My Authors
Read all threads
Just 50 days ago, Premier Jason Kenney made a $7.5B financial commitment to TC Energy for building the KXL pipeline. In his words, it was a "bold move".

It was likely the single biggest financial decision ever made on behalf of Alberta's taxpayers. /THREAD

#AbLeg #KeystoneXL
And in another bold move, Premier Kenney refused to divulge the details of the deal.

As Albertans know well, the economics work for major pipeline linking our energy sector to the world. Once built, these projects have proven to be excellent investments. 2/

#AbLeg #KeystoneXL
Unfortunately, what has plagued these projects hasn't been economics, but political risk. It was true for TMX and for KXL.

The decision to take a public ownership in TMX reduced the single biggest barrier to that project moving forward: political risk. 3/

#AbLeg #KeystoneXL
We can see the results in TMX case, with pipe going in the ground as we speak.

Unfortunately, Premier Kenney's decision for Alberta to take a public ownership stake in KXL did nothing to mitigate the political risk of this project. 4/

#AbLeg #KeystoneXL
And Keystone is a project whose future rests entirely in the realm American presidential politics.

President Obama vetoed the project (Joe Biden supported that decision then) and President Trump revived it, with a Presidential Permit. 5/

#AbLeg #KeystoneXL
Critically, this permit is revocable at any point by the President, and it appears that the permittee (TC Energy and Alberta taxpayers) have no right to sue for damages. 6/

#AbLeg #KeystoneXL
With the US Presidential election just six months away, we heard the least surprising announcement of this political cycle: the presumptive Democratic nominee, former VP Joe Biden, would again veto the KXL project and rescind the Presidential Permit. 7/

#AbLeg #KeystoneXL
Joe Biden has a long history of opposing this project, and he stood shoulder to shoulder with President Obama when KXL was first derailed back in early 2015. 8/

#AbLeg #KeystoneXL
What has been most surprising is that our Premier seemed genuinely caught off guard that Joe Biden would continue to oppose the project. It appears that he hadn't considered the single biggest risk to the project when he committed $7B to socialize it. 9/

#AbLeg #KeystoneXL
While the vast majority of Albertans support the KXL project in principle, they've learned some hard lessons on pipeline projects in general. Key lesson No. 1: The devil is in the details. 10/

#AbLeg #KeystoneXL
Albertans likely won't truly know the fate of the KXL project for at least a year, as the decision is entirely out of our control. Elections and horse-trading in Washington will likely rule the day. 11/

#AbLeg #KeystoneXL
Albertans, as part equity owners, deserve to know the details on the deal made behind closed doors. You simply can't put $7.5B of Alberta's money at risk, and then refuse to disclose the terms of the deal. This is a betrayal of our democratic traditions. 12/

#AbLeg #KeystoneXL
When the legislature resumes sitting, the Official Opposition will again be calling on Premier Kenney to release the details on his deal. It is our belief that you, the public, deserve to know the details, so you can judge this decision for yourself. /END

#AbLeg #KeystoneXL
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh.

Enjoying this thread?

Keep Current with Irfan Sabir

Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

Twitter may remove this content at anytime, convert it as a PDF, save and print for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video

1) Follow Thread Reader App on Twitter so you can easily mention us!

2) Go to a Twitter thread (series of Tweets by the same owner) and mention us with a keyword "unroll" @threadreaderapp unroll

You can practice here first or read more on our help page!

Follow Us on Twitter!

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3.00/month or $30.00/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!