Sierra Club sues Corps over gas pipeline
Environmentalists with the Sierra Club sued the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in an effort to stop construction of a Kinder Morgan natural gas pipeline being built through Texas Hill Country.
The Sierra Club filed the 27page federal lawsuit Thursday in U.S. District Court in Austin. The group claims that another court invalidated a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permit issued for the $2 billion project and that Kinder Morgan has illegally continued construction.
Citing a March 28 accident that contaminated landowner drinking wells in Blanco County with a mixture of clay and water, opponents said the lawsuit will help prevent future accidents and protect endangered species such as the Texas blind salamander, one of several species found only in the Hill Country’s Edwards Aquifer.
“If completed, the Permian Highway Pipeline could devastate communities, clean water and wildlife along the route, and the Army Corps can’t just ignore these impacts,” said Roddy Hughes, a senior campaign representative with the Sierra Club.
Kinder Morgan declined to comment citing pending litigation. But in a previous statements, the company said it had worked with affected landowners and water districts after the accident and that the project complies with the Endangered Species Act.
The company suspended construction on the segment in the wake of the accident.
The 430-mile pipeline was designed to move 2 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day from the Permian Basin of West Texas to a facility owned by Kinder Morgan at the Katy natural gas hub near Houston. The company says the completed pipeline would generate billions of dollars in annual royalties and taxes for state and county governments, school districts and landowners. It also would unlock production bottlenecks and help reduce flaring in the Permian Basin.
The project has faced stiff opposition from Hill Country landowners on environmental and safety concerns for the past two years with Kinder Morgan winning almost every legal challenge.