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Final Keystone pipeline environmental review delayed
News Articles Featured | Argus Leader | March 15, 2011
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The decision is a win for environmental and property-rights groups that have pressured lawmakers to delay approval of the roughly 1,700-mile pipeline, a project of Calgary-based TransCanada. The department’s other option was to issue a final environmental impact statement, which would not have required an additional public comment period.
“It’s a very wise decision by the State Department to measure twice before you cut once,” said Rick Hauffe of the National Wildlife Federation, which has lobbied against the pipeline.
A TransCanada spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment.
Because the pipeline would cross an international border, it requires a presidential permit from the State Department. TransCanada’s sister project, Keystone I, already is running upward of 450,000 barrels of crude per day through the eastern part of the state.
The department will begin soliciting public comments on the supplemental review sometime next month and should make a final decision by year’s end, according to a news release.
Reach environmental reporter Cody Winchester at 331-2320.
Tagged with: keystone xl, transcanada, state department, national wildlife federation
