(File photo/CJME news staff)

By CJME News

Saskatchewan government wading into Keystone XL fight in U.S.

May 14, 2021 | 11:56 AM

Saskatchewan is preparing to enter the fray in the United States over the Keystone XL pipeline.

In a release Friday, the provincial government said it was filing an amicus brief in support of the 21 U.S. states that are attempting to reverse the decision by President Joe Biden to cancel the pipeline.

An amicus brief is similar to filing for intervenor status in the Canadian legal system. That status allows a party to be heard on a matter before the courts.

The province plans to hire an American law firm to prepare and file the brief on its behalf. The brief, which should be filed by early June, is to lay out the implications of cancelling the Keystone XL pipeline on Saskatchewan’s economy.

“The cancellation of this pipeline will have a significant negative impact on resource sector jobs in Saskatchewan and across North America,” Gord Wyant, Saskatchewan’s justice minister and attorney general, said in the release.

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“It will ultimately make the U.S. more dependent on rail for Canadian oil imports, which costs more, emits more greenhouse gases, and presents a larger risk to the environment.”

Biden signed an executive order revoking the pipeline’s permit on Jan. 20 — his first day in office. On March 17, 21 states sued the Biden administration, claiming his actions were unconstitutional.

“While we have no desire to wade into American politics, we must take every opportunity we can to stand up for Saskatchewan’s economy,” Wyant said.

The Keystone XL pipeline was to run from Alberta through the southwest corner of Saskatchewan and then into the U.S. It would have transported 830,000 barrels of Alberta tar sands oil per day to refineries on the Gulf Coast of Texas.