An investigation of the history and demise of the most controversial North American energy infrastructure project.

In 2015, President Barack Obama denied approval for TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline, which would have carried crude oil from the Canadian oil sands to the U.S. Gulf Coast, providing great economic benefit to Canada. Over seven years of regulatory process, environmental activism, and media attention, the project had become infamous, a cause celebre for North America’s ENGO movement and a test of Obama’s bona fides in the face of global climate change risk.

As one of TransCanada’s senior executive group that conceived the Keystone XL pipeline, Dennis McConaghy provides an insider’s perspective of the project’s history and demise. How did this routine infrastructure acquire iconic status? Why couldn’t government and industry find some accommodation to salvage the project? And most importantly, what must Canada learn from Keystone XL’s demise? Can the country find common ground between economic value and credible carbon policy?

CONTENTS Introduction PART ONE : More Sinned Against Than Sinning CHAPTER ONE Getting to Keystone XL CHATPER TWO 2009 to August 2011 - Nebraska and Department of State CHATPER THREE The Environmental Movement Disscovers Keystone XL CHAPTER FOUR How Keystone XL Became an Icon CHPATER FIVE 2012 and 2013 CHAPTER SIX The End of Keystone XL CHAPTER SEVEN Keystone XL's Haunting Questions PART TWO : To Be or Not to be CHAPTER EIGHT Canda Post-XL CHAPTER NINE A Credible and Proportionate Canadian Carbon Tax CHAPTER TEN Restoring Market Access Conculusion Notes Futher Reading Acknowledgements Image Credits Index