At South Dakota Public Broadcasting, Victory Wicks reports in Keystone XL Permit Ruled Invalid:
A Montana federal judge has invalidated a key permit for the Keystone XL pipeline.
In an order handed down Wednesday, April 15, Judge Brian Morris says a permit issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers bypassed necessary environmental reviews.
The order says TC Energy, formerly TransCanada, cannot build across waterways along the pipeline route until the Corps does more work on the permit.
Wicks' audio report is worth a listen.
The project is widely opposed in Indian Country. The Associated Press's Matthew Brown reports in Tribes and environmental groups press judge to halt work on disputed Keystone XL pipeline:
American Indian tribes and environmental groups are pressuring a federal judge to shut down work on the disputed Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to Nebraska less than two weeks after it started, because of fears over workers spreading the coronavirus and worries about a future spill.
Pipeline sponsor TC Energy is rushing ahead amid the pandemic as it tries to complete significant work on the pipeline to make it harder to stop, attorneys for several tribes and groups said in court documents ahead of a Thursday teleconference hearing to decide if the construction should be halted.
They warned that plans to build construction camps housing up to 1,000 workers each “pose serious, immediate and irreparable health risks to the tribes during the COVID-19 pandemic."
“The healthcare systems in tribal and rural communities are already strained to provide basic healthcare services, much less the critical emergency services necessary to responded to an outbreak of COVID-19," said lawyers for the Rosebud Sioux Tribe of South Dakota and Fort Belknap tribes in Montana.
President Donald Trump is a champion of the $8 billion project and gave it a presidential authorization in a bid to circumvent a 2018 court ruling that had blocked it.
The same judge who made that ruling will preside over the hearing to decide if construction should be stopped while the court considers if Trump's authorization was legal.
Late Wednesday, Morris handed another setback to TC Energy with a ruling that invalidated a key U.S. Army Corps of Engineers clean water permit. The so-called nationwide permit applied to a broad range of projects including Keystone XL, and is needed to so the pipeline can cross rivers, streams and other waterways.
Keystone XL would have hundreds of those crossings along its 1,200-mile (1,930 kilometer) route from Hardisty, Alberta to Steele City, Nebraska. It would carry up to 830,000 barrels (35 million gallons) of crude daily and opponents say a spill is inevitable.
Workers on Monday installed the first section of pipe across the U.S.-Canada border in northern Montana, according to court documents filed by the Calgary-based company.
The border crossing doesn't require the Army Corps permit that was thrown out because there are no nearby waterways. But it's an obstacle to much further work, and a company spokesman warned the judge's ruling has broad implications for projects across the U.S.
“The ruling directly impacts various utilities constructing and maintaining infrastructure projects, including natural gas, liquids, television cable, electrical transmission, telephone, internet, among others," pipeline spokesman Terry Cunha said. “This decision hampers their ability to build or maintain infrastructure projects in wetlands and water bodies across the U.S."
Army Corps spokesman Michael Izard-Carroll referred questions on the ruling to the Department of Justice, which did not immediately respond to a email request for comment.
TC Energy plans to drill tunnels for the pipeline deep beneath major river crossings and says it will be operated safely. The company has a history of spills from other oil pipelines it operates, including a 2017 accident near Amherst, South Dakota that spilled almost 10,000 barrels (407,000 gallons) of oil. . . .
That accident in the corporation's older pipeline was just one county over, and the same pipeline leaked again at a different point on the line in 2019.We reported on the last leak in Keystone pipeline leaks again--this time in ND and A cautionary post about this earlier project: TransCanada's risk assessment estimated tiny spills "no more than once every 41 years” in SD.
Read the rest of the AP article here. We'll keep an eye on for the rulings on today's hearings.
The Guardian's Nina Lakhani reports in Major blow to Keystone XL pipeline as judge revokes key permit:
The controversial Keystone XL tar sands pipeline has been dealt a major setback, after a judge revoked a key permit issued by the US army corps of engineers without properly assessing the impact on endangered species.
In a legal challenge brought by a coalition of environmental groups, a federal judge in Montana ordered the army corps to suspend all filling and dredging activities until it conducts formal consultations compliant with the Endangered Species Act.
The ruling revokes the water-crossing permit needed to complete construction of the pipeline, and is expected to cause major delays to the divisive project.
Campaigners welcomed Wednesday’s ruling as a victory for tribal rights and environmental protection.
“The court has rightfully ruled against the Trump administration’s efforts to fast-track this nasty pipeline at any cost. We won’t allow fossil fuel corporations and backdoor politicians to violate the laws that protect people and the planet,” said Tamara Toles O’Laughlin of the environmental group 350.org
Judith LeBlanc, director of the Native Organizer Alliance, said: “The revoking of the permit is a victory for treaty rights and democracy. Tribal nations have a renewed opportunity to exercise our legal and inherent rights to protect the water of the Missouri river bioregion for all who live, farm and work on the land.” . . .
The company faces a separate legal challenge on Thursday 16 April, when tribal communities will be back in court requesting an injunction to stop construction in light of the coronavirus pandemic. The court will decide whether construction, which the plaintiffs argue will bring thousands of out-of-state workers to remote areas already ill-equipped to deal with the public health crisis, should be suspended.
We'll keep an eye out for the rulings on Thursday's hearing.
Governor Kristi Noem has sought to pass constitutional laws to suppress protests against the pipeline, a mostly losing battle we've chronicled in posts like SD Gov Noem blames Soros' money for pipeline protests; cuts tribes out of anti-protest bills talk and Klobuchar's SD meet & greet held at home of Brendan Johnson, anti-KXL free speech defender.
While from 2017, the BBC's explainer, Keystone XL pipeline: Why is it so disputed?, lays out the basics on the project. The Natural Resources Defense Council's post about Wednesday's decision Federal Court Halts Trump Attempt to Fast-track Keystone XL, is also a helpful read.
Map: Keystone pipelines, old and proposed.
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