PIERRE, S.D. (AP) - Republican Gov. Dennis Daugaard welcomed the Trump administration’s decision Friday to approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline and said he hoped any protests over the long-contested project would be peaceful.
Daugaard said in a statement that he recognizes some in South Dakota won’t celebrate the decision, but he said that it’s a victory for “all of us who rely on oil to heat our homes, fuel our cars and power our tractors.” The $8 billion project would move crude oil from Alberta, Canada, across Montana and South Dakota to Nebraska, where it would connect with existing pipelines feeding refineries along the Gulf Coast.
Native American tribes, some landowners and environmental groups oppose the pipeline, fearing it would contaminate water supplies and contribute to pollution. Opponents have asked a South Dakota judge to reverse a decision by state regulators to authorize the portion of the project that would traverse the state.
The South Dakota Public Utilities Commission last year voted to accept pipeline developer TransCanada Corp.’s guarantee that it would meet all conditions laid out by the commission when it approved that state’s portion of the project in 2010.
Opponents appealed the commission’s decision to state court, which heard arguments earlier in March. It’s not clear when Judge John Brown will rule.
Robin Martinez, an attorney for conservation and family agriculture group Dakota Rural Action, said it appears the federal government is going to be backing off regulatory oversight, which puts the burden back on the states and heightens the Public Utilities Commission’s role.
“If the federal government is going to basically say, ’Go right ahead and build, no impediments on the federal side,’ that pretty much leaves it up to the states,” Martinez said.
Terry Cunha, a spokesman for TransCanada, said in an email that the company has “all the permits in South Dakota and easements are secured.” Cunha said construction won’t start in South Dakota until TransCanada gets route approval in Nebraska.
Daugaard’s administration has been preparing for potential protests over the pipeline. He recently signed a bill that imposes new penalties for standing in the highway to stop traffic or trespassing in posted emergency areas. Under some circumstances, it also allows the commissioner of school and public lands, at the request of the governor and local sheriff, to block groups larger than 20 people from gathering on land under the office’s supervision.
The bill was a scaled-back version of a measure the governor championed amid concerns about large demonstrations like the ones in North Dakota over the Dakota Access oil pipeline.
“I hope we will all seek to exercise our First Amendment rights peacefully, and respect the right of others to do likewise,” Daugaard said Friday.
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