Federal Judge Blocks Keystone XL Pipeline’s Construction

(The AEGIS Alliance) – The pipeline would span 1,184 miles, capable of transporting upwards of 830,000 barrels of crude oils a day from the province of Alberta in Canada and Montana in the US to facilities in Nebraska.

In Montana, a federal judge has now blocked the $8 billion Keystone XL pipeline from being constructed. The judge cited to allow additional time to study the potential environmental impact of the project.

According to The Great Falls Tribune, the order by US District Judge Brian Morris made on Thursday happened just as Calgary-based TransCanada was getting ready to construct the first stages of the oil pipeline located in Northern Montana. TransCanada and the US Department of State faced lawsuits by environmental groups in the Great Falls federal court. The pipeline was also the reason for protests, including a “promise to protect” the land from the pipeline.

Judge Morris said the analysis by the government did not completely study the cumulative effects of emissions by greenhouse gases, how current oil prices would be effected by the pipeline’s viability, or including updates for the modeling of potential oil spills.

Previously in November 2017, the pipeline was shut down after leaking 210,000 gallons of oil followed by its opponents being “incensed” that the Nebraska panel wouldn’t consider this in their decision to continue with construction.

Keystone XL Pipeline Protest at the White House
Washington, DC
November 6, 2011
Photograph by Emma Cassidy
Featured Image Credit: CC/Flickr/tarsandsaction

Kyle James Lee – The AEGIS Alliance – This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.