Landowners Gain More Time to Comment on Keystone XL Pipeline Application

State Department to issue new notice

Farm groups find current application incomplete

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Friday, December 5, 2008

At the urging of five farm-interest groups, the U.S. Department of State has agreed to issue a new notice for public comment in January on TransCanada’s application for the Presidential Permit to build the Keystone XL pipeline. The Department has indicated that the comment period for both the Presidential Permit and the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) will last until 45 days after completion of the draft EIS.

“Landowners and communities along the route deserve the courtesy of a complete application and comment period,” said Lyle Quick, a member of Northern Plains Resource Council, McCone County rancher and former county commissioner. “I am pleased that the State Department has agreed to provide landowners with much more information and more time to comment on the proposed Alberta tar sands pipeline that is going to cross eastern Montana, South Dakota and possibly North Dakota.”
 

Landowners facing potential eminent domain proceedings due to the proposed pipeline have expressed concerns about the notification process and the brief 30-day comment period that began on Election Day, November 4, through December 4. In a November 25 letter to the department, the Dakota Resource Council, Dakota Rural Action, Northern Plains Resource Council, Plains Justice, and Western Organization of Resource Councils asked the Department to re-publish notice of the Presidential Permit application and start a new, longer comment period so that farmers, ranchers, and other landowners would have a reasonable amount of time to comment.
 

The five groups, along with the McCone Agricultural Protective Organization in Montana and McKenzie County Energies and Taxation Association of North Dakota, said the Presidential Permit application was insufficient in comments submitted to the department on December 4.
 

“The current application is insufficient in all areas and far too incomplete to help us decide whether the pipeline is safe, would serve the national interest, or whether the application process protects the rights of landowners and communities along the proposed route,” said Quick.
 

The comments are available at www.worc.org.