TransCanada Corp sued the U.S. government for $15 billion on Wednesday to reverse President Barack Obama's rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline, alleging that he exceeded the powers the U.S. Consitution grants him.
Obama rejected the crude oil pipeline late last year, seven years after it was proposed, reported Channel NewsAsia. At the time, he said the creation of the pipeline, which would have linked Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, would be detrimental to the environment and wasn't the "silver bullet for the economy" that many had promised.
In response, TransCanada filed a lawsuit in a federal court in Houston, calling Obama's rejection of the pipeline unconstitutional. The lawsuit doesn't seek legal damages but wants to have the permit denial invalidated and requests that restricts any future president from blocking the pipeline's construction.
In a separate action under the North American Free Trade Agreement, the company called the denial "arbitrary and unjustified" saying it "had had every reason to expect its application would be granted" and feels discriminated against since three other pipeline companies had been granted permits for similar cross-border pipelines, according to Reuters.
"We have undertaken a careful evaluation of the Administration's action as it relates to NAFTA and believe there has been a clear violation of NAFTA in these circumstances," TransCanada said.
It argues that the Obama administration's decision to reject the proposal was politically driven, adding that the administration had concluded on six occasions that the pipeline wouldn't have a significant impact on climate change.
"The delay and the ultimate decision to deny the permit were politically driven, directly contrary to the findings of the administration's own studies, and not based on the merits of Keystone's application," the company said in a statement, according to AFP.
The U.S. State Department declined to comment on the lawsuits, citing its policy on pending litigation.
"We have just seen the announcement. We do not comment on pending litigation," it said.
Environmental groups blasted TransCanada for filing the lawsuits, saying it "ought to be ashamed" for doing so.
"Keystone XL is dead and nothing about this legal maneuvering changes that," Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune said in a statement. "TransCanada ought to be ashamed of trying to extract billions in US taxpayer dollars to boost its profits after being stopped in its tracks from building a dirty, dangerous tar sands pipeline in our backyards."
