Keystone XL Pipeline Proposal Still Progressing

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Keystone XL pipeline deal may not be dead after all. TransCanada Corp., author of the proposal that would link the Canadian Oil Sands with the U.S. Gulf Coast, said it's accepted a request by the Obama Administration to reapply for a permit.

Last week, President Obama rejected the 1,700-mile pipeline proposal, mainly because he said more studies must be done about the potential environmental impact of Keystone XL. A need to reroute the pipeline around sensitive environmental areas in Nebraska was one reason Obama rejected the plan.

Denying the permit will allow Obama (or whomever the future president is) to delay a decision on the revised TransCanada proposal until 2013, Bloomberg reported. John Stephenson, asset manager for First Asset Management Inc. in Toronto, told the news outlet that he believes November's presidential election is the major obstruction to getting the Keystone project approved.

"This is clearly the biggest infrastructure project on the continent, and once the election is settled, we believe it will be approved," Stephenson said.

Even if the U.S. president did not approve the revised Keystone XL application, TransCanada has another option, according to Bloomberg. The Calgary, Alberta-based company could build U.S.-only pipeline segments, which don't require federal approval, and apply later for permission to connect the pipelines to the Canadian Oil Sands.

As CSNews Online reported on Thursday, ConocoPhillips' CEO Jim Mulva and NACS were both disappointed by Obama's decision to reject the original application, which the U.S. State Department said could add 5,000 to 6,000 jobs for the two years needed to build the project.