One of the biggest barriers to investment in infrastructure all across the United States is the long, costly, and unpredictable permitting process. If you have any doubts, just consider the Keystone XL pipeline extension. Proposed by TransCanada in 2008, approved by the Canadian government and the State of South Dakota in 2010, it floundered around in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Interior Department, and State Department for another five years before President Barack Obama … [Read more...]
A Keystone of Obama’s Green Legacy Faces Serious Legal Challenge
Late last year, after years and years of dilly-dallying, President Obama nixed the planned Keystone XL pipeline extension, though he'd admitted that "This pipeline would neither be a silver bullet for the economy, as was promised by some, nor the express lane to climate disaster proclaimed by others." Indeed, the U.S. State Department and EPA had found no significant environmental threats in the planned pipeline, which would have created thousands of short-term and some long-term jobs in … [Read more...]
