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This topic curates the ongoing coverage of stories related to the Keystone XL/TransCanada Pipeline.

Texas Supreme Court will not review ruling favoring TransCanada

Mark Haslett
Crews building the Keystone XL pipeline in 2013. The southern leg of the project, which runs through Northeast Texas, has been completed and is operating.

Lamar County landowner Julia Trigg Crawford’s petition for review of a lower court’s ruling in favor of TransCanada Corp. has been denied by the Texas Supreme Court. Crawford had been contesting the Canadian company’s right to build the Keystone XL pipeline through her family’s farm in northwestern Lamar County.

The pipeline was completed in late 2013 and went online in January. The southern leg of the Keystone XL project runs from Cushing, Okla., to the Texas coast. The northern leg of the pipeline has yet to be built. The northern part of the project requires federal approval because it crosses an international border. The Obama Administration is expected to issue a final decision on Keystone XL this year.

The purpose of the project is to bring Canadian tar sands crude oil to refineries in the United States. Critics of the project have cited concerns with tar sands crude as a fuel source, including the intensive extraction process, transport hazards and the overall contribution of the product’s use to greenhouse gas emissions.

The Texas Supreme Court published a statement on March 21 saying it would not review the decision issued by an appellate court in August 2013 ruling that TransCanada met the state’s criteria necessary for appropriation of private land through eminent domain.

“With years invested in this fight for our land, and frankly the lands of many Texans threatened by eminent domain abuse, we are obviously disappointed our case would not be heard,” Crawford said in a statement on March 24.

Mark Haslett has served at KETR since 2013. Since then, the station's news operation has enjoyed an increase in listener engagement and audience metrics, as well recognition in the Texas AP Broadcasters awards.