TransCanada is warning Nebraska landowners who refuse to sign right-of-way contracts for the controversial Keystone XL pipeline that the company plans to proceed with eminent domain.
The 2012 state law that let Gov. Dave Heineman give final approval of the proposed Keystone XL route through Nebraska came with a deadline. TransCanada has until Jan. 22, two years after Heineman gave the company the thumbs-up, to begin eminent domain proceedings, which could force easements to allow construction, operation and maintenance of the pipeline.
Basically, the company has to use it or lose it.
But the issue could be moot if the Nebraska Supreme Court sides with a Lancaster County district judge who found the law, the Nebraska Major Oil Pipeline Siting Act, unconstitutional because it allowed the approval process to bypass the Nebraska Public Service Commission.
The high court is reviewing the legal challenge. It could issue a ruling as early as Friday, or the decision could come next year -- after the eminent domain deadline has passed.
“While we would prefer not to initiate the process to acquire outstanding land rights while there is uncertainty, we are bound by that deadline in order to meet our responsibility to continue to prepare to build the pipeline,” Andrew Craig, TransCanada’s Omaha-based land manager, said in the letter.
If the Supreme Court upholds the lower court’s decision, TransCanada has said it plans to file an application to have its route reviewed by the Nebraska Public Service Commission, which also oversees railroads, natural gas pipelines, taxicabs, grain warehouses, etc.
Craig said TransCanada considers eminent domain a last resort and would prefer to come to an out-of-court agreement with landowners. His goal is to get another 10 percent of Nebraska right of way secured voluntarily. The rest, he believes, will have to be settled through condemnation proceedings.
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TransCanada considers eminent domain : Politics
The 2012 state law that let Gov. Dave Heineman give final approval of the proposed Keystone XL route through Nebraska came with a deadline. TransCanada has until Jan. 22, two years after Heineman gave the company the thumbs-up, to begin eminent domain proceedings, which could force easements to allow construction, operation and maintenance of the pipeline.
Basically, the company has to use it or lose it.
But the issue could be moot if the Nebraska Supreme Court sides with a Lancaster County district judge who found the law, the Nebraska Major Oil Pipeline Siting Act, unconstitutional because it allowed the approval process to bypass the Nebraska Public Service Commission.
The high court is reviewing the legal challenge. It could issue a ruling as early as Friday, or the decision could come next year -- after the eminent domain deadline has passed.
“While we would prefer not to initiate the process to acquire outstanding land rights while there is uncertainty, we are bound by that deadline in order to meet our responsibility to continue to prepare to build the pipeline,” Andrew Craig, TransCanada’s Omaha-based land manager, said in the letter.
If the Supreme Court upholds the lower court’s decision, TransCanada has said it plans to file an application to have its route reviewed by the Nebraska Public Service Commission, which also oversees railroads, natural gas pipelines, taxicabs, grain warehouses, etc.
Craig said TransCanada considers eminent domain a last resort and would prefer to come to an out-of-court agreement with landowners. His goal is to get another 10 percent of Nebraska right of way secured voluntarily. The rest, he believes, will have to be settled through condemnation proceedings.
more
TransCanada considers eminent domain : Politics
