union sellout construction

<div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">===</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">note TC is name/branc change not typo in ct docs]</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.desmog.com/2020/05/03/keystone-xl-future-pipeline-permits/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">https://www.desmog.com/2020/05/03/keystone-xl-future-pipeline-permits/</a></font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx doc FB</font></font></font></font></div><div><b>Big Oil Fears Keystone XL Ruling Means End of Easy Pipeline Permits</b></div><div>A ruling from a Montana judge could have far-reaching implications for a water-crossing permit frequently used by fossil fuel pipeline construction projects.</div><div>
</div><div>By Steve Horn on <b>May 3, 2020</b></div><div> </div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 51);">On April 15, Judge Brian Morris nullified water-crossing permits in Montana that were granted for the Keystone XL, a major setback for the long-embattled tar sands oil pipeline. The ruling came just days after Keystone XL owner TC Energy, formerly known as TransCanada, obtained billions of dollars in subsidies from the Alberta government as global oil prices plummeted.</span></div><div>
</div><div>The oil and gas industry has taken notice. Seemingly just a ruling on Keystone XL — the subject of opposition by the climate movement for the past decade — the ruling could have far broader implications for the future of building water-crossing pipelines and utility lines.</div><div>
</div><div>In his decision, Judge Morris cited a potential violation of the Endangered Species Act when he ordered the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to do a deeper analysis of potential impacts to protected specie<b>s. Morris required the Corps to demonstrate whether or not it could construct the pipeline without harming endangered species</b>, such as the Pallid Sturgeon or the American burying beetle.<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> Instead, the Army Corps “failed to consider relevant expert analysis and failed to articulate a rational connection between the facts it found and the choice it made,” Morris ruled, when the Corps gave Keystone XL the initial green light.</span></div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The original July 2019 complaint in that case — filed by Northern Plains Resource Council, Bold Alliance, Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council, and Center for Biological Diversity — also argued that the <b>Army Corps had violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in using an obscure regulatory lever to fast-track the review proc</b></span><b>ess.</b></div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Known as <b>Nationwide Permit 12,</b> the permit only requires a short environmental analysis compared to the more robust environmental impact statement required under NEPA for other major infrastructure projects. </span>But Morris also wrote that the decision applied not just to Keystone XL, but to all major federal projects aiming to utilize Nationwide Permit 12, calling for it to be “vacated pending completion of the consultation process and compliance with all environmental statutes and regulations.”</div><div>
</div><div>Just two days after this decision, Army Corps regulatory program Chief Jennifer Moyer wrote in an email obtained by the Associated Press that the agency should suspend the program indefinitely “out of an abundance of caution” until the issue is resolved legally.</div><div>
</div><div><b>The Trump administration has already requested a procedural halt on implementing Morris’ decision until its potential appeal weaves its way through the legal system.</b></div><div>
</div><div>“The Court has eliminated Nationwide Permit 12 for use by any utility line project anywhere in the country, which has extraordinary and immediate implications for numerous projects,” the U.S. Department of Justice attorneys wrote on behalf of the Army Corps.</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">The American Petroleum Institute (API), the lobbying and advocacy voice of the oil and gas industry, has also filed an affidavit in favor of putting a procedural halt to Morris’ ruling.</span></div><div>
</div><div>“The ability to provide reliable energy is even more important now during this sensitive and challenging time brought on by COVID-19,” Robin Rorick, Vice President of Midstream and Industry Operations for API, wrote in the affidavit. “The Court’s Order could threaten API’s members’ ability to continue numerous energy and infrastructure projects, affecting the health of numerous companies and job security in an already-strained economy.”</div><div>
</div><div>API also joined <b>North America’s Building Trades Unions</b> and Interstate Natural Gas Association of America in denouncing the ruling along similar lines.</div><div>
</div><div><b>‘Single and Complete’</b></div><div><b>Nationwide Permit 12 historically was used for small “single and complete” projects crossing water parcels half an acre in size or smaller.</b></div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">But in the aftermath of protests and civil disobedience actions taken against Keystone XL, the <b>Obama administration</b> began using that permitting process to split pipelines into hundreds or thousands of half-acre piece</span>s. The process was a way around the more robust and democratic National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulatory process, which involves both a public commenting and public hearing phase. Nationwide Permit 12 was also used to push through the Dakota Access pipeline, as well as the southern leg of the Keystone XL, both greenlighted by President Barack Obama.....</div></div>