A federal court judge has ordered the US Department of State to conduct a supplemental environmental impact statement (EIS) for the proposed Keystone XL crude oil pipeline to consider the Mainline Alternative route that Nebraska’s Public Service Commission approved. But Judge Brian Morris, of US District Court for Montana’s Great Falls Division, did not vacate the presidential border-crossing permit that the project has received in his Aug. 15 decision.
Morris said the new route differs from the one analyzed in the original EIS in several respects, including crossing five different counties and different water bodies in Nebraska, being longer than the original route, and requiring an additional pump station and associated power lines.
“Federal defendants cannot escape their responsibility under [the National Environmental Policy Act] to evaluate the Mainline Alternative route…. NEPA requires a hard look,” the judge said. He further agreed with plaintiffs in the action—the Indigenous Environmental Network and North Coast River Alliance, and the Northern Plains Resource Council et. al.—that the federal defendants must address the Mainline Route because it’s a connected action to the pipeline’s proposed construction.
Morris also noted that the plaintiffs argued that the federal defendants were obligated to analyze Keystone XL under the federal Endangered Species Act. “The Court will address the ESA argument in a future order,” he said.
TransCanada reportedly is reviewing the decision. It did not respond immediately to OGJ’s request for a comment.
Contact Nick Snow at [email protected].
