Along with skipping on Wednesday night the successful congressional vote to repeal ObamaCare and defund Planned Parenthood, the “big three” networks of ABC, CBS, and NBC also declined to dedicate a second of airtime to the Canadien energy company TransCanada filing lawsuits against the Obama administration for having rejected the Keystone XL pipeline.
Citing the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), TransCanada reported that it’s exploring legal actions after President Obama denied the pipeline in a move they blasted as “arbitrary and unjustified.”
The Fox News Channel (FNC) program Special Report offered the following 15-second news brief from host Bret Baier on the matter:
The company behind the Keystone XL Pipeline is challenging President Obama's rejection of that project. TransCanada is going to court claiming the decision was arbitrary and unjustified and that the President exceeded his power under the Constitution.
Here’s more on TransCanada's legal moves from The Wall Street Journal:
Through a process known as investor-state dispute settlement, companies and investors from one country can challenge the acts of a foreign government and receive compensation if they can show they weren’t treated in accordance with international law.
In its filing, TransCanada argues that under Naftpa the U.S. must deal with the Canadian company in accordance with its treatment of its own domestic companies and in line with international standards, without appropriating its assets.
TransCanada said it would attempt to recover more than $15 billion in costs and damages that the company said it has suffered “as a result of the U.S. administration’s breach of its Nafta obligations.”
The company, which has spent $3.1 billion on the project already including on pipe and payments to landowners, said the $15 billion damage claim includes compensation for foregone tolls and other profit it otherwise would have earned.
TransCanada said it also has filed suit in the U.S. federal court in Houston, claiming President Barack Obama’s decision to block the project exceeded his power under the U.S. Constitution.
The transcript of the brief from FNC’s Special Report with Bret Baier on January 6 can be found below.
FNC’s Special Report with Bret Baier
January 6, 2016
6:17 p.m. Eastern[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE CAPTION: Legal Action over Keystone]
BRET BAIER: The company behind the Keystone XL Pipeline is challenging President Obama's rejection of that project. TransCanada is going to court claiming the decision was arbitrary and unjustified and that the President exceeded his power under the Constitution.
