The surprise request suggests that the company feared that President Obama was about to reject the pipeline—and that, in any case, low oil prices had seriously undermined the project.
It's also the latest sign that fundamental changes confront the fossil fuel industry under the twin influences of shifting markets and a global transition away from high-carbon fuels, as climate negotiations reach a climax in Paris next month. Tar sands are among the dirtiest of fossil fuels.
TransCanada's move both startled and elated the pipeline's opponents, who have waged an unremitting campaign against the project for years. They say it would imperil sensitive ecosystems and lock in unacceptable greenhouse gas emissions for decades to come.
The company said a delay makes sense because the project remains under review in Nebraska. That was the birthplace of grassroots opposition that turned the project into a litmus test of Obama's commitment to fighting climate change.
"On October 5, TransCanada filed an application with the Nebraska Public Service Commission for approval of its preferred route in Nebraska," the company explained in its letter to Secretary of State John Kerry. "We have taken this action in light of litigation in Nebraska which called into question the constitutionality of the statute under which Governor Heineman had approved the route in 2013. It is anticipated that the route approvel process before the Public Service Commission will take seven to twelve months to complete."
Environmental advocacy groups called TransCanada's request for a delay a thinly disguised ploy to put the decision off until the next administration, in hopes that a Republican would win the White House. All the Democratic candidates, most recently Hillary Clinton, have come out against the pipeline.
Read more at Expecting Rejection, TransCanada Instead Wants Keystone XL Review Suspended
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