Bloomberg Businessweek February 8, 2021TC Energy tried to tamp down opposition to the 29
project by signing labor agreements with unions in
the U.S., pledging to power the pipeline with 100%
renewable energy and offering to sell a C$1 billion
stake in the line to a coalition of Canadian indig-
enous communities. But those measures weren’t
enough. “It’s devastating,” says Travis Meguinis,
chief executive officer of Natural Law Energy Inc.,
an indigenous-owned company that sought to invest
in the pipeline. “The communities were looking for
hundreds of millions of dollars coming in.”
Within a day of Biden’s decision, TC Energy
announced that work on the pipeline had been sus-
pended and that 1,000 people would be let go on
both sides of the border. But in Oyen, hope remains
that the project can be revived. Workers staying in
a local camp next to the town were boarding buses
to head to a work site on the morning of Jan. 23. Site
Resource Group, a subcontractor that employs as
many as 60 people to perform Covid disinfec-
tion and other site management work for the proj-
ect, is conducting “business as usual,” says Senior
Vice President Roger Didychuck. The company
hasn’t reduced its workforce as it waits for instruc-
tions, he says. “We are just working as normal.”
Biden’s announcement was a “shock,” he says.
“We thought there would be some negotiation, and
maybe there still is.”
Keystone XL has died before only to be
revived. President Barack Obama rejected a
permitapplicationin2015,butthatdecisionwas
reversedmorethana yearlaterwhenthemore
fossil-fuel-friendlyDonaldTrumpassumedthe
presidency.ConstructionworkbeganinCanada
lastspring,jump-startedbyC$1.5billionininvest-
mentfromAlberta’sgovernment.
AlbertaPremierJasonKenneycalledBiden’s
decisionan“insult”anddemandedthatCanadian
PrimeMinisterJustinTrudeauretaliatewithtrade
sanctionsif theU.S.doesn’tnegotiate.Trudeau,
eagerto reset relationswiththeU.S. aftera
strainedrelationshipwithTrump,expressed“dis-
appointment”butsaidlittlemore.Theprovince
iscontemplatinglegalaction,Kenneysaidata
pressconference.
Thistime,thecancellationcouldbethefinal
blow.Oilpipelinesfaceincreasedoppositionfrom
environmentalistsandthecommunitiestheypass
through.EnergyTransferLP’sinfamousDakota
Accesspipeline,whichbecameoperationalin
2017 followinga monthslongstandoffwithindig-
enousgroups,is atriskofgettingshutdownasa
resultofa recentU.S.courtdecision.Michiganis
tryingtoshutEnbridgeInc.’sLine5,claimingits
passageundertheStraitsofMackinacthreatens
theGreatLakes.
Investorsarealsoshunningtheoilsandsasthey
reducesupportforthedirtiestformsoffossilfuel.In
thelatestsuchmove,theNewYorkStateCommon
RetirementFundputeightCanadianoilsandscom-
paniesonnoticetoeithertransitionawayfrom
hydrocarbonsorfaceinvestmentrestrictions.
Still,Canada’soilproducershavereasonfor
optimism.Constructionontwootherpipelines
is underway,andthey’rescheduledtoenterser-
viceinthenexttwoyears.Combined,they’dpro-
videmorethanenoughexportcapacityforoil
sandsproducers,withsomeroomtoaccommo-
dateincreasedproductionvolumesoverthecom-
ingdecade.
PipelineprojectshavecometoOyenbefore,
includingthefirstKeystonepipeline,whichwas
putintoservicein2010.Basedonthatexperience,
sometownspeoplehadalreadyexpectedtheeco-
nomicstimulustobefleeting.“It’snotgoingtoadd
long-termjobs,justa littlebump,”saysRichard
Woods,theownerofthelocalAceHardwarestore.
Hesayshewasgettingasmanyas 120 customers
a daycomingintobuyeverythingfromtoolsto
phonechargerslastyear,comparedwithabout 100
duringnormaltimes.“Idon’tthinkthetownhas
changed.”�RobertTuttle,withKevinOrlandTHE BOTTOM LINE The economic stimulus provided by the
$8 billion Keystone XL pipeline may prove more fleeting than
anticipated if the project cannot be revived.◀ Oyen’s Main Street● Projection of number
of union jobs created
by the Keystone XL
pipeline13K