Keystone XL Pipeline tied up in Nebraska Supreme Court | Russell T. Rudy Energy LLC
TransCanada Corp. proposed the Keystone XL Pipeline which would carry oil from Western Canada’s oil sands area to U. S. Gulf Coast refineries. The project would traverse some 1,700 miles and original cost estimates were $5.4 billion. Since the pipeline would cross an international border, the project required approval by the U. S. State Department. Hillary Clinton, the Secretary of State at the time, favored the project as did several of her key lieutenants.
However, the original pipeline route would have crossed the environmentally sensitive Sand Hills area and portions of the Ogalala Aquifer in Western Nebraska. The route was subsequently modified to address these concerns. Fearing further delays, the Nebraska legislature passed a law giving the governor authority to approve the route for the pipeline. While Keystone XL will neither receive, nor distribute, any oil along its 200 mile route across the state, there was a question as to whether it was a common carrier. The Nebraska constitution requires the Public Services Commission (PSC) approve all common carrier routes across the state. To remove any ambiguity, the state legislature passed a law in 2012 empowering the governor, not the PSC, to approve the pipeline route, thereby expediting the approval process.
This action by the legislature prompted three Nebraska landowners, whose property will not be crossed or even touched by the new route, to file suit in Lancaster County District Court challenging the constitutionality of the 2012 law. The District Judge ruled in favor of the plaintiffs and the decision was appealed to the Nebraska Supreme Court. In the meantime, the Obama White House, which never favored the Keystone project, saw this as an opportunity to delay any further federal action.
The Nebraska Supreme Court heard the case last week, but no decision appears imminent. In the interim, Hillary Clinton and several of her top lieutenants have since left the U. S. State Department, and her successor, John Kerry, appears opposed to the pipeline. For the time being, the Keystone XL project is delayed pending the decision of the Nebraska Supreme Court, and subsequently, the decisions of the State Department and White House.
This post is based on three recent articles in “Rigzone”. To read them in their entirety, please go to www.rigzone.com/news/oil_gas/a/134862/In , www.rigzone.com/news/oil_gas/a/134884/Nebraska , and www.rigzone.com/news/oil_gas/a/134914/Musings .
