Keystone XL pipeline suffers setback as judge cancels permit over concerns for endangered species

The disputed Keystone XL oil pipeline suffered a setback on Wednesday after a judge cancelled a key permit that had been issued without adequately assessing the effects on endangered species.

The tar sands pipeline, expected to stretch from Canada to Nebraska, is also the focus of two other lawsuits by environmental campaigners and tribal communities.

On Wednesday, US District Judge Brian Morris said the US Army Corps of Engineers failed to adequately consider effects on endangered species such as pallid sturgeon, a massive, dinosaur-like fish that lives in rivers the pipeline would cross.

Today, Judge Morris is holding a hearing on two other legal challenges against the pipeline.

In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, tribal communities want the judge to halt construction at the border as it will require thousands of out-of-state workers moving to remote areas and risk a public health crisis in places which have limited resources to deal with an outbreak.

Climate activists, 350.org, tweeted: “It is unconscionable that @TCEnergy continue construction during a global pandemic, w/out permits.”

Another lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump’s approval of the pipeline last year is working its way through the courts.

The $8bn pipeline project had begun late last month following years of delays. Judge Morris’ ruling does not shut down work already started in Montana at the US-Canada border, according to attorneys in the case.

TC Energy’s surprise March 31 announcement that it intended to start construction amid a global economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic came after the provincial government in Alberta invested $1.1 billion to jump-start the work.

As many as 11 construction camps, some housing up to 1,000 people, were initially planned for the project. TC Energy says those are under review amid the pandemic and won’t be needed until later in the summer.

Work on two camps, in Montana and South Dakota, could start as soon as this month, according to court documents filed by the company this week.

The pipeline was proposed in 2008 and would carry up to 830,000 barrels (35 million gallons) of crude daily to Nebraska, where it would be transferred to another TC Energy pipeline for shipment to refineries and export terminals on the Gulf of Mexico.

It was rejected twice under the Obama administration because of concerns that it could worsen climate change. President Trump issued permits for the project in one of his first actions on taking office in 2017.

Pipeline sponsor TC Energy will need the newly-revoked permit for future construction across hundreds of rivers and streams along Keystone’s 1,200-mile route.

“It creates another significant hurdle for the project,” Anthony Swift with the Natural Resources Defense Council, one of the groups that challenged the permit, told the Associated Press.

“Regardless of whether they have the cross border segment ... Keystone XL has basically lost all of its Clean Water Act permits for water crossings.”

TC Energy was reviewing the ruling but remained “committed to building this important energy infrastructure project,” spokesman Terry Cunha told AP.

The Army Corps of Engineers did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Independent.

The Keystone authorization came under a so-called nationwide permit issued by the Corps in 2017, essentially giving blanket approval to pipeline or similar utility projects with minimal effects on waterways.

The cancellation could have broader implications because it appears to invalidate dredging work for any project authorised under the 2017 permit, said attorney Jared Margolis with the Center for Biological Diversity, another plaintiff in the case. It’s unclear what projects would be included.

Associated Press contributed to this report