A reason for the decision? Buffett’s Burlington Northern Among Pipeline Winners

[karynnj]

7. You ignore the very obvious true reason that was given by the administration

The fact is that the Republicans doomed the project by demanding that it be rejected or approved within two months. This meant that to approve it - they would have had to waive ALL of the environmental investigations because the route had just been changed because the Republican state of Nebraska rejected the original route (correctly) for environmental reasons.

This changed a politically difficult decision that pitted unions (who would build the pipeline) against environmentalists to a decision based on the need to do the appropriate planning. This article says that TransCanada may reapply. If they do, the affect of teh republican powerplay was that they just shifted the timeline by at least 3 or 4 months into the future because they have to restart the effort.