{"id":3598,"date":"2016-02-29T09:16:55","date_gmt":"2016-02-29T15:16:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/itn.mattrock.ca\/?p=3598"},"modified":"2024-08-09T18:26:42","modified_gmt":"2024-08-09T16:26:42","slug":"transcanada-initiates-nafta-arbitration-against-the-united-states-over-rejection-of-keystone-xl-pipeline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/2016\/02\/29\/transcanada-initiates-nafta-arbitration-against-the-united-states-over-rejection-of-keystone-xl-pipeline\/","title":{"rendered":"TransCanada initiates NAFTA arbitration against the United States over rejection of Keystone XL pipeline"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On January 6, 2016, TransCanada initiated arbitration against the United States for \u201cunreasonably delaying approval\u201d of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline and ultimately denying, in November 2015, the company\u2019s application for the required Presidential Permit. Alleging the United States breached its non-discrimination, expropriation, and fair and equitable treatment commitments under the North American Free Trade Agreement (<span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips19'>NAFTA<\/span>), the Canadian company\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/keystone-xl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/TransCanada-Notice-of-Intent-January-6-2016.pdf\">seeks damages<\/a>\u00a0of over US$15 billion.<\/p>\n<p>The Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry crude oil from the Canadian province of Alberta to U.S. ports in the Gulf of Mexico, became a contentious political issue in the United States. Environmentalists pointed to the carbon-intensity of extracting oil from the Alberta tar sands, and argued that the pipeline would run counter to the country\u2019s efforts to reduce fossil fuel reliance. Meanwhile, Republican lawmakers and several U.S. states supported the project.<\/p>\n<p>In its Notice of Intent, TransCanada highlighted that the application review lasted significantly longer than the average for such a pipeline. The\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/the-press-office\/2015\/11\/03\/press-briefing-press-secretary-josh-earnest-1132015\">Obama Administration admitted<\/a>\u00a0the review lasted longer because the pipeline became politicized. In a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/the-press-office\/2015\/11\/06\/statement-president-keystone-xl-pipeline\">statement after rejecting the application<\/a>\u00a0on November 6, 2015, President Obama explained: \u201cAmerica is now a global leader when it comes to taking serious action to fight climate change. And frankly, approving this project would have undercut that global leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On the same day it initiated arbitration, TransCanada also filed suit against U.S. federal authorities in a U.S. court,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/keystone-xl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/TransCanada-Complaint-January-6-2016.pdf\">claiming<\/a>\u00a0Obama\u2019s rejection of the application exceeded the president\u2019s constitutional powers and lacked authorization by Congress. This U.S. court case is in addition and parallel to the NAFTA case, which is expected to take several years to resolve. The United States has never lost a challenge under NAFTA\u2019s investment chapter to date.<\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/2016\/02\/29\/news-in-brief-22\/\">Read more\u00a0News in Brief<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>*The editorial team acknowledges, with many thanks, the contribution of Jacob Greenberg, Geneva International Fellow from University of Michigan Law and an intern with <span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips32'>IISD<\/span>\u2019s Investment for Sustainable Development Program.<\/em><!--more--><\/p>\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips19','North American Free Trade Agreement'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips32','International Institute for Sustainable Development<!--more-->'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips33','Institut international du d\u00e9veloppement durable'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips34','Instituto Internacional para el Desarrollo Sostenible'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips60','Investment Treaty News'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips63','Bilateral investment treaty'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips65','East African community'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips67','Energy Charter Treaty'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips70','free trade agreement'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips76','multilateral investment court'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips100','investissement direct \u00e9tranger'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips106','asociaci\u00f3n p\u00fablica-privada'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips114','Sistema de Tribunales de Inversiones'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips116','European Commission'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips118','Union europ\u00e9enne'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips119','Uni\u00f3n Europea'); <\/script>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On January 6, 2016, TransCanada initiated arbitration against the United States for \u201cunreasonably delaying approval\u201d of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline and ultimately denying, in November 2015, the company\u2019s application for the required Presidential Permit.<script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips63','Bilateral investment treaty'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips100','investissement direct \u00e9tranger'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips106','asociaci\u00f3n p\u00fablica-privada'); <\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15869,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[397],"tags":[1941,2014,1989,1964,1959,2123,1986],"class_list":["post-3598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-canada","tag-discriminatory-treatment","tag-expropriation","tag-nafta","tag-oil-and-gas","tag-transcanada","tag-united-states-us-usa"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3598"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3598\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}