US: Company Files $15 Billion ISDS Claim Against US for Cancelled Keystone XL
'Disgusting: Pipeline Company Files $15 Billion Claim Against US for Cancelled Keystone XL', 5 July 2021
"In a move that progressives described as unsurprising yet outrageous, TC Energy Corporation, the Canadian company behind the now-defunct Keystone XL pipeline, is seeking more than $15 billion in compensation from the United States government, which it has accused of violating free trade obligations by blocking further development of the tar sands oil project.
After President Joe Biden rescinded the Keystone XL permit on the first day of his term, TC Energy announced last month that the pipeline is officially dead, marking a huge victory for the climate movement following a decade of organizing...
...TC Energy's decision to sue the U.S. government was denounced by Jane Kleeb, an advocate for progressive rural policies and chair of the Nebraska Democratic Party, who called it "disgusting yet predictable."
Arguing that "this is how capitalism works," Kleeb said the Calgary-based corporation—not U.S. taxpayers—should be responsible for bearing the costs of the failed investment. It was TC Energy, after all, that "took the risk," said Kleeb. She added that the company "lost" when the U.S. rejected its pipeline...
... Because investments in the Keystone XL pipeline predate USMCA, TC Energy's lawsuit is still able to invoke NAFTA's Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) clause, which allows foreign investors to sue governments for profits that are "lost" due to regulatory interventions...."