US Denies TransCanada Request to Pause Keystone Review
The United States has formally denied in writing a TransCanada Corp request to pause the U.S. review of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, a State Department spokesman said on Wednesday.
State Department spokesman John Kirby told a briefing there was no legal requirement to pause the Keystone review based on the applicant's request.
TransCanada's request for a delay was seen by many as an attempt to avert a rejection from an increasingly environmentally focused President Barack Obama and postpone the decision until after the November 2016 presidential election.
The White House declined to comment.
(Reporting by David Alexander; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
