmental
Protection Agency questions the need for the pipeline extension.
July 2010: The State Department extends its review of Keystone,
saying federal agencies need more time to weigh in before a final
environmental impact assessment can be released.
March 2011: The State Department announces a further delay in its
environmental assessment.
Aug. 26, 2011: The State Department releases its final environmental
assessment, which reiterates that the pipeline would have a limited
environmental impact.
August-September 2011: Protesters stage a two-week campaign of civil
disobedience at the White House to speak out against Keystone XL.
Police arrest approximately 1,000 people, including actors Margot
Kidder and Daryl Hannah as well as Canadian activist Naomi Klein.
Sept. 26, 2011: At a demonstration on Parliament Hill, police arrest
117 of 400 protesters.
Nov. 10, 2011: The State Department says TransCanada must reroute
Keystone XL to avoid an ecologically sensitive region of Nebraska.
Nov. 14, 2011: TransCanada agrees to reroute the line.
December 2011: U.S. legislators pass a bill with a provision saying
President Barack Obama must make a decision on the pipeline’s future
in the next 60 days.
Jan. 18, 2012: Obama rejects Keystone, saying the timeline imposed
by the December bill did not leave enough time to review the new
route. Obama said TransCanada was free to submit another
application.
Feb. 27, 2012: TransCanada says it will build the southern leg of
Keystone XL, from Cushing, Okla., to the Gulf Coast, as a separate
project with a price tag of $2.3 billion. This is not subject to
presidential permission, since it did not cross an international
border.
April 18, 2012: TransCanada submits a new route to officials in
Nebraska for approval.
May 4, 2012: TransCanada files a new application with the State
Department for the northern part of Keystone XL.
Jan. 22, 2013: Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman approves TransCanada’s
proposed new route for Keystone XL, sending the project back to the
State Department for review.
January 2013: Pipeline opponents file a lawsuit against the Nebraska
government claiming the state law used to review the new route is
unconstitutional.
Jan. 31, 2014: The State Department says in a report that Keystone
XL would produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions than transporting
oil to the Gulf of Mexico by rail.
Feb. 19, 2014: A Nebraska judge rules that the law that allowed the
governor to approve Keystone XL over the objections of landowners
was unconstitutional. Nebraska said it would appeal.
April 18, 2014: The State Department suspends the regulatory process
indefinitely, citing uncertainty about the court case in
Nebraska.29dk2902l
Nov. 4, 2014: TransCanada says the costs of Keystone XL have grown
to US$8 billion from US$5.4 billion.
November-December 2014: Midterm elections turn control of the U.S.
Congress over to Republicans, who say they’ll make acceptance of
Keystone XL a top priority. But Obama adopts an increasingly
negative tone.
Jan. 9, 2015: At the Nebraska Supreme Court, by the narrowest of
margins, a panel of seven judges strikes down the lower-court
decision.
Jan. 29, 2015: The U.S. Senate approves a bill to build Keystone XL,
but the White House says Obama would veto it.
Feb. 24, 2015: Obama vetoes the bill.
June 30, 2015: TransCanada writes to then-secretary of state John
Kerry and other U.S. officials saying the State Department should
include recent climate change policy announcements by the Alberta
and federal governments in its review of Keystone XL.
Nov. 2, 2015: TransCanada asks the U.S. government to temporarily
suspend its application.
Nov. 4, 2015: The U.S. government rejects that request.
Nov. 6, 2015: The Obama administration rejects TransCanada’s
application to build the Keystone XL pipeline. TransCanada CEO Russ
Girling says he is disappointed, but continues to believe the
project is in the best interests of both Canada and the U.S.
Jan. 6, 2016: TransCanada files notice to launch a claim under
Chapter 11 of the North American Free Trade Agreement, alleging the
U.S. government breached its legal commitments under NAFTA. The
company also files a lawsuit in U.S. Federal Court in Texas arguing
that Obama exceeded his powers by denying construction of the
project.
May 26, 2016: Republican presidential contender Donald Trump says he
would approve Keystone XL if elected, a pledge he repeats several
times during the campaign.
Nov. 8, 2016: Trump is elected president.
Jan. 24, 2017: Trump signs an executive order that he says approves
Keystone XL, but suggests the United States intends to renegotiate
the terms of the project. He also signs an order requiring American
pipelines to be built with U.S. steel.
Nov. 9, 2018: A U.S. federal judge blocks the pipeline’s
construction to allow more time to study the potential environmental
impact.
March 29, 2019: Trump issues a new presidential permit in an effort
to speed up development of the pipeline
May 3, 2019: TransCanada changes its name to TC Energy.
March 31, 2020: Alberta agrees to invest $1.5 billion in Keystone
XL, followed by a $6 billion loan guarantee in 2021.
April 7, 2020: Construction begins, despite calls from Indigenous
groups and environmentalists to pause their efforts.
May 18, 2020: Joe Biden, then the presumptive Democratic
presidential nominee, vows to scrap Keystone XL if elected, but
doesn’t set out a timeline for doing so.
Nov. 3, 2020: Biden is elected president.
Jan. 17, 2021: TC Energy announces a plan for Keystone XL to achieve
net-zero emissions.
Jan. 20, 2021: Biden revokes Keystone XL’s presidential permit on
his first day in office, hours after TC Energy said it would halt
work on the project.
May 7, 2021: In reporting quarterly earnings results, TC Energy says
it is taking a $2.2-billion writedown on the cancelled project.
Shippers including Cenovus Energy Inc., Suncor Energy Inc. and
Imperial Oil Ltd. had previously reported non-cash writedowns on
earnings related to their commitments to Keystone XL.
June 9, 2021: TC Energy announces termination of the project.
Groups including Friends of the Earth and the Natural Resources Defense are in opposition of this project.
Credit: Trans Canada, U.S. Department of State, Canadian Broadcast Company |
