As the southern leg of the Keystone XL Pipeline in Texas is almost complete, the legal battle over whether the pipeline should be there continues.
Audio transcript
Haslett: Last week, Lamar County landowner Julia Trigg Crawford was in Greenville at a District Court, which heard opening arguments in her appeal of a 2012 decision in Lamar County court. The lower court rejected Crawford’s challenge of TransCanada Corporation's use of eminent domain law to put the pipeline on her property.
Crawford’s attorney is Plano environmental lawyer Wendi Hammond. She says that the district court’s decision will likely take a while, and that whatever this court decides, there’s a very good chance that the case will find its way to the state supreme court. Hammond says neither side is likely to throw in the towel if they lose at this level.
Hammond: We are just going to be waiting on a decision. I have no idea how long that will take. Appellate courts in other areas of Texas actually have taken anywhere from three to nine months to issue orders. So I have no idea how long this appellate court will take. We'll go from there and decide what happens next. I would not feel out of place hazarding a guess that no matter what, the decision will go before a petition for discretionary review to the Texas Texas Supreme Court. Because we fully intend to do that if the decision is not favorable. And I'm fairly certain TransCanada will probably do that if the decision is not favorable to them.
Haslett: The southern leg Keystone XL pipeline is set to run from Cushing Oklahoma to refineries on the Texas Gulf Coast. TransCanada corporation plans to transport diluted bitumen, often referred to as tar sands oil, through the pipeline. For KETR news, this is Mark Haslett.
