Judge strikes down Nebraska law that allowed Keystone XL pipeline to proceed through the state

[kpete]

Source: Infotel

Judge strikes down Nebraska law that allowed Keystone XL pipeline to proceed through the state
February 19, 2014 - 1:03 PM
LINCOLN, Neb. - A judge has struck down a Nebraska law that allowed the Keystone XL oil pipeline to proceed through the state.

Lancaster County Judge Stephanie Stacy issued a ruling Wednesday that invalidated Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman's approval of the route. Stacy says the decision should have been made by the Nebraska Public Service Commission, which regulates pipelines and other utilities.

The ruling could cause more delays in finishing the pipeline, which would carry oil from Canada to Texas refineries.

But it's a win for Nebraska-based pipeline opponents. They've argued that Heineman exceeded his authority when he approved the route in January 2013.

Read more: http://infotel.ca/newsitem/US-Oil-Pipeline-Nebraska/CP27287378

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The ruling includes a permanent injunction preventing Gov. Dave Heineman and the DEQ from taking any further action to authorize or advance the pipeline under the law.

FIGHTING: Cattle buyer Randy Thompson of Nebraska is one of three landowners who challenged the constitutionality of a law governing the siting of the Keystone XL oil pipeline through Nebraska.
David Domina, who represented the landowners, said in a press release, “The court’s action effectively rescinds Governor Heineman’s notification to President Barack Obama that Nebraska legal procedures had been satisfied.”

“Now, it is back to the drawing board for Governor Heineman and the Legislature,” said Domina, who is running for the U.S. Senate. “Under the court’s ruling, TransCanada has no approved route in Nebraska. TransCanada is not authorized to condemn the property against Nebraska landowners. The pipeline project is at standstill in this state.”

Pipeline fighters in Nebraska have long claimed TransCanada, the Canadian company trying to get the Keystone XL pipeline approved, basically wrote the bill. The lawsuit also contended lawmakers didn’t have the authority to grant a foreign company condemnation powers.


http://watchdog.org/129369/nebraska-pipeline-law-thrown/

[Timez Squarez]

1. Very good news.

Plus the pipeline is not going through any Native-owned lands either, at least the Lakota Sioux tribe has said so.

[kpete]

2. best of the day

[2naSalit]

3. Good!

[progressoid]

4. Good. Fuck Heineman and his buddies.

[alp227]

5. More coverage from Nebraska sources & elsewhere

Omaha World-Herald: Court strikes down Nebraska law that allowed Keystone XL pipeline

Lincoln Journal-Star: Keystone XL pipeline opponents score victory in court

Washington Post: Nebraska judge strikes down legislature’s move allowing Keystone XL route

[okaawhatever]

6. I wonder if there are legal proceeding in other states, as well. nt

[Joe Shlabotnik]

7. Right on!

[Fred Sanders]

8. Protesting AND doing it the democratic, legal way is the American way, apparently lost on nations

like Ukraine, Thailand and Venezuela.

[cntrfthrs]

9. I've been involved in the intrastate routing of keystone...

...as a representative of our tribes cultural preservation program. We'd been invited as part of the NHPA section 106 process which in a nutshell says if there is a possibility that prehistoric/historic properties may be impacted by the project, we sit down and mitigate. I also live in NW N. Dakota on the very edge of the oil patch and have seen the impacts of energy extraction. Speaking as a private citizen, the environmental effects of extraction, transportation, refinement just seem too costly. And since the fact the sludge won't benefit the country but will be sold on the world market and because transcanada has been more or less been given the right to use eminent domain has turned me against the project....
I feel hesitant though to call this a victory because (to my uneducated mind) all the judge did was say the PSC has to make the call and so (if the PSC in Neb is anything like it is here) it's probably made up of the gov and his cronies. Here it's the gov, his attorney general & the ag commish. Another thing transcanada can do it appeal the ruling to the state and then the US Supreme Court. To say nothing of their ability to use eminent domain if that's true. But. It does give president Obama more ammunition for a thumbs down on the project. That is, if he's not in favor. I don' t really even know where he stand on the whole thing though....anyway, here's hoping the stars align and the whole thing falls like domino's...

Signed: gloomy Gus

[Benton D Struckcheon]

10. Columnist from Financial Times figures this kills the pipeline

By delaying it for at least a year, and now having to reroute it through Nebraska and get new approvals for that from the PSC, it effectively kills it, in this columnist's opinion. He's pretty smart, so it's an opinion I respect.

Link: http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/9ba4d61c-a074-11e3-a72c-00144feab7de.html?siteedition=intl

You can get through the paywall I think. You're allowed a few articles before you can't read anymore.