Despite similar delays, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has denied a request to suspend review of TransCanada Corp.’s (NYSE: TRP) Keystone XL pipeline for regulatory approval in Nebraska, officials said Nov. 5.

Kerry is said to want a quick end to the Keystone review, which has been ongoing for 2,603 days.

“We’re not required to pause it based on an applicant’s request. There’s no legal basis to do that,” John Kirby, a spokesman for the State Department, said Nov. 5.

The company had asked for a pause of the Keystone pipeline project review because the company had applied to the Nebraska Public Service Commission for approval of its preferred route in the state, TransCanada President and CEO Russ Girling said Nov. 2.

“I note that when the status of the Nebraska pipeline route was challenged last year, the State Department found it appropriate to suspend its review until that dispute was resolved,” Girling said. “We feel under the current circumstances a similar suspension would be appropriate.”

Delaying the review would have allowed for certainty in the route of the pipeline, TransCanada said in a letter to Kerry. TransCanada said it expected Nebraska’s approval process to take up to 12 months to complete.

Kirby said the department has made clear that it will continue the review, which included processing millions of public comments.

“The process is fairly mature and the secretary believes that out of respect for the process and all the input that has gone into it, that it is the most appropriate thing to keep that process in place, to continue the review,” he said.

Environmental group National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) called TransCanada’s request a clear strategy to stall rejection of the pipeline by President Barack Obama.

“This desperate move demonstrates how much the case for the troubled tar sands pipeline has deteriorated,” wrote Anthony Swift, NRDC’s Canada project director.

But the argument over delays cuts both ways.

Since its initial application, TransCanada’s $8 billion Keystone project has been under review for about 7 years.

In response to TransCanada’s request, Elizabeth Trudeau, a State Department spokeswoman, told reporters on Nov. 3 that Kerry is interested in expediency.

“The secretary’s made clear he’d like to see this done as swiftly as possible,” she said.

But a reporter said the process has taken so long, noting that Kerry was still a U.S. Senator when the review began.

“A child born when this process began would be in second grade now,” the reporter said. “I don’t understand. You say he wants it done as swiftly as possible. They’re asking for it to stop. And I don’t—I just don’t get it. Are you obliged to continue the review even if they ask for a pause?”

Trudeau responded that the process would not pause.

In September, a Harris Poll conducted for the American Petroleum Institute (API) found a majority of U.S. voters across the political spectrum “agreed that the years of Keystone XL delay have hurt our energy security and economy.”

Cindy Schild, API’s downstream operations senior manager, said 67% American voters agreed that failure to act on the Keystone permit has “hurt our economy and energy security.”

Further:

  • 68% support building the project;
  • 66% percent are more likely to support a candidate who supports approving Keystone; and
  • Delays have put 42,000 jobs and $2 billion in wages out of reach.

The Keystone pipeline would carry U.S. Bakken crude and Canadian oil to U.S. refineries, pushing out millions of barrels of foreign oil imported daily.

According to the State Department, the project would create over 40,000 jobs and inject millions of dollars of tax revenue into communities along the pipeline’s route.

Contact the author, Darren Barbee, at dbarbee@hartenergy.com.