Keystone pipeline company seeks $15 billion from Biden administration over project cancellation

President Biden’s decision to revoke the Keystone XL pipeline permit could now cause $15 billion (USD) in damages for taxpayers, as the pipeline company behind it filed a legacy NAFTA claim seeking to recover money lost because of the decision by the current administration.

It was back on June 9th that the Canadian company behind the Keystone XL pipeline project officially canceled it, following the revoking of a permit by President Biden on one of his first days in office.

This followed years of political football from the former Obama administration’s rejections of it, and then former President Trump’s approval that it could go forward.

Following up on last month’s announcement, TC Energy put out an announcement several days ago about their plans to try and recuperate money.

The company “filed a Notice of Intent to initiate a legacy North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) claim under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement to recover economic damages resulting from the revocation of the Keystone XL Project’s Presidential Permit. TC Energy will be seeking to recover more than US$15 billion in damages that it has suffered as a result of the U.S. Government’s breach of its NAFTA obligations.”

They round it off by saying their notice of intent was sent to the Office of the Legal Adviser at the US State Department.

Hundreds of job layoffs happened on the construction-side in the days following Biden’s executive order. The point of the project was being a means of transport from Alberta, Canada to Nebraska, USA for “830,000 barrels of heavy crude per day.”

Alberta for their part invested $1.5 billion into the project early last year. The estimated loss from Biden’s decision was 60,000 jobs.