It is the story of an oil pipeline that has haunted the United States and Canada for over ten years.
Keystone XL, the project to extend the pipeline that links the two countries, may not see the light of day.
According to Canadian media, the cancellation of the building permit will be part of the measures to be announced by the new Democratic president on the day he takes office.
Why does he attach such importance to this project?
Le Figaro explains.
What is Keystone XL?
Keystone XL is an 8 billion dollar project, led by the Canadian group TC Energy.
It aims to extend the existing Keystone pipeline to speed up the flow of oil from the tar sands of Alberta, in western Canada, to refineries in the Gulf of Mexico.
The existing Keystone network connects Hardisty, Alta., To Steele City, Nebraska.
From there, one branch of the pipeline branches east to refineries and depots in Illinois, another descends further south to the Cushing oil depot, Oklahoma, and continues on to refineries in Illinois. south Texas.
The Keystone XL project concerns the section of more than 1,900 kilometers, including 1,400 in the United States, which must take a shorter route to reach Nebraska before being connected to the existing network.
With this section, scheduled for 2023, TC Energy hopes to transport the equivalent of 830,000 barrels per day.
“
The Keystone XL pipeline will connect the world's third largest oil reserve in western Canada to one of the largest concentrations of oil refineries in the world on the Gulf of Mexico coast in the United States.
It's a winning solution for both countries,
”says the Canadian group.
Keystone TC Energy route
Why is the project controversial?
Since its launch in 2008, the route of this project has worried conservationists.
Beyond the fact that the pipeline carries oil from the tar sands, the extraction of which is considered very polluting, they denounce deforestation and the risk of leaks.
The indigenous populations, whose territories are crossed by the pipeline, also rose up against the project.
In 2012, the courts agreed with them by ordering TC Energy to set up a new route avoiding nature reserves.
But opponents of the project have not given up on the legal fight.
In 2015, President Barack Obama decided to put an end to the controversy by blocking the project.
But barely came to power, in January 2017, Donald Trump relaunched it and issued the precious building permits to the Canadian group.
Despite the ongoing legal proceedings, TC Energy decides to resume construction work.
What Joe Biden is determined to put an end to, signing a new twist in this series.
Why does Joe Biden insist on Keystone XL
?
Like Barack Obama, Joe Biden has been firmly opposed to this project from the start.
"
Joe Biden stood alongside President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry to reject him in 2015, and will stand proudly in the Roosevelt Room as President and will permanently arrest him
," one warned. members of his campaign team in May 2020. The president-elect wants to make this pipeline a strong symbol of his environmental policy which is the opposite of that of Donald Trump, an assumed climate skeptic.
As a reminder, in addition to bringing the United States back into the Paris Climate Agreement, Joe Biden announced an ambitious plan of 1,700 billion dollars to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. The arguments of TC Energy, which has just announced an investment of $ 1.7 billion to make the operation of the pipeline carbon neutral by 2030, were not enough to convince.
Why is Canada concerned?
The Keystone XL project has been carried at arm's length by the Canadian government for several years.
And more specifically by the province of Alberta, plunged into an economic slump since the drop in oil prices.
The latter has invested nearly 5 billion euros of public funds on this project through an equity investment and a guaranteed loan.
Canada is highlighting economic issues, including the 60,000 direct and indirect job opportunities that the construction of the pipeline on both sides of the border would allow.
He also mentions a project essential for the energy security of North America through a reduction in dependence on Venezuela and the Middle East.
The premier of Alberta, Jason Kenney, therefore said in a tweet, "
extremely concerned
" by the choices of Joe Biden.
For his part, the leader of the Conservative Party, Erin O'Toole, estimated in a statement that such a decision would "
devastate thousands of Canadian families already hard hit by the economic crisis
."
He called on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to "
communicate immediately with the new US administration to prevent this from happening
" and to "
stand up for workers across Canada
".