Redford, Wall discuss Keystone lobbying in U.S.

Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall discussed his upcoming trip to Washington to lobby for the Keystone XL pipeline in a meeting with Alberta Premier Alison Redford in Edmonton on Wednesday

Wall’s visit next week comes shortly after a similar trip by Redford, who met last weekend with 19 state governors. 

Wall —who gave a $1.4 billion clean coal project in southeast Saskatchewan as an example of how is province is working to reduce CO2 emissions  — plans to talk about Canada’s environmental record during his Washington trip.

"It’s a record we ought to be proud of," he said. "It’s imperfect — we need to be doing more in terms of mitigating CO2 around energy development — but it is a solid one."

The meetings come as the Obama administration decides whether to approve the controversial $7 billion pipeline which would transport bitumen from the Alberta oilsands to refineries on the Gulf Coast.

A decision could be announced this spring. But Wall isn't certain whether it will get the go-ahead.

"The U.S. ambassador to Canada would say and has said publicly it's hard to know obviously what the final decision will be," Wall said.

Redford believes that efforts to talk directly to U.S. officials can help.

"A lot of the work we're doing right now truly is week-by-week and day-by-day, and I think that's probably appropriate in terms of where things are in the decision-making process," Redford said.

"We still are waiting for the final report from the State Department. So we’re doing good work now, we’re doing solid work and we’re doing it together."

Wall believes Saskatchewan would see about $300 million in economic spinoffs from the Keystone pipeline.