The Nebraska Supreme Court left every Keystone watcher hanging Friday, heading home for the weekend without ruling whether the state legislature could approve a new route for the controversial oil pipeline.
The state’s high court is expected to decide soon whether legislature, instead of the utility regulator, had the legal right to approve an alternate pipeline path. Environmental groups and the energy industry had been preparing for a potential ruling Friday on the 2012 Nebraska law to fast-track the new pipeline path.
Landowners who filed the lawsuit contend Republican Gov. Dave Heineman violated the state’s constitution by signing the legislation to fast-track the alternate route for the TransCanada Corp. pipeline. They argued that authority rests solely with the state’s utility regulator.
“TransCanada had every opportunity two years ago to go through the legal permitting process for their pipeline in Nebraska but they chose to go around it, so that’s why they’ve seen so many delays,” said Randy Thompson, the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit against Heineman. “They created their own mud hole that they’re stuck in now.”
If the high court sides with the landowners, TransCanada would need to resubmit its plan to the Nebraska Public Service Commission. Nebraska state Sen. Jim Smith, a Republican who authored the legislation being challenged, recently told the Washington Examiner that process could take up to a year to complete.
The 1,700-mile project that would bring oil sands from Alberta, Canada, to refineries in the Gulf Coast has been under federal review for more than six years. TransCanada needs a cross-border permit from the State Department to complete the pipeline’s northern leg.
Matt Koch, a vice president with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for 21st Century Energy who focuses on oil sands issues, said he expected TransCanada to follow through with the full review if the court sides against the pipeline law.
“They’re committed to this product,” Koch said. “I would be very shocked if they pulled out of the project.”
