"U.S. Senate Proposal May Leave Canada With a Pyrrhic Victory On Keystone XL"

"Canada’s Natural Resources Minster Greg Rickford was on Capitol Hill again Tuesday pitching Keystone XL, as Senate supporters of the controversial pipeline tried to round up sufficient votes to override U.S. President Barack Obama’s threatened veto of any Congressional attempt to force approval of the project to ship Alberta oil sands crude to the Texas Gulf coast.

After meeting Senator Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat and Keystone XL backer, Mr. Rickford said: “I thanked Senator Manchin for his outspoken support of the Keystone XL pipeline project, and Canada as the partner of choice to fulfill the U.S. increasing need for crude imports.”

But Mr. Manchin’s backing comes with conditions the Canadian Conservative government and TransCanada Corp., the pipeline giant seeking permission to build the $8-billion (U.S.) project, may find tough to accept."

Paul Koring reports for the Toronto Globe and Mail January 13, 2015.