TransCanada rep helped Nebraska senator shape new law favouring pipeline
“A Republican state senator from Nebraska who introduced a law that could help TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline proposal get approval says his bill was drafted after “numerous conversations” with representatives from the Canadian company.
“TransCanada was in Nebraska, as they were in other states, continuously,” Sen. Jim Smith told the Star in an interview.
“I think they had a presence through lobbies and everyone else. So absolutely, I’ve had numerous conversations with TransCanada as I’ve also had conversations with other interested parties in the process.”
Smith’s bill, LB 1161, which became law in 2012, prompted a legal challenge from three landowners. Their case led the Obama administration to delay its decision on whether to approve the multibillion dollar pipeline project linking Alberta’s oilsands region with refineries in Texas.
The new law turned over signing authority to the state governor, instead of the legislature, to exercise eminent domain — the power of a government to expropriate land for the public good.
The Nebraska Supreme Court began hearing arguments in the case last week.
Environmentalists, including a local advocacy group opposed to the Keystone XL pipeline, Bold Nebraska, have been raising questions about who was behind LB 1161 ever since Smith appeared in February 2012 at hearings held by a legislative committee examining his bill.”
De Souza, Mike. Thestar.com 11 September 2014.