A white Egret in the Gulf of Mexico stand in stark contrast to the
oil-blackened wetland reeds, 08/30/10.
(photo: Julie Dermansky/Corbis)
Anti-Keystone Pipeline Lawsuit Coming
30 October 11
Four environmental groups are preparing a lawsuit that alleges the Obama administration has not adequately studied how the proposed Keystone XL oil sands pipeline would affect several endangered species.
The lawsuit would add to the ongoing political and legal battle over TransCanada Corp.'s pipeline that would carry crude oil from Alberta's oil sands to Gulf Coast refineries.
The groups sent a formal notice of intent to sue Thursday to the State Department - which is heading the federal review of the project - and several other agencies.
"State and [the US Fish and Wildlife Service] have failed to conduct formal consultation to consider the effects of the Keystone XL Pipeline project (Project) to the Whooping Crane, Interior Least Tern, Piping Plover, Western Prairie Fringed Orchid, Pallid Sturgeon, and Arkansas River Shiner," states the Oct. 27 letter from the Sierra Club, National Wildlife Federation, Natural Resources Defense Council and Nebraska Wildlife Federation.
The State Department issued a final environmental impact statement (EIS) in August that gave the project a largely favorable review, and hopes to make a final decision by the end of the year. The letter is designed to ensure the option to litigate if the permit is issued.
The groups, in the letter, allege the "biological assessment" prepared alongside the EIS and a subsequent "biological opinion" prepared by the US Fish and Wildlife Service were shoddy in their analysis of the pipeline's effect on the species.
For instance, the letter notes that "This unduly narrow analysis omits impacts such as the effects of habitat fragmentation from the Pipeline's pump sites, construction camps, and power lines."
It adds:
The [biological assessment] further fails to address numerous criticisms raised by FWS early on, including the need to adequately survey for the presence of listed species in the action area, quantify the total areas of habitat that would be lost to the Pipeline or the number of power lines that would be added, or catalog the locations where water depletions would come from and where water used for hydrostatic testing would be discharged, and how waterbodies and wetlands would be crossed.
The planned lawsuit comes in addition to separate, ongoing litigation by three other groups: the Center for Biological Diversity, the Western Nebraska Resources Council and Friends of the Earth.
That litigation, filed in a Nebraska federal court, was expanded through an amended complaint this week that alleges the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service "unreasonably and unlawfully concurred that the Pipeline is ‘not likely to adversely affect' endangered and threatened species."
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