Trump doubles down on Keystone pipeline with new permit

Bloomberg

President Donald Trump issued a new permit for TransCanada Corp’s controversial Keystone XL pipeline, circumventing a court ruling that blocked a previous authorisation by his State
Department.
The move aims to undercut legal challenges to the $8 billion project, including a November ruling by a Montana-based district judge that faulted the State Department’s previous environmental analysis, according to a person familiar with the matter. It could pave the way for beginning some preliminary work, according to Clearview Energy Partners.
“It looks like the intent is to wipe the slate clean and replace the previous presidential permit with this new one,” Height Securities LLC analyst Katie Bays said. Keystone XL doesn’t need the changes to the supplemental environmental impact statement “because Trump invalidated that whole process and issued this new president permit.”
The pipeline, proposed more than a decade ago, would carry crude from Canada’s oil sands to the US Midwest. Trump’s State Department approved the project in 2017 after ex-President Obama denied TransCanada a permit on grounds its oil would contribute to global warning.
It’s good news for Canada’s energy producers after delays to planned expansions of the Trans Mountain pipeline and Enbridge Inc’s Line 3. Pipeline developers are generally required to receive presidential permits for border-crossing facilities.