LINCOLN, Neb. - The developer of the Keystone XL oil pipeline plans to start construction next year, after a U.S. State Department review ordered by a federal judge concluded that major environmental damage from a leak is unlikely and could quickly be mitigated, a company spokesman said Monday.

TransCanada spokesman Matthew John said the company remains committed to moving ahead with the project following years of reviews from federal and state regulators. The company has already started preparing pipe yards, transporting pipe and mowing parts of the project's right-of-way in Montana and South Dakota.

The report issued Friday from the Trump administration's State Department drew criticism from environmental groups, which say they'll continue to fight the project they view as an environmental threat.

"The Trump administration sees no problem with building the Keystone XL -- in other news, the grass is still green and the sky is still blue," said Kelly Martin, a campaign director for the Sierra Club.

The updated, 338-page report was released a little more than a month after a federal judge in Montana ordered the U.S. State Department to conduct a more thorough review of the pipeline's proposed pathway after Nebraska state regulators changed the route.

Nebraska commission approves alternative route for oil pipeline

The original environmental impact study was issued in 2014, before Nebraska regulators approved a longer "mainline alternative" route that veered away from the company's preferred pathway. President Donald Trump approved a federal permit for the project in March 2017, reversing former President Barack Obama's decision to reject it amid concerns over greenhouse admissions.

The report said the $8 billion, 1,184-mile pipeline would have a "negligible to moderate" environmental impact under its normal operations, and continuous monitoring and automatic shut-off valves would help company officials quickly identify a leak or rupture. Additionally, the report said TransCanada has a response plan in place that should mitigate the effects if it's implemented quickly.

"Prompt cleanup response would likely be capable of remediating the contaminated soil before the hazardous release reaches groundwater depth," the report said.

Environmentalists, Native American tribes and a coalition of landowners have prevented the company from moving ahead with construction. In addition to the federal lawsuit in Montana that seeks to halt the project, opponents have a pending lawsuit before the Nebraska Supreme Court. Oral arguments in the Nebraska case aren't expected until next month.

Critics of the project have raised concerns about spills that could contaminate groundwater and the property rights of affected landowners. In Nebraska, a major battleground for the project, opponents are trying to change the makeup of the Nebraska Public Service Commission in hopes of overturning its previous decision to approve an in-state route for the pipeline.

The latest State Department report is a draft that must still face public review and comments, but federal officials say they expect to have the final draft ready by December. In court documents from the Montana lawsuit, TransCanada's attorneys said they believe all the pending lawsuits will be resolved before construction begins.

The pipeline would carry up to 830,000 barrels of crude oil per day from Canada through Montana and South Dakota to Steele City, Nebraska, where it would connect with the original Keystone pipeline that runs down to Texas Gulf Coast refineries. The State Department has noted that TransCanada has a lower overall spill rate than average in the pipeline industry.</s>LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – The developer of the Keystone XL oil pipeline says it plans to start construction next year, after the U.S. State Department concluded major environmental damage from a leak is unlikely and could quickly be mitigated. TransCanada spokesman Matthew John said Monday that the company remains committed to moving ahead with the project following years of reviews from federal and state regulators. But the report issued Friday from the Trump administration’s State Department drew sharp criticism from environmental groups. They say they’ll continue to fight the project they view as an environmental threat. The report says the pipeline would have a “negligible to moderate” environmental impact under its normal operations, and continuous monitoring and the company’s response plan would mitigate the effects of any spill.

The post Keystone XL Developer Plans to Start Construction in 2019 appeared first on KFOR FM 103.3 1240 AM.</s>TransCanada could begin work on the construction of the now notorious Keystone XL oil pipeline as soon as next year after an environmental impact review from the U.S. State Department concluded the pipeline’s impact on the environment would be “negligible to moderate”, the AP reports, citing a TransCanada spokesman.

Matthew John said that TransCanada was already doing preparatory work on the pipeline’s construction but, the AP notes, the company had earlier said it will only begin actual construction work on the pipeline’s route in Montana and South Dakota in the first half of 2019. Opposition continues, however.

The environmental impact review by the State Department was ordered by a judge on the request of environmental groups and Native American tribes. Now, the same judge, Brian Morris, will be hearing a fresh case against Keystone XL, brought to him by two Native American tribes.

