Decision time for US Keystone XL pipeline

President Obama must make a decision on the TransCanada proposed pipeline

After six years of debate, hopes are rising for a go-ahead decision for a pipeline which will flow Canadian heavy crude direct to refineries on the US Gulf Coast. Although the president, Barack Obama, opposes the project on environmental grounds, the weight of industry and political lobbying could force his hand. The $8 billion Keystone XL pipeline, which TransCanada Corporation wants to build, will be a 36-inch line extending 1,897 km from Hardisty in Alberta, Canada, to Steele City in Nebraska, US. At Steele City it will connect with an existing TransCanada pipeline running to the refineries at Port Arthur, Texas - and an extension due to be completed this year will take crude to the refin