Keystone foes target pipeline’s SD permit

Anti-Keystone groups are targeting TransCanada’s move to re-certify its permits in South Dakota for the Keystone XL pipeline.

Dakota Rural Action said late last week that it plans to contest the permit process, the Rapid City Journal reports.

{mosads}Chairman of the Dakota conservation group, Paul Seamans, said the permits were issued in 2010 by the state’s public utilities commission with the understanding that Keystone would boost oil supplies.

“The shale oil revolution in the U.S. during the last six years has precluded any need for importation of tarsands crude from Canada for domestic use,” he said.

Keystone’s route is currently in question in Nebraska, where the state’s supreme court heard oral arguments Friday over whether the governor or public service commission has the authority to approve the pipeline’s route.

TransCanada is not a party to the court proceedings but stressed that through the entire permitting process it has “followed the rules and procedures” and will continue to do so.