“The tribes are talking about cultural sites, archaeological sites, burial grounds, graveyards — none of that has been surveyed and it’s in the way of the pipeline,” one of the plaintiffs' attorneys said at the launch of the suit. Also, according to the plaintiffs, the pipeline could damage a water supply system in South Dakota that some 51,000 people rely on, including the residents of three Native American reservations.

Perhaps there are some who will be genuinely surprised if the Keystone XL project—vetoed by the Obama administration, revived by President Trump—ever sees the light of day. It has become one of the most controversial oil projects in North America, but it is also one of the most important for Canadian crude oil producers hit by a significant pipeline capacity shortage.

Yet, with all the pressure from environmentalists, pipeline builders have put in extra effort to secure their infrastructure’s safety. The State Department report on Keystone XL noted measures taken for the continuous monitoring of the pipeline, automatic shut-off valves, and a procedure for cleanup response that, the report said, “would likely be capable of remediating the contaminated soil before the hazardous release reaches groundwater depth.”
• None How Much Does The U.S. Spend On Defending Global Oil Supplies?</s>LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – The developer of the Keystone XL oil pipeline says it plans to start construction next year, after the U.S. State Department concluded major environmental damage from a leak is unlikely and could quickly be mitigated.

TransCanada spokesman Matthew John said Monday that the company remains committed to moving ahead with the project following years of reviews from federal and state regulators.

But the report issued Friday from the Trump administration’s State Department drew sharp criticism from environmental groups.

They say they’ll continue to fight the project they view as an environmental threat.

The report says the pipeline would have a “negligible to moderate” environmental impact under its normal operations, and continuous monitoring and the company’s response plan would mitigate the effects of any spill.

The Trump administration issued a permit in March 2017 to build the Keystone XL pipeline, reversing the conclusion of the Obama administration and clearing the way for the $8 billion project to finally be completed.</s>LINCOLN, Neb. — The developer of the Keystone XL oil pipeline says it plans to start construction next year, after the U.S. State Department concluded major environmental damage from a leak is unlikely and could quickly be mitigated.

TransCanada spokesman Matthew John said Monday that the company remains committed to moving ahead with the project following years of reviews from federal and state regulators.

But the report issued Friday from the Trump administration’s State Department drew sharp criticism from environmental groups. They say they’ll continue to fight the project they view as an environmental threat.

The report says the pipeline would have a “negligible to moderate” environmental impact under its normal operations, and continuous monitoring and the company’s response plan would mitigate the effects of any spill.

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>The US State Department has come to a conclusion that the $8bn Keystone XL pipeline project planned by TransCanada will not have any significant impact on the environment.

The 1,900km long Keystone XL pipeline project will not cause any harm to either water or wildlife, as per the environmental assessment carried out by the State Department for the pipeline’s revised route.

Designed to transport over 800,000 barrels per day of heavy crude from Canadian oil sands into the US, the 36inch diameter crude oil pipeline will start at Hardisty in Alberta province and end south to Steele City in Nebraska.

A draft review compiled by the State Department for the proposed pipeline project said that even if there is case of oil spillage along the revised route through Nebraska, the groundwater is likely to remain unaffected.

It further reads that a prompt cleanup response in such situations is expected to help in remediating the contaminated soils before the hazardous matter enters into groundwater depth.

The State Department also said enforcing the revised route for the Keystone XL pipeline project will not have any significant direct, indirect or cumulative impact on the quality of the natural or human environments.

The department’s review has been condemned by environmental organization Sierra Club.

Sierra Club Beyond Dirty Fuels campaign director Kelly Martin said: “The Trump administration sees no problem with building Keystone XL — in other news, the grass is still green and the sky is still blue.

“Keystone 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 for all.”

In late January, TransCanada announced that it had secured adequate shipper commitments to move ahead with the Keystone XL pipeline project.

The Canadian energy infrastructure company, which plans to start construction on the crude oil pipeline in 2019, had secured close to 500,000 barrels per day of firm and 20-year commitments at the time of the announcement.</s>Construction on the controversial Keystone XL pipeline is set to rev up next year. The project received a green light from the State Department late last week — the latest salvo in a contentious decade-long battle between indigenous communities and TransCanada, the pipeline’s developer.

