Nebraska Court Approves Keystone XL Pipeline
August 23 2019 - 10:49AM
Dow Jones News
By Christopher M. Matthews and Vipal Monga
The Nebraska Supreme Court upheld the state's approval of the
Keystone XL pipeline Friday, but hurdles to the long-delayed
project remain.
The court ruled in favor of a state regulator's decision to
approve the route in 2017, bolstering the prospects for the
pipeline expansion by TC Energy Corp., formerly known as
TransCanada, which would take oil from Canada's Alberta province to
Nebraska.
The decision cleared the way for Keystone XL to pass through the
state via an alternate route from the one originally proposed more
than a decade ago. But the project continues to face legal
obstacles, as well as steep opposition from environmentalists and
Democratic politicians.
Notably, the project must still overcome a lawsuit in Montana,
after a federal judge ruled that President Trump's 2017
cross-border permit for the pipeline expansion hadn't considered
all impacts as required by federal law.
The Nebraska Public Service Commission approved an alternate
route for the Keystone XL in 2017, different from the one TC Energy
initially applied for. Landowners, environmental and Native
American groups challenged that decision in court, arguing the new
route had not been properly scrutinized, and the issue ultimately
made it to the state's supreme court.
"The Supreme Court decision is another important step as we
advance towards building this vital energy infrastructure project,"
said Russ Girling, TC Energy's chief executive, in a statement.
The Sierra Club criticized the ruling on Friday, saying the
court had ignored concerns from landowners, Native Americans and
environmental groups.
"But today's ruling does nothing to change the fact that
Keystone XL faces overwhelming public opposition and ongoing legal
challenges and simply never will be built," Ken Winston, an
attorney for the environmental group, said in a statement.
Keystone XL has already faced numerous legal and political
hurdles, and has become a rallying cry for environmentalists who
want to keep fossil fuels in the ground. Mr. Trump revived the
pipeline after it had been blocked by former President Obama, but
the project has continued to face challenges.
Earlier this month, the president touted his decision to approve
the project at a rally in Pennsylvania.
"We're building pipelines, and if we get the pipelines approved,
then you better work," Mr. Trump told workers at a petrochemical
plant.
If completed as planned, Keystone XL would carry up to 830,000
barrels of oil a day, mostly from Canada's oil sands, more than
1,000 miles to Steele City, Neb., where it would link to existing
pipelines to Gulf Coast refineries. The proposed route would cross
through Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska.
In Montana, U.S. District Judge Brian M. Morris ruled last year
that construction couldn't move forward until a supplemental
environmental review is completed by the U.S. State Department.
The State Department is currently preparing a revised impact
statement and the litigation will turn on whether the judge finds
it corrected the past errors, according to Capital Alpha Partners,
a policy research firm. The firm said in a note to investors it
expects the Montana case to wind up before the U.S. Supreme
Court.
TC Energy said last year that it has sufficient support from
customers to move forward with the project, now expected to cost
around $8 billion.
The company still hasn't said if it will go ahead with the
pipeline. "Moving forward, we will continue to carefully and
methodically obtain the regulatory and legal approvals necessary
before we consider advancing this commercially secured project to
construction," said Mr. Girling during a second-quarter earnings
call with analysts this month.
Write to Christopher M. Matthews at christopher.matthews@wsj.com
and Vipal Monga at vipal.monga@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 23, 2019 11:34 ET (15:34 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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