Environmentalists Accidentally Win Keystone XL Fight

Jim West/ZUMA

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It looks like environmentalists have accidentally won a battle after all:

Keystone XL is facing a new challenge: The oil producers and refiners the pipeline was originally meant to serve aren’t interested in it anymore.

….Much has changed in the oil markets since TransCanada first filed an application with the State Department in 2008 for a cross-border permit….Refiners want the flexibility of being able to buy oil from wherever it is cheapest. In a world awash in low-price oil, Canadian crude doesn’t look as attractive as it once did….Meanwhile, uncertainty about output growth from Canada’s oil sands has given producers pause about signing long-term agreements for space on a pipeline they may not need, people familiar with the matter say.

Oh well. It was being built with foreign steel anyway.

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