The government had expected Trump to act fast and approve the pipeline project early in his term, but sources told\u00a0CBC News they\u00a0were not given advanced notice by the president’s team that the decision would be coming today.<\/p>\n
Trump’s picks of Rick Perry to lead the department of energy and Ryan Zinke, the interior secretary-designate,\u00a0have\u00a0not yet been confirmed\u00a0by the Senate, leaving a leadership gap in the two departments tasked with overseeing the development of natural resources and energy infrastructure.<\/p>\n
‘Renegotiation of terms’<\/h2>\n
The Liberals have long supported the $8-billion dollar project, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he was “disappointed” after former president Barack Obama\u00a0rejected the pipeline in 2015<\/a> after a nearly decade-long review process.<\/p>\n The project has been a thorn in the side of the Canada-U.S. relationship, and former prime minister Stephen Harper was openly critical of the former Democratic president for delaying construction. Harper predicted the pipeline would be built “with or without Obama,” a forecast that was borne out Tuesday.<\/p>\n Calgary’s mayor, Naheed Nenshi, who met with the prime minister and his cabinet to discuss the ailing Alberta economy, said he was happy to hear of Trump’s approval.<\/p>\n “I fundamentally believe\u00a0the decision to deny that pipeline was one the biggest\u00a0domestic\u00a0policy errors of the previous administration,” he said. “It is important for Canadian energy to have access to global markets; it’s important for the prosperity of our nation for that to happen.”<\/p>\n However, Trump said Tuesday that the pipeline would still be\u00a0subject to a “renegotiation of terms by us.”<\/p>\n “We are going to renegotiate some of the terms and, if they’d like, we’ll see if we can get that pipeline built. A lot of jobs,\u00a028,000 jobs. Great construction jobs,” he said, but did not specify what more he would like to extract from the proponent before construction can proceed.<\/p>\n President Donald Trump shows his signature on an executive order on the Keystone XL pipeline, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2017, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. (Evan Vucci\/AP Photo)<\/p>\n Although, Trump has said he will push a “Buy American” agenda and will demand pipeline companies source steel used during construction from American manufacturers.<\/p>\n “We will build our own pipes, like we used to in the old days,” Trump said.<\/p>\n If built, the\u00a0project will be a shot in the arm for Alberta’s oil patch as the project will carry\u00a0830,000\u00a0barrels of oil per day into the United States when fully operational. The industry has long said it needs more pipeline capacity to carry its product to market.<\/p>\n Supply from Western Canada will grow to 5.5 million barrels of oil a day by 2030, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers has\u00a0forecasted, while current pipelines can only carry four\u00a0million barrels.<\/p>\n The Liberal government signed off on Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline<\/a>, and Enbridge’s Line 3 last November, which, combined, will add capacity to transport 1.3 million more barrels of oil a day.<\/p>\n All told, Canada’s oil and gas producers could be flush with pipeline space if all of these projects are constructed, which could spell bad news for another much-delayed TransCanada\u00a0project, Energy East.<\/p>\n “This is a decision that TransCanada will have to make … and the proponent’s own sense of where the markets are,” Carr said. “The job of the government of Canada is to make sure that the regulatory system is credible,\u00a0and that’s why we made fresh appointments to the National Energy Board<\/a>.”<\/p>\n![\"Trump\"](\"http:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/RSSPoster_PRO\/cache\/89efe_trump.jpg\")
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