Statement from Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall:
Today's announcement is very disappointing, not only for our energy sector but also for the signal it sends about Canada-US relations. Given the facts of the project as canvassed by the US State Department, this decision is more about US domestic politics than it is about good environmental policy.
The fact is pipelines are safer - far safer than other means of transporting oil, like rail. There are currently more than 66,000 miles of oil pipeline in the US with more than 12,000 miles - the equivalent of 10 Keystone XLs - built since 2010. Oil will move with or without pipelines. Consider the facts.
In 2008, there were 9,500 rail carloads of oil shipped in the US. By 2014, that number had jumped to 493,000 - more than 50 times as many. The US State Department even agrees that greenhouse gas emissions from rail are much higher than emissions from pipeline. Yet on Keystone XL, the US administration chose to put political interests ahead of the economic and environmental benefits that Keystone XL would provide and ahead of its relationship with its most important trading partner, Canada.
This decision makes approval of Energy East even more crucial and it will be one of Saskatchewan's top priorities as we begin our work with the new federal government.
