ELR Citation: 49 ELR 20024
No(s). CV-17-29-GF-BMM and CV-17-31-GF-BMM (D. Mont. Feb 15, 2019) (Morris, J.)

A district court granted in part and denied in part a pipeline company's motion to stay a previous order enjoining the company from continuing certain preconstruction activities on the Keystone XL oil pipeline until the State Department completed a supplemental EIS. The company sought to continue three off-right-of-way activities—preparation of off-right-of-way pipe storage and contractor yards; transportation, receipt, and off-loading of pipe at off-right-of-way storage yards; and preparation of sites for off-right-of-way construction camps—that it argued did not fall within the scope of any NEPA analysis because it involved only private action and impacted only private land. The court found the company showed it would suffer potential irreparable injury if it was not able to perform these activities, but that activities proposed in areas not yet surveyed for cultural resources when the initial EIS was issued had the potential to adversely impact the public's interest in an informed NEPA process. The court therefore issued a partial stay of its injunction to allow only those off-right-of-way activities concerning pipe transportation and preparation of pipe storage and container yards that would occur only in areas that had been surveyed for cultural resources and subjected to public review and comment when the EIS was issued.