US Supreme Court Rejects Bid To Resume Construction Of Keystone XL Pipeline - Filing

(@FahadShabbir)

US Supreme Court Rejects Bid to Resume Construction of Keystone XL Pipeline - Filing

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 07th July, 2020) The US Supreme Court has rejected a request from the Trump administration and from the project developer TC Energy to dismiss a lower court ruling blocking further construction of the Keystone XL pipeline because of a violation related to a water-crossing permit, a court document revealed.

In April, the US District Court of Montana ruled that the Army Corps of Engineers violated the Endangered Species Act when it issued the Federal permit and prohibited the Army Corps from using this fast-tracked approval process for the Keystone XL and other pipeline projects.

"The district court's May 11, 2020 order granting partial vacatur and an injunction is stayed, except as it applies to the Keystone XL pipeline, pending disposition of the appeal in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and disposition of the petition for a writ of certiorari, if such writ is timely sought," the court document said on Monday.

The order allows the federal permit to be used for other pipeline projects, but the block on the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline is upheld.

Keystone is an oil pipeline system that moves Alberta crude oil from the Canadian town of Hardisty to refineries and tank farms in the US states of Illinois, Oklahoma and Texas. The first three phases of the system are currently operational, however, the construction of the fourth phase, better known as Keystone XL, which is planned to transport oil to Nebraska, has caused a major uproar on both sides of the border.

The Keystone XL pipeline consists of 1,209 miles of new 36-inch-diameter pipeline, 327 miles of pipeline in Canada and 882 miles in the United States from the Saskatchewan border through Montana and South Dakota to a terminal in Steele City, Nebraska.