American Oil and Gas Reporter - May 2017 - 16

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IndustryDigest
Administrative Procedure Act, the
lawsuit argues.
The Independent Petroleum
Association of America cites published
reports that quote CBD Endangered
Species Director Noah Greenwald
saying, "When you go through a NEPA
process that is more than three years
old, you come to a decision that (the
pipeline) isn't in the national interest,
then come back three years later with
the same environmental analysis and
say that it is somehow in the national
interest just doesn't make sense."
On Jan. 24, President Trump signed
an executive memorandum inviting
TransCanada Corp. to re-submit its
application for a cross-border permit for
the Keystone XL (AOGR, March 2017,
pg. 28). That memorandum instructed
the State Department to consider its
January 2014 final supplemental
environmental impact statement as
satisfying all applicable requirements of
NEPA and the Endangered Species Act.
The State Department issued the
cross-border permit on March 24

(AOGR, April 2017, pg. 28).
TransCanada filed its application for a
border-crossing permit in 2008, but
eventually was rejected by President
Obama in November 2015 because it
"would undermine significantly our
ability to continue leading the world in
combatting climate change" (AOGR,
December 2015, pg. 30). The 1,187mile pipeline is intended to carry
800,000 barrels a day of crude oil from
Hardisty, Alberta, on a route through
Montana and South Dakota to a
connection in Steele City, Ne., for
eventual shipment to Gulf Coast
refineries.
The environmental groups' lawsuit
seeks an injunction setting aside the
cross-border permit and requiring the
departments of State and Interior to
undertake a new environmental
assessment.
Published reports say another lawsuit
to stop the Keystone XL Pipeline was
filed March 27 by the Indigenous
Environmental Network and the North
Coast Rivers Alliance. ❒

District Court Rejects
Driller's Challenge To
Delaware Basin Agency
HARRISBURG, PA.-A
Pennsylvania oil and natural gas
company has lost its legal challenge to a
drilling moratorium imposed by the
Delaware River Basin Commission
(DRBC). Congress approved the
compact, an agreement among the
United States, Pennsylvania, New York,
New Jersey and Pennsylvania, in 1961
to protect the Delaware River Basin.
In a ruling issued March 23, the U.S.
District Court for the Middle District of
Pennsylvania rejected Wayne Land &
Mineral Group LLC's claim that the
commission lacked jurisdiction or
regulatory authority to require it to seek
DRBC approval to build a well pad in
Wayne County, Pa., a portion of which
is in the Delaware River Basin.
According to media reports, Wayne
planned to build an access road and well
pad on the property in preparation for
drilling an exploratory well. It

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American Oil and Gas Reporter - May 2017

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