Posted on 03/03/2017 9:50:36 PM PST by 198ml
President Trump’s pledge that new pipeline projects will use “American steel” will not apply to the Keystone XL project, according to media reports, directly contradicting the president’s own words last week. Politico reported late Thursday night that a White House spokeswoman explained that the project, which has been in the works for the past decade, does not count as a “new” or “retrofitted” pipeline, and therefore is not subject to Mr. Trump’s made-in-America requirement. Comments from TransCanada, the company proposing the project, on Friday morning seem to confirm the firm will not be forced to use all U.S. steel.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Fine. Trump’s a builder. Build it.
Here are excepts from a much better article in the Globe and Mail that clarifies the situation. In fact, half of the pipe which has already been purchased by Transcanada for this job was made in the USA.
----- Avoiding a “Buy American” provision championed by Mr. Trump removes a major impediment to TransCanada proceeding with the $8-billion (U.S.) project that was rejected by the Obama administration in 2015 amid widespread opposition by environmentalists. TransCanada had already bought most of the pipe.
With an executive order in January, Mr. Trump set the wheels in motion for the Calgary-based company to resurrect the project. On the same day, he instructed his Commerce Department to devise a plan to ensure pipeline companies use U.S. steel in new, expanded or retrofitted pipelines “to the maximum extent possible.”
“It’s specific to new pipelines or those that are being repaired,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters on Air Force One on Friday. “Since this one is already currently under construction, the steel is already literally sitting there, it’s hard to go back. Everything moving forward would fall under that executive order.”
(snip) TransCanada resubmitted its application in late January, and this week suspended a $15-billion challenge to Mr. Obama’s rejection under the North American free-trade agreement. The different timings of Mr. Trump’s Keystone XL revival and Buy American memoranda mean the project could be approved before the steel policy comes into force, saiThe different timings of Mr. Trump’s Keystone XL revival and Buy American memoranda mean the project could be approved before the steel policy comes into force, said Kortni Hadley, a lawyer in the corporate section of Carter Ledyard & Milburn LLP, a New York firm that deals in U.S.-Canada issues. The State Department must make a decision on the pipeline within 60 days of the application, while the Commerce Department has 180 days to formulate the pipeline steel policy.
“So there’s not actually a Buy American rule in place at this point in which Keystone would be subject to,” Ms. Hadley said.
TransCanada would not comment directly on the Buy American issue, or whether it has been told that it is exempt. However, spokesman Terry Cunha pointed out that half the pipe the company purchased in 2012 for Keystone XL was manufactured in the United States, and that 75 per cent originated in North America.
Given that a good portion of the construction is in Canada, either making allowances for Canadian steel or noting that the requirement does not apply to the portion built outside of the U.S. would seem reaonable.
Steel is a generic term for a whole family of metals that contain iron. I don’t know what the requirements are for a pipeline but it may very well be that a steel with the required tensile strength and welding characteristics is not available in the US.
In other words the pipe has already been bought.
Indeed. It’s disturbing how a simple one line explanation can be twisted into a feverish lefty narrative.
“Since this one is already currently under construction, the steel is already literally sitting there, it’s hard to go back.”
And if the pipe isn’t sitting there right now, the pipeline company entered into contracts with the suppliers long ago. Off course the liberal media things it is terrible that Trump doesn’t make a private firm break it’s legal contract with another firm.
“Hey - isn’t that what government is supposed to do? I mean if we can make a baker bake a cake for a gay couple at gunpoint we sure should be able to make companies buy American steel!?”
And I’m guessing that the “American steel” requirement is more of an incentive program? I can see for a Federal project that they can have a line item in there specifying that only American Steel be used - but how can they force a private pipeline company to do it? I suppose they could pose it in the form of quality and safety - any steel used has to be certified as per some U.S. agency or something. Or if it is running on an easement through federal land they could specify it.
Exactly. If the pipe has already been made and paid for; it’s not like they can just throw it away and make new pipe made in the USA without losing a lot of money. Then what do they do with all the pipe already made. Makes no sense. Going forward with new pipe purchases, if there is any, sure, but otherwise no.
This is a result of the Obama Administration bungling.
So, this will be the headline of the day and probably the whole weekend. Trump lied. Dems demand an investigation. Pelosi, Schumer, McCain and Miss Lindsay demand he resign.
Here's what he said: We have cleared the way for the construction of the Keystone and Dakota Access Pipelines — thereby creating tens of thousands of jobs — and I’ve issued a new directive that new American pipelines be made with American steel.
My conclusion was since this wasn't already built, it would fall under the directive. In other words, he wasn't clear.
The “Made in America” requirements were well-intentioned but kind of silly to begin with. They only applied to international projects that require presidential approval, so you ended up with a domestic steel requirement that didn’t even apply to a domestic pipeline that could be thousands of miles long.
A large portion of it yes.
Not only bought but there is a lot of pipe already staged along the route. It has been staged for a couple years here in North Dakota.
Just get it built. This thing does no one any good until its in the ground. We need to get on with it.
Every day we spend talking about it is another day we bring oil in from overseas. Every barrel of oil this pipeline carries is a barrel of oil we aren’t bringing in by ship from across the horizon.
Many US steel mills take in ore and scrap from overseas or Canada. The pipe is sill American...
That’s not what he said.
He said they would use the already purchased stuff first and they’d only need new American pipe if they ran out before the job was done.
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