Transcan seeks KXL route rethink

Approved pipeline plan not preferred option

WASHINGTON • TransCanada Corp. has asked the Nebraska Public Service Commission to reconsider its order approving an alternate route for the Canada-U.S. Keystone XL pipeline, according to a filing posted on the commission’s website on Monday.

The Canadian pipeline company is seeking a “clarification” on the PSC’s Nov. 20 decision, a TransCanada spokesman said.

The approved line was not TransCanada’s preferred route for the Keystone XL pipeline, but for a more costly alternative that would add 8 kilomatres of pipeline.

“Keystone requests the Commission reconsider its order dated November 20, 2017, in accordance with this motion,” said the order, which was submitted on Friday.

The PSC voted 3-2 to approve a route for TransCanada Keystone XL pipeline through Nebraska, removing a big regulatory obstacle for the long- delayed project backed by President Donald Trump, but leaving its future shrouded in legal and market uncertainty.

In addition to the alternate route for the pipeline, the commission’s approval covered an additional Pumping Station and related transmission lines. State and federal officials said it was unclear if the route required any permits in addition to those already secured for the preferred route.

TransCanada chief executive Russ Girling said in a statement last week that the company would review the commission’s decision to assess the impact on the project’s cost and schedule.

According to documents reviewed by Reuters, TransCanada’s existing Keystone pipeline has leaked more oil, and more often, in the United States than indicated in risk assessments the company provided to regulators before the project began operating in 2010.

The existing 3,455 kilometre Keystone system from Hardisty, Alta., to the Texas coast has had three significant leak sin the U.S. since it began operating in 2010, including a 5,000- barrel spill on Nov. 16 in rural South Dakota, and two others, each about 400 barrels, in South Dakota in 2016 and North Dakota in 2011.

Before constructing the pipeline, TransCanada provided a spill risk assessment to regulators that estimated the chance of a leak of more than 50 barrels to be “not more than once every seven to 11 years over the entire length of the pipeline in the United States,” according to its South Dakota operating permit.

For South Dakota alone, where the line has leaked twice, the estimate was for a “spill no more than once every 41 years.”

The spill risk analysis was conducted by global risk management company DNV GL. A spokesman for DNV did not respond to a request for comment.

Members of South Dakota’s Public Utilities Commission told Reuters last week t hey could revoke TransCanada’s operating permit if an initial probe of last week’s spill shows it violated the terms of the license.

On Monday, TransCanada said it will restart the Keystone line at reduced pressure on Tuesday after getting approval from U.S. regulators.