The decision took longer than the reigns of some U.S. presidents and Canadian prime ministers. Trying to find consolation in the Keystone XL pipeline decision is like searching for polar bears in Windsor, Ontario.
Since President Barack Obama took his sweet time with the decision, we took our time to respond, but mostly because we were immersed in films in Windsor.
Here are the losers and big losers in this decision.
TransCanada The oil company had a problematic plan and didn't care about aquifers in Nebraska. When the company was asked about where the oil was going once it reached the Gulf of Mexico, the implication was that even the U.S. wasn't getting that oil. The U.S. would take a giant risk with little reward. A no-brainer to say no, yet … .
Barack Obama The southern half of the pipeline was approved and is being built. The northern half waited through several U.S. elections and even the 2015 Canada federal election. The U.S. president didn't benefit from waiting in terms of gaining more votes for House members or senators. In fact, the Senate flipped to the GOP side. The fact that the timing was literally 2 days after Justin Trudeau took office means Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry have known for some time.
Stephen Harper The former Canadian prime minister puts his eggs in the Keystone XL pipeline basket, but there weren't that many eggs. Harper kept pushing jobs, even though a refinery would have produced more Canadian jobs than the pipeline would have provided. Harper was most concerned about TransCanada than any other element in the story and ended up with a bunch of broken eggs as a result.
Alberta This applies primarily to the long-time Conservative government in the province. Building a refinery would have produced good jobs but that strategy was never pushed. No one really explained why the bitumen had to be refined in Texas. If the pipeline was so important, the idea of a refinery would have taken some of the wind from the sails of the protesters.
Texas The Lone Star state would have received good paying jobs from the Keystone XL pipeline. If the oil would have left for other ports, the state would have benefited from that business, too. The fact that the southern half of the pipeline exists means Texas could eventually gain some advantage.
Justin Trudeau The new Canadian prime minister didn't really lose much, especially in the long term. Obama could have announced the decision in between the election and Trudeau taking office. When one of the knocks against you is being young and inexperienced, being schooled 2 days in makes you look bad.
Keystone protesters The victory is legitimate but short-term. Oil will still come from Canada into the United States. Unfortunately for those in the States, that will be unrefined bitumen either by rail or pipeline. Refined oil would do plenty of damage in a spill but the unrefined bitumen would do so much more damage. That battle remains to be fought.
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Looking for a winner? How about our should-be-award-winning coverage. We kept mentioning the southern half of the pipeline, a fact that most of the coverage elsewhere completely ignored. Our coverage had a foot in both countries, one place to truly hear both sides of the issue.
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