The Patriot Post® · TransCanada Sues Over Keystone Politics

Barack Obama’s November Keystone rejection was a decision marred with corruption, deceit and outright lies. Economically — and, yes, even environmentally — there simply was no good reason to bury the project. Lo and behold, just as Keystone advocates predicted, the oil pipeline that could be helping to propel the U.S. economy is now closer to heading overseas.

But TransCanada isn’t going to let the Obama administration off the hook for its gerrymandering that cost the company considerable monetary losses. On Friday, the company launched a $15 billion lawsuit in which the U.S. is charged with violating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). TransCanada alleges, “None of [the] technical analysis or legal wrangling was material to the administration’s final decision. Instead, the rejection was symbolic and based merely on the desire to make the U.S. appear strong on climate change, even though the State Department had itself concluded that denial would have no significant impact on the environment.”

The company is absolutely right, and the trial should be cut and dried. As Bloomberg reported, TransCanada contends it “had every reason to believe it would win approval to build Keystone XL.” Unfortunately, politics — namely, the Paris Climate Accord that passed in December — got in the way.

Meanwhile, the Democrat Party is restructuring its platform to include a formal provision that facilitates the Obama administration’s witch hunt against skeptics of man-made “climate change.” Also on Friday, a committee agreed to language that states, “Democrats … respectfully request the Department of Justice investigate allegations of corporate fraud on the part of fossil fuel companies accused of misleading shareholders and the public on the scientific reality of climate change.” They may want to rethink that position.

Imagine how much progress America could make if Democrats spent time debating things that actually matter (like how to systematically dismantle Islamic militants). Good for TransCanada for taking them to task.