EDMONTON – Alberta Premier Rachel Notley says she welcomes approval of the Keystone XL project, but says her focus remains on pipelines to ports in Canada.
Notley says much of Keystone is out of Canada’s hands, given the pipeline runs through the United States to ports and refineries in Texas.
She also notes the TransCanada Corp. (TSX:TRP) line is far from Alberta’s priority export market in Asia.
U.S. President Donald Trump has signed an executive order reviving the controversial pipeline, which would take Alberta crude to the Gulf Coast.
Former U.S. president Barack Obama rejected Keystone, in part over environmental concerns.
Notley has been criticized for not promoting Keystone more, but she says while she has not been against the project, her focus has been on refining and promoting markets in Canada.
Trump’s government has said he will look at renegotiating the terms of the deal, including using U.S. steel in construction.
Notley said she will keep a close eye on that.
“It comes down to what is meant by renegotiating those terms,” said Notley.
“We need to look into that and monitor that very closely, and we will continue to do so on behalf of Alberta industry and Alberta interests.”