WASHINGTON _ Canadian pleas for a swift decision on
TransCanada Corp.’s (
TSX: T.TRP,
Stock Forum) Keystone XL pipeline project have certainly been heard this week in Washington. There's little evidence so far, however, that they'll sway D.C. decision-making.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says he still doesn’t have an answer on the proposed Keystone XL pipeline extension, and suggests it won’t be coming any time soon.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, Kerry said the proposed pipeline application is making its way through America’s administrative process, and that his job won’t start until he gets the environmental analysis. “I think he understands that,’’ Kerry said, referring to Baird.
There were questions at both the White House and State Department daily briefings Thursday about Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird _ a rare distinction for any Canadian politician visiting a capital whose list of priorities is inversely proportional to its attention span.
Baird has attracted U.S. media attention during his three-day visit with repeated demands for a prompt answer on the pipeline _ any answer at all. He took it a step further Thursday in a speech near the White House, insisting that even a rejection at this point would be better than further delay.
The Obama administration hardly sounded keen to be rushed.
``This is not a political decision,'' said Jennifer Psaki, responding to a question about Baird at a State Department briefing Thursday.
``This is a decision that has a legal and a policy process with many components. The stage we're at now, obviously, we're waiting to release the final (State Department) review. When that's released, obviously, there'll be a time period before a decision is made. But this is not a backroom decision made between the United States and the Canadians.
``There is a process that's in place that takes into account many different factors, and we'll let that process see itself through.''
She said she couldn't predict when a decision might happen.
Asked why the process was taking so long, Psaki said the government is bound to pore through piles of public input: ``We also received more than a million public comments. So there are a number of factors and we're going to see the process work all the way through.''
For the second day in a row, Baird said he expected the State Department review to be released soon after the president's state of the union address at the end of the month, with a final decision coming shortly thereafter.
He used a speech just across the street from the White House to convey that sense of urgency, following years of uncertainty and ``limbo.''
``If there's one message I'm going to be promoting on this trip, it's this: the time for Keystone is now. I'll go further _ the time for a decision on
Keystone is now, even if it's not the right one,'' he told a U.S. Chamber of Commerce luncheon.
``We can't continue in this state of limbo.''