A US judge canceled a key permit on 15 April for the Keystone XL oil pipeline that’s expected to stretch from Canada to Nebraska, another setback for the disputed project that got underway only recently following years of delays.
Judge Brian Morris said the US Army Corps of Engineers failed to adequately consider effects on endangered species such as pallid sturgeon, a massive, dinosaur-like fish that lives in rivers the pipeline would cross.
The ruling, however, does not shut down work that has begun at the US/Canada border crossing in Montana, according to attorneys in the case. Pipeline sponsor TC Energy will need the permit for future construction across hundreds of rivers and streams along Keystone’s 1,200-mile route.
“It creates another significant hurdle for the project,” said Anthony Swift with the Natural Resources Defense Council, one of the groups that challenged the permit.
“Regardless of whether they have the cross-border segment ... Keystone XL has basically lost all of its Clean Water Act permits for water crossings,” he said.
TC Energy was reviewing the ruling but remained “committed to building this important energy infrastructure project,” spokesman Terry Cunha said.
Officials with the Army Corps of Engineers did not have an immediate response to the ruling.