Under NAFTA, TransCanada Is Seeking $15B for Canceled Keystone Pipeline Laura Barron-Lopez - The Huffington Post
go to original January 8, 2016

A climate control activist celebrated after President Obama announced that he would reject the Keystone oil pipeline in November. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

Thought the Keystone XL pipeline was dead? Think again.

Developer TransCanada has filed two separate legal challenges trying to make the U.S. pay for its rejection of the oil pipeline and to secure a reversal of that decision.

President Barack Obama denied the permit for the pipeline, which would have run from the oil sands of Alberta, Canada, down to refineries at the Gulf of Mexico, in November, ending a tense seven-year review of the project.

This week, TransCanada said it is suing the Obama administration in Houston federal court on the grounds that the president violated his constitutional authority in denying the permit.

...TransCanada isn't stopping there: It's also filing a notice of intent to challenge the rejection under the North American Free Trade Agreement. The company will have to wait six months from Obama's official denial before asking for arbitration under NAFTA. In that effort, TransCanada is seeking $15 billion in monetary damages for what it is calling an "arbitrary and unjustified" violation of NAFTA. U.S. taxpayers would be responsible for paying any damages awarded.

Read the rest at The Huffington Post

Related: Pacific Trade Deal Opponents Say Keystone Case Shows Pact’s Risk (American Journal of Transportation)

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