We have some great Pipeline Fighter news to close out 2020!
Nebraska farming and ranching families currently fighting TransCanada in court to stop eminent domain seizure of their land for the Keystone XL pipeline have scored a late-year victory.
Three Nebraska judges this month have separately acknowledged landowners' claims that TransCanada substantially and materially changed the Keystone XL pipeline route since it was approved in 2017 -- such that the company may need to re-apply for a new route certification with the Nebraska Public Service Commission (PSC). [1]
Two of these judges also cited President-elect Joe Biden's pledge [2] to rescind Keystone XL's permits and stop the project as reasoning for their halting all of TransCanada's current eminent domain proceedings against Nebraska landowners in their courts until further notice, in Seward and Jefferson counties.
If the courts determine that TransCanada has materially changed the pipeline route since 2017, the company would be required to re-file a new application for a pipeline route with the Public Service Commission -- and be back to "square one" in a six- to nine-month process that would include a new "intervenor" hearing where landowners and citizens could again voice their concerns and opposition to the Keystone XL project. Many thanks to the hard work of landowners' attorney Brian Jorde and the Domina Law Group!
The Nebraska judges' citations of President-elect Biden's pledge to kill the project in 21 days once he takes office on Inauguration Day should compel TransCanada to abandon its shameful harassment of landowners, and ongoing fruitless efforts to seek local permits, and engage in "pre-construction" activities that bring the added irresponsible risk of out-of-state pipeline workers into strained rural and Tribal communities during the coronavirus pandemic.
Bold will continue to stand with and support the landowners fighting TransCanada in court, and we'll celebrate this victory with the folks who have been granted some temporary relief.
Sent via ActionNetwork.org.
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