October 2019, Vol. 246, No. 10
Projects
Nebraska Supreme Court Affirms Alternative Keystone XL Pipeline Route
A court in Nebraska affirmed an alternative route in the Midwest state for TC Energy Corp’s Keystone XL oil pipeline in the latest chapter in the nearly 10-year legal fight over the Canada to Texas pipeline.
Keystone XL would ship 830,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude from the oil marketing hub of Hardisty, Alberta, to Steele City, Neb., where it would link into an existing network feeding the Gulf Coast.
It has been subject to years of delay because of fierce environmental and landowner opposition and has become a key symbol in the wider campaign against pipelines carrying diluted bitumen from Canada’s vast oil sands.
Canada is the world’s fourth-largest oil producer but has struggled for years to build new export pipelines, leading to deep discounts on its crude and an exodus of foreign capital.
“This was the last major hurdle for the construction of Keystone XL,” GMP FirstEnergy analyst Ian Gillies said in a note.
The Nebraska Supreme Court affirmed the alternative route that was approved by the state’s Public Service Commission, even though it was not the preferred route of TC Energy, formerly known as TransCanada Corp.
The Nebraska Public Service Commission (PSC) in November 2017 did not approve TC Energy’s preferred route, and instead granted an alternative route that shifted it closer to an existing pipeline right-of-way down the eastern side of the state.
That had prompted landowners and indigenous groups to sue on the grounds the PSC could only greenlight an application that was made to it. P&GJ
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