Byย Lorraine Chow, EcoWatch. Reposted with permission from EcoWatch.
Construction on the long-delayedย Keystone XL (KXL) pipelineย is planned for 2019, developerย TransCanadaย saidย Monday.
โKeystone XL has undergone years of extensive environmental review by federal and state regulators,โ TransCanada spokesman Matthew John toldย Omaha World-Herald. โAll of these evaluations show that Keystone XL can be built safely and with minimal impact to theย environment.โ
The move comes afterย President Trump‘s State Department โย in response to a judge’s orderย โ released a nearly 340-pageย draft reviewย on Friday that said theย pipeline‘s alternative route approved by Nebraska regulatorsย in Novemberย will have โno significant direct, indirect or cumulative effects on the quality of the natural or humanย environments.โ
โPrompt cleanup response would likely be capable of remediating the contaminated soils before the hazardous release reaches groundwater depth,โ the report alsoย said.
The KXL has been at the center of a contentious fight for a decade. If built, the $8 billion, 1,184-mile pipeline will transport heavy crude oil from Alberta’sย tar sandsย through Montana and North and South Dakota to connect with an existingย Keystone pipelineย inย Nebraska.
President Obamaย rejectedย the KXL in 2015 partly due to concerns about its contribution toย climate change, but President Trumpย reversed the decisionย shortly after takingย office.
BREAKING: President Obama rejects #KeystoneXL pipeline. Thank you #NoKXL movement! https://t.co/xeQ7K1M6JU pic.twitter.com/wk3rm8gTzL
โ RAN (@RAN) November 6, 2015
Indigenous groups worry that its path would cross drinking water sources and treaty territories.ย Earlier this month, the Fort Belknap Indian Community of Montana and the Rosebud Sioux Tribe of South Dakota asked a Montana judge to rescind the permit granted by the Trump administration, saying it did not assess how the pipeline would impact their water and sacredย lands.
Environmental groups sharply criticized the Trump administration’s review and vowed to fight theย project.
โThe Trump administration sees no problem with building Keystone XL โ in other news, the grass is still green and the sky is still blue,โย Sierra Clubย Beyond Dirty Fuels campaign director Kelly Martin said in aย press release.
โKeystone XL is a threat to our land, water, wildlife, communities, and climate. We’ve held off construction of this pipeline for 10 years, and regardless of this administration’s attempts to force this dirty tar sands pipeline on the American people, that fight will continue until Keystone XL is stopped once and forย all.โ
Builders have already started preparing pipe yards, transporting pipe and mowing parts of the project’s right-of-way in Montana and South Dakota, theย Associated Pressย wrote.
Last week, theย Guardianย reported that state and federal law enforcement officials are already anticipating possibleย Standing Rock-style protests against the KXL, citingย documentsย from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and ACLU ofย Montana.
The ACLU obtained aย reportย showing that state and federal agencies may be spying on potential protesters and characterizes pipeline opponents as โextremistsโ intent on โcriminal disruptions and violent incidentsโ and warned of potentialย โterrorism.โ
‘Treating protest as terrorism’: US plans crackdown on Keystone XL activists https://t.co/uyI2AMMI6T
โ Guardian Environment (@guardianeco) September 20, 2018
Main image:ย Keystone XL oil pipeline hearing rally at the Ronald Reagan Building andย International Trade Center on 14th Street between Pennsylvania Avenue and Constitution Avenue in NW Washington, D.C., on October 7, 2011. Credit:ย Elvert Barnes,ย CC BY–SAย 2.0
