Common Dreams: In Win for Keystone XL Opponents, 'Desperate' TransCanada Shifts Strategy

[portlander23]

Common Dreams: In Win for KXL Opponents, 'Desperate' TransCanada Shifts Strategy

In a move that environmental activists and local landowners hope puts another nail in the Keystone XL coffin, pipeline giant TransCanada announced Tuesday it will withdraw lawsuits seeking to gain access to the property of landowners who oppose the project.

In a press statement on Wednesday, the pipeline giant said it was switching course and would file an application with the Nebraska Public Service Commission (PSC) to seek approval for the Keystone XL route through the state—an approach it previously tried to avoid. The company said it is withdrawing its current eminent domain actions and is taking steps to terminate constitutional court proceedings in Holt County, Nebraska.

"After careful review, we believe that going through the PSC process is the clearest path to achieving route certainty for the Keystone XL Project in Nebraska," stated Russ Girling, TransCanada's president and chief executive officer. "It ultimately saves time, reduces conflict with those who oppose the project and sets clear rules for approval of the route."

On Twitter, Bold Nebraska's Kleeb put it another way:

TC knows they are about to get handed full rejection at federal level so didn't want to keep throwing money out the window with this lawsuit

— Jane Fleming Kleeb (@janekleeb) September 29, 2015

"It has long been clear that TransCanada has no legal route through the state of Nebraska and no legal right to use eminent domain against landowners," she added in a statement. "Now they've recognized that they’ve lost in Nebraska and are desperately trying another tactic to see their risky pipeline built through our state. We are happy to continue this fight in the Nebraska PSC, but we are confident that it will never come to that."