Alberta Premier Alison Redford said today that she would "very happily partner" with U.S. regulators on a forthcoming study of the transportation challenges of her province's ample oil-sands fuel supply.

In the political drama surrounding the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, which would connect Redford's province to Gulf Coast refineries, environmentalists often warn that the unique chemical characteristics of Canadian oil-sands crude -- particularly a type of fuel known as diluted bitumen -- make it potentially riskier to transport. Partly in response to that controversy, Congress agreed last year to give the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) 18 months to conduct a comprehensive study of oil-sands crude transportation.

The chairman of Alberta's Energy Resources Conservation Board told E&E last year that examining safety risks posed by the local fuel would be unnecessary, adding that "no evidence from our tracking" points to a greater difficulty in shipping the thick, viscous diluted bitumen through pipelines (Greenwire, Aug. 23, 2011). But Redford said today that she stands ready to assist PHMSA in its work, calling it "important" to share data with U.S. partners if it is requested.

"There may be people who want to see the work done independently," she told reporters during a briefing in Washington, D.C.

Redford also struck a positive tone on the XL line, which continues to spark Capitol Hill jockeying even as its sponsor prepares to segment construction into a northern and southern leg following President Obama's rejection of the full project in January (E&E Daily, March 7).

The "undue delay" facing Keystone XL and the Northern Gateway, an alternative pipeline plan that would ship Canadian oil-sands crude west to Asia, "does not affect our ability to continue to succeed in our own internal economy," Redford said.

The premier, who took office in October, declined to address a growing push by congressional Democrats to prevent the export of refined products made from the crude that would pass through the 1,700-mile XL link, deeming it a "theoretical possibility" for U.S. policymakers to settle. As for the pipeline itself, she predicted that it would likely win approval if it were "evaluated on its merits," a phrase invoked by the White House as it blamed the project's denial on a 60-day timetable mandated by congressional Republicans.