TransCanada Sues Obama Admin. Over Keystone
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The Canadian company that proposed the Keystone XL oil pipeline is filing two separate lawsuits over the government's rejection of the project.
TransCanada is asking for more than $15 billion in damages in a separate legal petition, claiming that the United States had breached it obligations under the North American Free Trade Agreement.
The company says that the president's decision to kill the pipeline in November exceeded his power under the U.S Constitution.
"TransCanada has been unjustly deprived of the value of its multi-billion dollar investment by the U.S. administration's action," TransCanada said in a statement.
"As the administration candidly admitted, its decision was not based on the merits of the project. Rather, the denial was a symbolic gesture based on speculation about the (false) perceptions of the international community regarding the administration's leadership on climate change."
TransCanada's federal lawsuit does not seek monetary damages but requests a ruling that the denial of the pipeline permit was without legal merit. It also requests that the federal government officials named in the lawsuit not be allowed to enforce Obama's decision.
Those officials are Secretary of State John Kerry, U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, and Secretary of the Department of Interior Sally Jewell.
President Barack Obama says that the project would have undercut the U.S's effort to stop global climate change.
The White House and the State Department have both declined to comment on the lawsuits.
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