Top court in Nebraska OKs planned route of oil pipeline
Nebraska’s top court approved the Keystone XL oil pipeline’s planned path through the state Friday, resolving a permitting battle that has stretched on for more than a decade as the project became a proxy for a national debate between environmentalists and the energy industry.
Keystone XL, which would carry crude oil from Canada to southern Nebraska, has been the subject of political maneuvering and litigation since it was proposed in 2008. The project, which was rejected by the Obama administration, was revived under President Donald Trump.
Many Republican politicians and labor groups see Keystone XL as an economic boon, a way to create jobs and satisfy the world’s demand for oil. But for environmentalists and some Native Americans and farmers along the planned route, the pipeline is seen as a grave threat to the warming climate and to fertile land it would run through.
“At some point in our country’s history, the property rights of farmers and the sovereign rights of tribal nations have to trump big oil land grabs,” said Jane Kleeb, the longtime leader of the Keystone XL opposition in Nebraska and the chairwoman of the state’s Democratic Party.
The Nebraska Supreme Court’s ruling was not the final word on the pipeline. A federal lawsuit in Montana still seeks to block construction, and several landowners along the route have refused to sign easements. Protesters, including those from Native American tribes in Nebraska and South Dakota, have promised to mobilize if construction begins.
The ruling was significant nonetheless.
“This comprehensive decision not only clears a big legal hurdle for this particular pipeline — it signals that a workable process exists in Nebraska for the approval of future major energy infrastructure projects,” said Dave Lopez, who defended the pipeline route before the state Supreme Court in his former role as Nebraska’s deputy solicitor general.
For years, Nebraska, a deeply conservative state, has been the surprising center of opposition to Keystone XL. It was in Nebraska that a politically diverse array of farmers, Native Americans and environmentalists first elevated the pipeline into the national spotlight. Willie Nelson and Neil Young held a concert in a Nebraska cornfield to rally opposition to the project. Also in Nebraska, opponents pushed for changes to the route and slowed construction with efforts in the courts and in the government regulatory process.
Critics of pipelines in other places have used similar tactics in the years since.
Opponents of Keystone XL have voiced hope of delaying construction until after the 2020 presidential election. Some Democratic hopefuls have vowed to oppose the pipeline if they unseat Trump.
The latest ruling came after opponents challenged a route approved by Nebraska regulators in 2017. Though those regulators narrowly voted to allow construction, they rejected the pipeline company’s preferred route and approved an alternate path through the state that had received far less examination. A lawsuit asserted that the route had been approved in error.
The company behind the project, TC Energy, which until recently was called TransCanada, has been stuck in a holding pattern for years. Company officials have insisted that they remained committed to Keystone XL’s construction even as delays continue to mount and as another construction season has come and gone.