After U.S. President Barack Obama announced last spring he was once again delaying his decision on TransCanada’s proposed Keystone XL pipeline the debate appeared to be put on hold in Canada too. But in the U.S. TransCanada continues to square off against landowners and environmentalists who oppose the project.
Calgary-based TransCanada first filed an application in the U.S. in 2008 to build the 1897-kilometre pipeline from northern Alberta to Steele City Nebraska that would connect to the existing Keystone pipeline system transporting crude to the Gulf Coast in Texas. TransCanada spokesperson Mark Cooper says the “base” Keystone pipeline is already transporting oil but the Keystone XL component which will increase capacity and cut a more direct route to the Gulf is awaiting approval to be built. If opponents have their way it never will.
The proposed route through South Dakota was approved by that state’s Public Utilities Commission (PUC) in 2010 however TransCanada did not have federal approval or landowner agreements to proceed with construction. The PUC approval expired this summer forcing TransCanada to make its case all over again. Cooper says the company can make an even stronger case for its proposal now but it also faces stronger opposition.
South Dakota rancher Paul Seamans says when the proposal first came forward in 2008 the goal of landowners was to negotiate good land easement agreements with TransCanada as the company angled to build the pipeline on their property. He says many landowners believed the pipeline was inevitable whether they supported it or not.
Seamans says TransCanada’s representatives have since earned a reputation for strong-arming landowners who have banded together in opposition.
“TransCanada tells the media that almost all landowners have voluntarily signed easements making it sound like the landowners are in favour of the KXL. Nothing could be further from the truth. If TC didn’t have the power of condemnation I doubt that they would even have a fourth of the landowners signed up…. TransCanada will come into your place lay down their easement and say ‘you’d just as well sign this because it’s the best offer you’re going to get and maybe if we come back later we’ll offer you less.’ And they let you know right away that if you don’t sign they have the power of eminent domain and they could take you to court” says Seamans who has signed an easement agreement with TransCanada.
TransCanada has long been accused of using questionable negotiating tactics and using eminent domain laws to seize land in all the states on the pipeline’s route — accusations the company denies.
“We’ve been partnering with landowners for the last 60 years. We’ve partnered with some 60000 landowners across North America and in the very large majority of cases they’ve gone very very well” says Cooper.
“We always aim to treat landowners with extreme respect…. With every infrastructure project that moves forward there’s always going to be people that do not agree with the project” he adds.
Opposition in Nebraska is also based on rural landowners’ discontent. Jane Kleeb of the landowners’ rights group Bold Nebraska has become an informal leader of the fight against Keystone XL in that state.
Greenpeace Canada invited Kleeb to tour northern Alberta with journalist Andrew Nikiforuk and solar panel designer Randall Benson from October 14 to 20. The trio met with the public to talk about Alberta’s potential shift toward green energy production and away from oil gas and coal in a speaking tour called Panels not Pipelines. For Kleeb it was also an opportunity to meet people who live at the source of the oil and the pipeline she stands against.
“It was pretty eye-opening to see parts of the landscape that have been really destroyed by the tarsands industry up around the Peace River…. The thing that kept on going over and over in my mind is what is going to happen in 25 years when a lot of this land is polluted? Those communities are going to shrink and you will just have swaths of polluted land” says Kleeb.
Greenpeace Canada spokesperson Mike Hudema says Kleeb was invited on the tour because the form of the opposition to Keystone XL in Nebraska is distinct from that in Alberta.
“Not only are they stopping this major pipeline and standing up to one of the biggest pipeline companies on the planet” he says “but they’re also doing it in a very unique way. And the uniqueness is that they’re building very unlikely alliances working with farmers and ranchers and First Nations communities.”
The Nebraska Supreme Court is expected to make a ruling on the proposed route for Keystone XL through the state this fall. Cooper says that ruling and the PUC certification hearing in South Dakota are the last regulatory hurdles for TransCanada before the U.S. State Department can give or deny final approval for the pipeline.