On Friday, the State Department issued a 338-page supplemental environmental impact statement for an alternate route through Nebraska. The agency has determined that major environmental damage stemming from the $8 billion, 1,180-mile project would be “negligible to moderate.” According to the report, there will be safeguards in place that would prevent a leak from contaminating ground or surface water.

“Keystone XL has undergone years of extensive environmental review by federal and state regulators,” TransCanada spokesperson Matthew John said. “All of these evaluations show that Keystone XL can be built safely and with minimal impact to the environment.”

The review comes a little more than a month after a Montana court required the State Department to conduct a separate analysis — not part of the pipeline’s 2014 environmental impact study — of the updated route under the National Environmental Policy Act. The new route will be longer than TransCanada’s preferred route.

Following the release of the environmental assessment, TransCanada lawyers filed a response on Friday to address concerns by environmental and indigenous groups that are challenging the pipeline’s permit to cross into the U.S. from Canada in the Montana court.

But as TransCanada moves ahead with plans to construct the pipeline — which would carry up to 830,000 barrels of heavy crude from Canada’s oil sands in Alberta to Steele City, Nebraska — tribal communities living in its path remain steadfast in challenging the review’s conclusions.

“It’s a total disregard for the land, and the animals, and the people that reside on it and have for generations,” Faith Spotted Eagle, a member of the Yankton Sioux Tribe in South Dakota and a vocal opponent of major oil-pipeline projects like the Keystone XL pipeline and the Dakota Access pipeline, told Grist. “I think the thing to remember is that the people who are building this pipeline — they don’t care because they don’t have to live here. But it’s not going to stop me from fighting back.”

Pipeline-opponents on the front lines like Spotted Eagle are gearing up for what comes next, pledging to fight until the pipeline project is halted for good. Earlier this month, the Fort Belknap Indian Community of Montana and the Rosebud Sioux Tribe of South Dakota sued the Trump administration after it granted the pipeline a permit which they claimed didn’t assess how it’s construction “would impact their water and sacred lands.”

Indigenous groups aren’t the only ones voicing their discontent — the Sierra Club called the new State Department report a “sham review.” “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,” said Kelly Martin, director of the group’s Beyond Dirty Fuels campaign. “That fight will continue until Keystone XL is stopped once and for all.”

Members of the public have 45 days to comment on the State Department’s review, but Spotted Eagle is skeptical that the powers that be will even bother to consult with indigenous people residing in the pipeline’s route. “There is no regard to nation-to-nation relationships with tribes,” she says.</s>The U.S. State Department on Friday issued an environmental assessment of a revised route for the Keystone XL crude pipeline that concluded it would not harm water or wildlife, clearing a hurdle for the project that has been pending for a decade.

Even if the pipeline spilled crude oil along its revised route through Nebraska, a top concern of environmentalists, there would likely be no impact to groundwater, the nearly 340-page draft review said.

“Prompt cleanup response would likely be capable of remediating the contaminated soils before the hazardous release reaches groundwater depth,” the review said.

Last month a federal judge in Montana had ordered the State Department to conduct the review of a revised route of the project to take into account new information relevant to a permit it issued for the pipeline last year.

The review also said implementing the revised route would have “no significant direct, indirect or cumulative effects on the quality of the natural or human environments.”

U.S. President Donald Trump is eager to see the building of the pipeline, which was axed by former President Barack Obama in 2015 on environmental concerns relating to emissions that cause climate change.

The project has galvanized environmentalists, tribal groups and ranchers in opposition to the $8 billion 1,180 mile (1,900 km) pipeline that would carry heavy crude from Canada’s oil sands in Alberta to Steele City, Nebraska. From there the crude would be sent to refineries and potentially for export.

Canadian oil producers, who face discounts for their crude due to transport bottlenecks, U.S. refineries and pipeline builders, support the project.

TransCanada Corp plans to start construction in 2019, spokesman Matthew John said.

The company’s Chief Executive Russ Girling said last month that it could make a final investment decision on the project late this year or in early 2019, pending some regulatory approvals and court challenges.

Robert Kwan, an RBC analyst, said the draft review was a “positive step” for Keystone XL.

Environmentalists said the review was an example of the Trump administration trying to push through a project that would risk harming water resources and increase dependence on crude.

“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 for all,” said Kelly Martin, the Beyond Dirty Fuels campaign director for Sierra Club.</s></s>
The developer of the Keystone XL pipeline expects construction to start in 2019.