(task) Company behind Keystone asks U.S. to halt review - CNNPolitics.com

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> http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/02/politics/transcanada-keystone-obama/ <http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/02/politics/transcanada-keystone-obama/>
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> Company behind Keystone asks U.S. to halt review
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> Washington (CNN)The Canadian firm proposing the massive Keystone XL pipeline said Monday it was asking the U.S. State Department to halt its review of the project as it waits out a separate process at the state level.
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> If the State Department complies, it could push the final decision on Keystone past 2016 -- meaning it would be passed from President Barack Obama, who's widely expected to reject the project -- to his successor.
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> TransCanada wrote in a statement it would be "appropriate" for Secretary of State John Kerry to suspend the current review of the Keystone proposal as Nebraska's public service commission deliberates over the pipeline's route.
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> The company said it could take up to 12 months for the Nebraska process to be completed, adding further delay to an approval process that's already taken seven years.
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> Ahead of TransCanada's announcement, the White House said Monday it expected Obama to make a final determination on Keystone before he leaves office, though wouldn't specify whether that meant this year or next.
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> Most pro-Keystone advocates have largely resigned themselves to a rejection from the White House, given Obama's past statements casting skepticism that the project would create enough jobs to outweigh the potential environmental risks.
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> Proponents say the pipeline, which would carry oil from the tar sands of Alberta to the Gulf of Mexico, would advance energy independence in North America.
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> But environmentalists say the risks of leaks and spills are too great, and say the project would only deepen dependence on fossil fuels.
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> After TransCanada's statement, anti-Keystone groups cast the decision as a last-ditch ploy to avoid what appears would be an unfavorable decision on the pipeline.
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> "After nearly seven years of trying to force the President's hand to approve the Keystone XL pipeline, TransCanada is now desperately trying to block President Obama from even making a decision at all," Elijah Zarlin, director of the CREDO Climate Campaigns, said in a statement. "This is yet another victory for the overwhelming grassroots opposition along the route and across the country."