Keystone XL Pipeline Construction to Begin

TC Energy (formerly TransCanada) is putting the past year’s legal battles behind them and is moving ahead with plans to construct the Keystone XL pipeline. On Jan. 21, Terry Cunha, a spokesman for TC Energy, told the Williston Herald that the project reached several key milestones and filed a status report with the U.S. District Court of Montana the week before. The status report stated TC Energy will move heavy equipment to storage yards in Montana and South Dakota in February and would also transport and install worker camp modules in both states in April.

The next day, U.S. Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt signed a Record of Decision that allows the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to offer a right-of-way grant to TC Energy for a term of 30 years, allowing for the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline across 44 miles of federally managed lands in Montana. Their decision to provide the grant came after exhaustive environmental review, tribal consultation and public input over the course of several years. “Today’s decision is an important milestone in constructing the Keystone XL pipeline and a great day for the common sense infrastructure improvement in our country,” said Bernhardt. “President Trump clearly recognizes the importance of having the infrastructure necessary to meet our energy needs and to fuel our economic progress.” Montana delegates also had praise for the announcement. “This is good news and moves us one step closer to getting this project done for Montana jobs and our energy security,” said Senator Steve Daines. “President Trump and his administration are delivering on their promise to get this critical infrastructure project moving after years of unnecessary delays. The Keystone XL pipeline will create good-paying jobs, boost our local economies, increase American energy security, and help keep energy prices down,” said Congressman Greg Gianforte.

In addition to BLM’s right-of-way grant, construction and operation of the pipeline requires permission from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to alter public works in Fort Peck. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Western Area Power Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service must also make decisions related to providing rights-of-way, expanding substations and interconnecting with the electrical grid and/or financing the construction and operation of the power lines.

The Keystone XL pipeline project will consist of a 1,200 mile pipeline that would transport up to 830,000 barrels (35 million gallons) of crude daily from western Canada to terminals on the Gulf Coast. The project was first proposed over a decade ago however was rejected under President Barack Obama. Since President Trump took office, he has been a strong supporter and revived the project, with spring 2019 plans to start construction in the Hi-Line. Over the past two years, the project has been prevented as a result of lawsuits, first being placed on hold when Judge Brian Morris blocked construction on Nov. 8, 2018, issuing an injunction against any further construction and movement forward on the project. Later on in the month, after hearing arguments from TransCanada stating their case for the need to clarify or amend his ruling, Judge Morris ruled the company can continue to do preliminary work, however they were not allowed to do any construction.

In an effort to save the construction season, TransCanada appealed the ruling all the way up to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. While the case was making its way through the court process and decisions were being made, President Trump issued a new permit in March of 2019 to get the project moving forward. The new permit allowed construction work to continue while the case was still being decided. This permit replaced the previous permit issued in March of 2017 and granted the permission to “construct, connect, operate and maintain” the pipeline in U.S. territory, specifically providing permission to build a pipeline facility in Phillips County. As a result of this new permit, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed the lawsuit brought by environmental and Native American groups, stating since President Trump issued a new permit, any injunctions associated with issues on the previous permit no longer applied. However, attorneys for environmental groups against the project, including Northern Plains Resource Council and the Sierra Club, again made a request to block construction, stating the permit that the President issued in March was illegal. In December of 2019, Judge Morris denied a request from environmentalists to impose a court injunction blocking preliminary work since no such work was planned until spring of this year.

A public meeting, hosted by the U.S. Department of State, was held at the Billings Convention Center on Oct. 29. to gather comments on the federal government’s Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) for the project. For those unable to attend, comments could be made online or be mailed in. Governor Bullock submitted comments on behalf of the State of Montana stating “Dating back to my time serving as Montana’s Attorney General and throughout my two terms as Governor I have consistently expressed my view that development of Keystone XL must take into account the safety and security of the pipeline, the workers who will construct it and the communities it will pass through. NEPA requires federal agencies take a ‘hard look’ at their proposals in light of available information, analysis, and the potential for environmental impacts. In our review, the state concludes that the Draft SEIS falls short of this requirement and remains deficient in several important ways.” He also wrote in his comments, “We hope the State Department and the cooperating federal agencies are able to complete a full analysis of the project impacts to inform the public and ensure potential risks are fully mitigated.”

The most significant concerns raised by the Governor reflected a failure on the part of the federal agencies to adequately analyze potential impacts from a spill to water supplies based on the past experiences of spills in 2011 and 2015 on the Yellowstone River in Montana and incomplete analysis of cultural resource impacts and consultation with potentially impacted Tribal Nations.

TC Energy’s Community Relations Specialist Tayla Snapp made a stop in Glasgow on Nov. 5 as the keynote speaker during Two Rivers Economic Growth’s annual meeting. During her presentation, she stated in response to questions about an oil spill in North Dakota, “That’s a risk that comes with having pipelines in the community.” Snapp discussed with the members of Two Rivers the economic benefits of the pipeline for the county. At one point she stated, “We pay a lot of taxes and we do it proudly.”