XPost: can.politics, ab.politics, bc.politics   
   XPost: ont.politics, sk.politics, man.politics   
   From: ConsRCons@govt.cda   
      
   'punt' -  a kick in which the ball is dropped and then kicked before it   
   touches the ground.   
   _________________________________________________   
      
   Bloomberg - Jan 16, 2014   
      
      
   Harper Says Keystone Consultations Signal Obama Punting   
      
      
   Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said the U.S. move to seek more   
   public comment on the Keystone XL pipeline suggests President Barack   
   Obama’s administration may further delay a decision on the $5.4-billion   
   project.   
      
   “How much consultation do you need to do?” Harper said today in an   
   interview in his Ottawa office. “It’s clearly another punt.”   
      
   The U.S. State Department will give the public a second opportunity to   
   comment on the pipeline after an environmental impact review is   
   complete, according to an agency official who spoke on condition of   
   anonymity this week. The agency hasn’t said how long it would accept   
   public comments, though adding that step could delay a decision on the   
   project that has been under U.S. review for more than five years.   
      
   “The challenges for Keystone are challenges of timing,” Harper said.   
   “The current administration continues to delay the decision.”   
      
   The deferral is threatening to increase tension between the U.S. and   
   Canada at a time when oil-sands developers are counting on new pipelines   
   to lift the price of Canadian crude.   
      
   Producers are planning to double output by 2025 and are counting on   
   Keystone XL to connect them to refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast.   
   Environmentalists are trying to block the project because they say   
   developing the oil sands would lead to more carbon emissions than other   
   fuels and contribute to global warming. Carbon-dioxide emissions since   
   the Industrial Revolution have led to a warming of the Earth’s   
   temperature in the past 50 years, according to the U.S. Global Change   
   Research Program.   
   Decision Needed   
      
   Harper’s comments come on the same day Canadian Foreign Minister John   
   Baird called on the U.S. to end the “state of limbo” over the project.   
      
   “The time for Keystone is now,” Baird said in a speech to the U.S.   
   Chamber of Commerce in Washington. “I’ll go further -- the time for a   
   decision on Keystone is now, even if it’s not the right one. We can’t   
   continue in this state of limbo.”   
      
   Asked about Baird’s comments, State Department spokeswoman Jennifer   
   Psaki said: “This is not a backroom decision made between the United   
   States and the Canadians. There’s a process that’s in place that takes   
   into account many different factors, and we’ll let that process see   
   itself through.”   
      
   The White House press office didn't immediately respond to an e-mailed   
   request for comment on Harper's remarks.   
      
   Obama rejected Calgary-based TransCanada Corp. (TRP)’s initial   
   application to build Keystone XL after officials in Nebraska said the   
   pipeline would imperil ecologically sensitive lands. TransCanada then   
   split the project in two and applied for the rerouted northern leg in   
   May 2012.   
   Greenhouse-Gas Emissions   
      
   A draft State Department report last year said Keystone XL wouldn’t   
   cause increased greenhouse gas emissions because projects in Canada’s   
   oil sands, the world’s third-largest crude reserves, would be developed   
   anyway and transported to market by other means. Obama said in June the   
   project wouldn’t be in the national interest if it worsens climate change.   
      
   Further delays will end up costing consumers, said TransCanada Chief   
   Executive Officer Russ Girling, in an interview in Calgary last month.   
   Girling told a Toronto audience yesterday that Keystone XL, among major   
   pipeline projects currently being proposed to carry crude to new   
   markets, is the furthest along with equipment on the ground along the route.   
      
   Popular support in Canada for Keystone XL has fallen, according to a   
   poll released yesterday by Nanos Research Group. Canadian support has   
   declined to 52 percent in December from 68 percent in April, while   
   opposition has increased to 40 percent from 28 percent.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)