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US judge blocks Keystone XL permit
Gary Park for Petroleum News
A U.S. court ruling has tossed a wrench into work on the Keystone XL pipeline, but project owner TC Energy and the Alberta government are undeterred in their commitment to opening up the new outlet for oil sands production.
In the latest setback to the plans for shipping 830,000 barrels per day of crude bitumen to U.S. Gulf Coast refineries, Montana Chief District Justice Brian Morris ruled April 15 that the Army Corps of Engineers failed to adequately consider XL’s impact on endangered species such as sturgeon.
That raises questions about the use of a national permit that allows new energy pipelines throughout the U.S. to cross waterbodies.
The case centered on a complaint filed by the Northern Plains Resource Council, the activist Center for Biological Diversity and other groups that challenged the Army Corp’s reissuance of a nationwide permit in 2017 that streamlines approvals for pipelines and utility lines.
However, the ruling does not halt construction that began two weeks ago at the U.S.-Canada border crossing on the heels of the Alberta government’s decision to invest US$1.1 billion in the US$11.5 billion TC Energy pipeline to link the oil sands with Steele City, Nebraska, where the bitumen would be fed into an existing pipeline to the Gulf Coast.
Alberta has also guaranteed US$4.2 billion of debt related to the 1,200-mile pipeline in an effort to reboot work on Keystone XL more than a decade after an application was filed with U.S. and Canadian regulators.
Kenney: Trump permit ‘lawful’ Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said he has been assured that the second presidential permit issued by President Donald Trump for Keystone XL was “completely lawful and fully compliant” with Trump’s power to permit a pipeline project.
A spokesman for Alberta Energy Minister Sonya Savage said Keystone XL has faced repeated attacks from activist groups.
“We cannot surrender development to those who seek to kill projects with endless court challenges,” he said. “This (order to engage in) additional consultation and review can take place while TC Energy proceeds with construction on the many other segments of the project.”
A TC Energy spokesman said the company continues to review Morris’s “disappointing” ruling but remains “committed to building this important energy infrastructure project.”
He said the ruling also affects other undertaking such as natural gas, gas liquids, electrical transmission, television cable, telephone and internet and hampers the ability to build or maintain projects that cross wetlands or water bodies across the U.S.
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