Jurisdiction over projects that cross U.S. borders
Keystone XL has faced delays in the U.S. amid opposition from landowners and environmental groups seeking to block oil-sands development. The U.S. State Department, which has jurisdiction over projects that cross U.S. borders, has put off a decision while a Nebraska court weighs whether a state regulator should review the pipeline.
Prentice, who became Alberta premier in September after winning a vote to lead the ruling Progressive Conservatives, plans to travel to the U.S. to meet with legislators in the next two months. A decision on Keystone XL appears to be imminent, he said.
A ruling on the line may come soon, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said at a news conference in Ottawa last week with Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird.
Producers such as Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Cenovus Energy Inc. (CVE) are counting on pipelines including Keystone XL to ease a transportation bottleneck that has suppressed the price of Canada’s heavy crude and cost the economy as much as C$50 million a day in recent years, according to the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.