Keystone XL Pipeline Mired in Bureaucratic Wrangling, Civil Protest, Legal Challenges

The Keystone XL pipeline, designed to convey tar sands crude oil from Alberta, Canada, to oil refineries on the Texas Gulf Coast, still remains mired in controversy, finger-pointing, and what many consider to be bureaucratic foot-dragging.

EPA criticizes State Department draft review of Keystone XL

According to the Hill, the EPA has criticized the draft review of the pipeline project by the State Department. Because the pipeline would cross an international border between the United States and Canada, the State Department is charged with evaluating its environmental impact. The EPA charged that the State Department provided "insufficient information" on environmental issues surrounding the pipeline and failed to consider alternate routes. It suggested that the State Department depended on outdated models for the impact the pipeline would have on the development of the Alberta tar sands fields.

EPA accused of bureaucratic foot-dragging

Hot Air suggested that the EPA is engaged in bureaucratic foot-dragging, attempting to slow down the approval of the Keystone XL pipeline project in hopes of delaying a difficult decision until after the 2014 midterm elections. However President Barack Obama decides, he risks offending an important constituency. If he approves the pipeline, he angers environmentalists. If he rejects the pipeline, he alienates powerful labor unions.

Environmentalists pledge continued resistance

The Houston Chronicle reports that environmental activists are pledging "massive" resistance to the Keystone XL pipeline. Environmental groups claim that 60,000 people have signed a pledge to risk arrest in an effort to stop the pipeline with tens of thousands expected to follow.

Most Americans and Canadians support the Keystone XL pipeline

Yahoo! News Canada reports that despite environmental opposition, a new poll suggests that the vast majority of both Canadians and Americans support the Keystone XL pipeline. The poll, conducted by Nik Nanos, reports that 74 percent of Americans and 68 percent of Canadians who have heard of the Keystone XL pipeline support their respective governments' approval of the project.

Texas Supreme Court rejects Keystone XL pipeline challenge

Bloomberg reports that the Texas Supreme Court has refused to hear a challenge to the eminent domain process by which TransCanada, the company building the Keystone XL pipeline, is acquiring private land to build the section already approved to stretch from a storage facility in Oklahoma to the Texas Gulf Coast refineries. Besides environmentalists, some Texas landowners have objected to the building of the pipeline and had asked the court to withhold the power to condemn land for the building of interstate pipelines. Three similar cases are still pending.

Texas resident Mark Whittington writes about state issues for the Yahoo! Contributor Network.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/keystone-xl-pipeline-mired-bureaucratic-wrangling-civil-protest-163500319.html

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