US stumbles in push to speed pipeline buildout

The Trump administration has quickened the permitting process for energy projects, but legal challenges are slowing progress

A US district court ruling has blocked construction of the 830,000 b/d Keystone XL crude pipeline, highlighting the obstacles that President Donald Trump faces as he seeks to "fast-track" oil and gas pipelines.

Speedy approvals by the administration sometimes result in delays later on, as courts block projects because of incomplete reviews. Montana District Court judge Brian Morris earlier this month rescinded the required permits for Keystone XL, saying the US State Department failed to adequately analyse issues such as the effect of low oil prices and oil spill risks, and did not provide a sufficient explanation for reversing an earlier finding under former president Barack Obama that the pipeline was not in the public interest.

If the ruling remains intact, pipeline developer TransCanada will struggle to meet its target of starting construction early next year on the pipeline, which would ship Canadian crude to the US midcontinent. And the court decision provides ammunition to critics who say Trump's decision to set a 60-day deadline to approve the pipeline ended up backfiring by providing too little time to update analyses that were initially finished in 2014.

"This is definitely a direct result of the Trump administration trying to push things as quickly as possible without regard to following the law," environmental group Sierra Club attorney Doug Hayes says. Hayes was involved in one of the lawsuits challenging the permit.

Keystone XL is just the latest infrastructure project to face legal setbacks over permits that the Trump administration has approved. The 1.9bn ft³/d (19.6bn m³/yr) Mountain Valley and the 1.4bn ft³/d Atlantic Coast gas pipelines were forced to halt construction in some areas after courts overturned key permit awards. These decisions have contributed to delays and cost overruns now estimated at $900mn and $2bn, respectively.

Trump pushed to expedite permitting early in his term, through efforts such as seeking a two-year deadline to approve most infrastructure projects. Last year he said he took "historic steps" to speed pipeline approvals and touted his personal intervention to rapidly approve Keystone XL. "We got it approved. And we got it approved fast," Trump said.

No need for speed

But environmentalists say the focus on speed is generating administrative records that fall short on the details demanded by laws such as the National Environmental Policy Act and the Administrative Procedure Act. "It is yet another case of an attempt to cut corners and skirt legal obligations, which is really not a way of expediting projects," Natural Resources Defense Council's Canada project director Anthony Swift says. The White House has not responded to requests for comment.

Pipeline developers reject the contention that permitting has been rushed. Dominion Energy, which is developing the Atlantic Coast pipeline, says the project went through an exhaustive review that took four years to complete. The company says federal agencies have "diligently addressed" errors that courts have found with a few of the permits. EQT, which is developing the Mountain Valley pipeline, and TransCanada did not respond to requests for comment.

And the permitting push has succeeded for some projects. Trump signed an order in early 2017 seeking expedited approval for the 525,000 b/d Dakota Access pipeline, helping it start service about four months later. The pipeline was allowed to stay open even after a judge ordered part of the permit to be revised. Trump's order was "instrumental" in finishing the pipeline, project developer Energy Transfer Partners says.