TransCanada, the company behind the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, said Wednesday it will try again to build the pipeline under a Donald Trump presidency, who will likely give it the green light.
“We are evaluating ways to engage the new administrations on the benefits, the jobs and the tax revenues this project brings to the table,” wrote TransCanada spokesperson Mark Cooper in an email, adding that the company “remains fully committed to building Keystone XL.”
The Keystone XL was designed to link existing pipeline networks in Canada and the United States to bring crude from Alberta and North Dakota to refineries in Illinois and, eventually, the Gulf of Mexico coast.
Obama rejected the cross-border crude oil pipeline last November, seven years after it was first proposed, saying it would not make a meaningful long-term contribution to the U.S. economy.
Trump said he would “absolutely approve it, 100 percent,” and TransCanada saw shares rise about 4 percent Wednesday after his win.
During his electoral campaign, Trump repeated he is a firm supporter of fracking as a strategy to end dependence on imported oil.
According to industry magazine Oilprice.com, which provided energy policy profiles for the top presidential candidate, “Should Trump win the nomination and then the election, it is likely that oil and natural gas companies would get a big boost.”
TransCanada is suing the United States in federal court in a separate legal action, seeking to reverse the pipeline’s rejection.