US Federal Judge Blocks TransCanada's Keystone XL Pipeline - Reports

Federal Judge Brian Morris ruled Thursday that the administration of US President Donald Trump failed to properly analyze such factors as environmental impact of greenhouse gases from the pipeline and the risks of oil spills, according to The Hill outlet

Thus, the court supported claims of various environmental groups and native American tribes that protested against the project, which traverses sacred tribal lands and could pollute local waters.

According to the media outlet, the court decision requiring further environmental analysis once again throws into doubt the future of the project.

Earlier this year, reports emerged that TransCanada, the developer of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, plans to start the construction in 2019.

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Prior to that, the court in Montana ruled that the company must conduct an additional environmental review of the pipeline's new route. On September 21, the State Department published an environmental assessment of a new proposed pipeline route through Nebraska, concluding that it does not threaten local waters or flora and fauna.

In March 2017, the State Department issued a permit for TransCanada to construct the $8 billion Keystone XL pipeline immediately after Trump approved the pipeline deal. The Keystone XL pipeline is the last section of the entire Keystone project that remains to be constructed. Former President Barack Obama had previously blocked the project in 2015.

The proposed Keystone XL 1,179-mile pipeline would carry up to 830,000 barrels of crude oil per day from the Canadian province of Alberta to the US state of Nebraska and down to oil refineries on the Texas Gulf Coast.