Landowners sue Nebraska governor over eminent domain use for Keystone XL

A group of landowners in Nebraska is suing their state governor in order to stop the Keystone XL pipeline project, which is being built to transport tar sands petroleum from Alberta to oil refineries in Texas.

Inside Climate News reported this group of landowners, who recently helped stop TransCanada’s plan to build through Nebraska’s environmentally-sensitive Sandhills area, have said the laws upholding pipeline construction are unconstitutional, but state officials are disregarding the suit, saying it should be thrown out because eminent domain lawyer teams representing the landowners have no right to make the challenge.

The group, led by Randy Thompson, Susan Luebbe and Susan Dunavan has challenged Nebraska's controversial "pipeline siting" law by filing a suit against Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman, the state treasurer and the director of the Department of Environmental Quality.

According to the landowners, the pipeline siting law, which went into effect last April, allows the oil company and other energy corporations to avoid rigorous environmental assessments by working through the DEQ, and not through the state's Public Service Commission.

While TransCanada's new route avoids the fragile Sandhills ecosystem, but it still crosses the Ogallal aquifer, one of the most important water sources in the state. 

Legal experts say the State Department will have the final say on whether to approve the Keystone XL's northern leg because it crosses a national border, but Nebraska regulators are largely responsible for determining whether the pipeline's route through the state is safe to people and the environment.

The pipeline sitting law also gives Gov. Heineman, who is in complete support of the project, the ultimate authority to approve or reject the Nebraska route. The law even lets TransCanada confiscate private land for Keystone XL construction through eminent domain before the project is federally approved. 

In response, the landowners want the law declared unconstitutional for giving the governor "unlawful" authority over pipelines and their private property. But it's still unclear if the case will be allowed to proceed.

Eminent domain attorney teams working on the case from the Nebraska Attorney General's office argued that the suit should be thrown out during a hearing last September. They said landowners have no right to challenge the $2 million pipeline review process because it isn't being funded by taxpayers. 

To this day, the route of the Keystone XL and it’s ultimate fate remain unclear, but judging from the state of the legal battles in Nebraska, it seems clear that governments support the project.