Judge: New pipelines must be reviewed
Army Corps program blocked last month has been revised
BILLINGS, Mont. — A U.S. judge on Monday revised a recent court ruling that threatened to hold up thousands of utility projects crossing streams and wetlands, but left in place a requirement for new oil and gas pipelines to undergo further environmental review.
The ruling from U.S. District Judge Brian Morris means the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers can again use a disputed permitting program to approve electrical lines and other utility work through streams and wetlands. Maintenance and repair work on existing pipelines also would be allowed, but not construction of new pipelines.
Attorney Jared Margolis with the Center for Biological Diversity said, “Constructing pipelines through rivers, streams and wetlands without analyzing the impacts … is unconscionable.”
The Army Corps program, or Nationwide Permit 12, was blocked by Morris last month. In a lawsuit over the Keystone XL pipeline, the judge sided with environmentalists who argued companies were using the program to skirt water protection laws and ignore the cumulative harm from thousands of stream and wetlands crossings.
Attorneys for utility industries and the government said Morris’ original ruling hampered thousands of construction projects across the U.S. In response, Morris agreed to limit the scope of his ruling. He said the Army Corps “committed a serious error” in failing to adequately consult with wildlife agencies before reauthorizing the permitting program in 2017.
The Army Corps has broad jurisdiction over U.S. waterways and uses the permit to approve qualifying pipelines and other utility projects after minimal environmental review.
Since Nationwide Permit 12 was renewed three years ago it has been used about 38,000 times, according to federal officials.
Industry supporters describe the program as crucial for timely decisions on projects. Analyzing each crossing would be costly and is unnecessary because most involve little disturbance of land or water, they said.