Page 11 - NorthAmOil Week 19

NorthAmOil PIPELINES & TRANSPORT
NorthAmOil
Judge upholds Keystone XL ruling
NORTH AMERICA
A US federal judge upheld his previous ruling this week that cancelled a permit covering dredg- ing work for TC Energy’s Keystone XL pipeline. The original ruling, in mid-April, cancelled Nationwide Permit 12, which allows dredging to be carried out on pipelines across bodies of water. This week, US District Judge Brian Mor- ris denied a request by the Army Corps of Engi- neers to narrow his ruling revoking the permit.
Morris ruled that the Army Corps did not adequately consult with the US Fish and Wild- life Service on risks posed to endangered species and habitat when it renewed the sweeping per- mit in 2017. He said in the decision that allowing the agency to continue authorising new oil and gas pipeline construction “could seriously injure projected species and critical habitat”.
The impact of the cancellation goes beyond Keystone XL, as the nationwide permit essen- tially gave blanket approval to pipeline or similar utility projects with minimal effects on water- ways. And indeed, Morris revised his original ruling this week to allow non-pipeline projects such as electric transmission lines to proceed, on the grounds that they are less likely to harm endangered species.
The ruling does not block construction on other parts of Keystone XL, but it does hold up dredging work, marking another setback for a project that has been pending since 2008. It came roughly two weeks after TC Energy announced that it was giving the go-ahead to construction
work on the pipeline, bolstered by funding from the provincial government of Alberta.
A TC Energy spokesman, Terry Cunha, said the ruling “continues to delay many critical energy infrastructure projects across the US, including Keystone XL”. He added that the com- pany would shortly file an appeal against the rul- ing with the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. TC Energy and the Army Corps had 60 days to lodge such an appeal.
Other pipeline operators, including Kinder Morgan, Dominion Energy and Equitrans Mid- stream, said after the original ruling that they were monitoring the case but were continuing work on their projects as normal.
Earlier this month, TC Energy warned that Morris’ ruling could result in a further delay of up to one year on Keystone XL, though the com- pany is still targeting a completion date of 2023 for the pipeline.
Keystone XL would carry 830,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude from Alberta’s oil sands to the US Midwest, where it would connect to existing pipeline networks that can send the oil on to the Gulf Coast. The project has long been called for by oil sands producers to help alle- viate takeaway capacity constraints. However, the issue of pipeline capacity has become less pressing in the immediate term as Canada’s oil patch grapples with the collapse in crude prices, resulting in growing volumes of oil sands crude being shut in.™
Construction on Keystone XL had only kicked off around two weeks before the ruling.
The ruling does not block construction on other parts of Keystone XL, but it does hold up dredging work.
Week 19 14•May•2020 w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m
P11