Alberta leader urges Biden to hear case for Keystone XL

Alberta leader urges Biden to hear case for Keystone XL

SeattlePI.com

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TORONTO (AP) — The premier of Canada’s oil-rich province of Alberta wants President-elect Joe Biden to give the Canadian government a chance to make the case for the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline to be built.

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said Monday he will seek legal damages if reports are true that Biden plans to scrap the pipeline on his first day as U.S. president. Biden’s plan is outlined in transition documents seen by Canadian media outlets.

“We hope President-elect Biden will show respect for Canada and will sit down and at the very least talk to us,” Kenney said.

The 1,700-mile (2,735-kilometer) pipeline would carry roughly 800,000 barrels of oil a day from Alberta to the Texas Gulf Coast, passing through Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma.

First proposed in 2008, the pipeline has become emblematic of the tensions between economic development and curbing the fossil fuel emissions that are causing climate change. The Obama administration rejected it, but President Donald Trump revived it and has been a strong supporter. Construction already started.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau raised Keystone XL as a top priority when he spoke with President-elect Biden in a phone call in November. The project is meant to expand critical oil exports for Canada, which has the third-largest oil reserves in the world.

Trudeau and Biden are close and largely politically aligned, but the pipeline is expected to be early irritant as Biden has said he would cancel it.

“This is about the Canada-U.S. relationship,” said Kenney, whose province has a financial stake in the pipeline.

After reports surfaced that it would be canceled on the first day of Biden’s term, Calgary, Alberta-based TC Energy Corp. announced late Sunday it would spent...

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