Judge Halts Construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline

The Keystone pipeline is back in the ‘no’ column after a federal judge blocked its construction. The injunction stands until the government fixes the 2014 supplemental environmental statement (SEIS) to make it compliant with the requirements of NEPA and the APA.

The $8 billion 1,180 mile (1,900 km) pipeline has been a neat little microcosm of partisan politics for nearly a decade – Obama axed the project back in 2015 on environmental concerns, but two days after taking office, Trump approved the pipeline via executive order.

Back in September, the State Department performed its own Keystone environmental assessment – the 340-page draft review claimed the pipeline “would not harm water or wildlife.”

In the event of a spill, “prompt cleanup response would likely be capable of remediating the contaminated soils before the hazardous release reaches groundwater depth,” it said.

Furthermore, the pipeline’s route would have “no significant direct, indirect or cumulative effects on the quality of the natural or human environments.”

But a recent lawsuit claimed the 2014 SEIS failed to consider alternatives to Keystone. The plaintiffs argued that major fluctuations in oil prices would affect the pipeline’s viability. The 2014 SEIS analysis predicted that oil prices would oscillate from $100 to $140 per barrel over twenty years, and as long as oil fell within the range of $65-$75 per barrel, Keystone could break even.

“Pipeline constraints are unlikely to impact production given expected supply-demand scenarios, prices, and supply costs. Over the long term, lower-than-expected oil prices could affect the outlook for oil sand production," noted the 2014 SEIS.

Soon after publication of the SEIS, oil dropped to nearly $38 per barrel.

The lawsuit also claimed the SEIS didn’t properly consider the cumulative climate impact of Keystone in combination with other pipelines and also that the Department failed to provide a “full and fair discussion” on Keystone’s effect on cultural resources, new information regarding oil spills, and finally that it “failed to respond adequately to public comments that it received on the Draft 2014 SEIS.”

Because of these and other factors, the federal judge ruled that Keystone construction is suspended until the government provides a supplement to the 2014 SEIS addressing the plaintiffs’ voluminous concerns.

So, yes, the government must provide a supplement to a supplement. And that’s why nothing gets done in Washington.

Read more about this story here: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/09/climate/judge-blocks-keystone-pipeline.html