Construction Of Keystone XL's Southern Segment Upheld By Federal Appeals Court

A federal appeals court Wednesday said a lower court was correct when it refused to temporarily stop construction of what is intended to be the southern end of the Keystone XL pipeline and carry oil from Oklahoma to refineries along the Gulf Coast.

The Sierra Club, Clean Energy Future of Oklahoma and the East Texas Sub Regional Planning Commission had sued the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, saying the project posed significant environmental hazards and shouldn't have been approved. The groups sought an order that would have stopped work on the pipeline while the lawsuit was being heard, but a district court denied that request last year.

In a split decision, a panel of judges on the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver upheld the ruling, saying the groups couldn't prove that potential environmental harm would surpass concrete economic harm that the pipeline's builders would see.

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