TransCanada, the company that was stiffed by the Obama administration when they rejected the Keystone pipeline, is suing the federal government, saying the president exceeded his constitutional authority when he refused to allow the pipeline to cross the American border.

The company is also making a separate claim under NAFTA and is seeking more than $15 billion in costs and damages.

Washington Examiner:

TransCanada, which proposed the pipeline project to connect Canada's oil sands in Alberta with U.S. refiners on the Gulf Coast, on Wednesday filed a lawsuit in U.S. Federal Court in Houston, "asserting that the president's decision to deny construction of Keystone XL exceeded his power under the U.S. Constitution," according to the company.

The administration squashed the project after a record seven years of review, saying the project would increase greenhouse gas emissions and worsen climate change.

"TransCanada's legal actions challenge the foundation of the U.S. administration's decision to deny a presidential border crossing permit for the project," the company says. "In its decision, the U.S. State Department acknowledged the denial was not based on the merits of the project. Rather, it was a symbolic gesture based on speculation about the perceptions of the international community regarding the administration's leadership on climate change and the president's assertion of unprecedented, independent powers."

"Unprecedented, independent powers."  Gee...where have we heard that one before?  It's no secret that the administration delayed a decision on the project for political reasons having nothing to do with actually weighing the costs and benefits of the pipeline, or even examining the environmental impact of the project.  If they had actually done that, it would have taken months instead of seven years.

So what was essentially a matter of energy policy became a political football, with the president pandering to the Greens and finally ruling in their favor.  There is little doubt that the pipeline would have created thousands of jobs and been a cost-effective way to move North American energy supplies to American refiners.  But Obama feared the wrath of the Greens and took the easy way out.

Since his re-election, the president has been obsessed with his "legacy," making policy and initiating programs meant to light up his name in future history books.  The Keystone pipeline was a casualty of this legacy-building, and the American people are paying for Obama's shortsightedness.