TransCanada has lost a bid to lift an injunction blocking work on the Keystone XL pipeline — a development that could delay construction work on the $8-billion US project for another year.

The Calgary-based company and the U.S. State Department had filed an "urgent" motion to try to lift the injunction preventing pre-construction work.

But on Friday, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denied the motion.

In court documents, TransCanada had said delays beyond March 15 could set the project back a whole year from its intended completion date in 2021, costing the company hundreds of millions of dollars in lost earnings.

Following the decision, TransCanada said in a statement that "we are currently assessing the decision and considering our options moving forward."

'Most important ruling'

Lawyer Stephan Volker, who represents the Indigenous Environmental Network and the North Coast Rivers Alliance, both opponents of the project, called the appeal court's decision "pivotal."

"It's outstanding," Volker told CBC News. "I think that it is the most important ruling in this case."

Volker considers the decision critical because he does not believe U.S. President Donald Trump will be re-elected and said no other administration would sign off on such an "ecologically disastrous project."

"I think it's highly unlikely the U.S. Supreme Court would overturn this ruling," Volker added.

The Keystone XL pipeline would carry 830,000 barrels of crude a day from Hardisty, Alta., to Nebraska. The pipeline would then connect with the original Keystone that runs to refineries in Texas.

Opponents of the Keystone XL pipeline demonstrate on the Dodge Street pedestrian bridge during rush hour in Omaha, Neb., in 2017. (Nati Harnik/Canadian Press)

First announced in 2005, the project has been stuck in limbo after being met with considerable political, environmental and Indigenous opposition.

The Obama administration denied Keystone XL's permits, but Trump breathed life back into the project after giving it his presidential thumbs-up.

Last August, the project met another setback when U.S. District Court Judge Brian Morris ordered the U.S. State Department to do a full environmental review of a revised route for the Keystone XL crude oil pipeline.

In November, Morris put a temporary halt on pre-construction work until the U.S. State Department completed its supplementary review, including potential adverse effects on climate change and wildlife.

The following month, the Montana court gave the company permission to continue some pre-construction work such as engineering, awarding contracts and taking meetings.

Still, according to one filing made to the court in January, TransCanada had to lay off about 650 contract workers from pre-construction activities such as pipe yard and workforce camp preparations.

In February, the company requested the appeals court grant it relief from the injunction, asking for a decision by March 15.

'Very substantial harm'

In a legal filing made earlier in the year, a TransCanada executive said the March date was key to starting construction by August. Failure to meet the deadline means it "will be unable to perform any construction in 2019."

"A one-year delay in the construction schedule would impose very significant consequences on TransCanada," Norrie Ramsay, TransCanada's senior vice-president of technical centre and liquid projects, wrote in the affidavit in January.

Ramsay estimated a one-year delay would "result in lost earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of approximately $949 million US between March 2021 and March 2022, based on the minimum take-or-pay shipper commitment."

"In addition, a one-year delay in construction of the pipeline would cause very substantial harm to third parties, including United States workers and TransCanada's customers that are relying on the current in-service date of the project," Ramsay said at the time.</s>TransCanada Can't Get 9th Circ. To Lift Keystone XL Work Ban

Law360 (March 15, 2019, 11:30 PM EDT) -- The Ninth Circuit on Friday rejected TransCanada Keystone Pipeline LP's request to begin construction on the Keystone XL pipeline while it appeals court orders blocking the controversial project, saying the natural...

To view the full article, register now.</s>TransCanada Corp., the developer of the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline, lost a bid to circumvent a federal judge’s ruling that has further delayed the project.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit denied TransCanada’s request for a stay on a Montana federal judge’s ruling that halted work on Keystone XL while it appeals that decision. The court said Friday that the company hadn’t made a strong enough showing that it was likely to prevail on the merits of its case.</s>Environmental groups are celebrating as the $8-billion Keystone XL pipeline faces further delays. The U.S. appeals court upheld a November 2018 ruling by the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana that blocked construction on the controversial tar sands pipeline amid an ongoing legal challenge.In November, U.S. District Court Judge Brian Morris ruled the Trump administration violated bedrock environmental laws when approving a federal permit for the pipeline. The ruling blocked any construction while the government revises its environmental review.The outcome resulted in TransCanada and the Trump administration appealing the Montana decision to the Ninth District Court of Appeals. TransCanada has argued that if it could not begin construction on the pipeline by March 15, it would miss the 2019 construction season altogether. Now, with Friday's decision, TransCanada is saying construction won't be able to start again until 2020, if at all.“It’s been over a decade since this dirty tar sands pipeline was proposed, and TransCanada just keeps doing the same thing and hoping for a different result,” said Sierra Club Senior Attorney Doug Hayes. “Keystone XL would be a bad deal for the American people, and it’s never been more obvious that it will never be built.” CBC Canada is reporting that in a January legal filing, Norrie Ramsay, TransCanada's senior vice-president of technical center and liquid projects, wrote, "A one-year delay in the construction schedule would impose very significant consequences on TransCanada."Ramsey estimated this would "result in lost earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) of approximately $949 million US between March 2021 and March 2022, based on the minimum take-or-pay shipper commitment."</s>A federal appeals court has upheld a Montana judge’s ruling barring construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada.

TransCanada had asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to put the ruling from U.S. District Judge Brian Morris on hold while its appeal is pending, and allow the Calgary-based company to begin building the pipeline.

In a Friday ruling, a two-judge panel said Morris carefully considered all factors in his decision to prevent the company from working on the proposed 1,184-mile pipeline from Alberta to Nebraska.

 TransCanada attorneys had said an injunction issued by Morris in November could cause it to miss the 2019 construction season.

Morris allowed TransCanada to perform some activities outside the pipeline’s right-of-way, including the construction of pipe storage yards.</s>(Bloomberg) -- TransCanada Corp., the developer of the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline, lost a bid to circumvent a federal judge’s ruling that has further delayed the project.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit denied TransCanada’s request for a stay on a Montana federal judge’s ruling that halted work on Keystone XL while it appeals that decision. The court said Friday that the company hadn’t made a strong enough showing that it was likely to prevail on the merits of its case.

The denial means TransCanada will have to continue to wait while the government completes a new environmental review -- this time considering oil prices and greenhouse-gas emissions and proposing a new spill-response strategy -- before it can proceed with major work on the line. TransCanada had argued that failing to stay the Montana ruling would cost the company more than $900 million in earnings and deprive the economy of thousands of jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes and contractor payments.

The 1,179-mile (1,897-kilometer) Keystone XL pipeline would help move 830,000 barrels of crude a day from Alberta’s oil sands to U.S. Gulf Coast refiners, providing relief to a Canadian energy industry that has suffered from a lack of pipeline space. The $8 billion project was first proposed a decade ago and has been repeatedly stalled by opposition from environmental groups.

To contact the reporter on this story: Kevin Orland in Calgary at korland@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Simon Casey at scasey4@bloomberg.net, Peter Blumberg, Catherine Traywick
A U.S. appeals court denies TransCanada's request to lift an injunction preventing pre-construction work on the Keystone XL expansion from beginning. The company claims this will delay the project by a year.