Canadian firm studies Kansas route for oil pipeline

[deminks]

http://kshb.com/kshb/nw_local_news/article/0,1925,KSHB_9424_5092430,00.html

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – Property owners in 10 Kansas counties could be approached next year by a Canadian energy firm looking to build more than 2,000 miles of crude oil pipeline in the United States, a company official said.

Separately, Keystone hopes to build two new pipeline extensions to take oil from terminals in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, and deliver it to existing crude oil terminals in Oklahoma. One of those – dubbed the Cushing extension – would stretch 292 miles from Platte County, Neb., to Cushing, Okla.

The Kansas counties that could be affected by the proposed pipelines to Illinois and Oklahoma are Marshall, Nemaha, Brown, Doniphan, Washington, Clay, Dickinson, Marion, Butler and Cowley.

Landowners will receive monetary compensation for granting easements, according to the U.S. State Department's Web site. If an agreement isn't reached, then Keystone may acquire easements under eminent domain laws.

Additional information here:

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/061022/business/keystone_hearings_1

CALGARY (CP) - Heightened debate over Canada's long-term future as a supplier of raw material is expected when the country's energy regulator begins hearings Monday into the Keystone pipeline proposal to ship oilsands crude to the United States.

"The pipeline proposal really recognizes where the ability to transform the product lies" and that's the United States, says economist Michal Moore from Calgary's Institute for Sustainable Energy, Environment and Economy.

The Council of Canadians has also appealed to the regulatory board to consider the implications of shipping that much crude across the border only to have it return refined at a much higher price.

"Is it in the best interests of Canadians to ship raw resources and jobs out of our country?" the council asked in a brief, also noting that a clause in the North American Free Trade Agreement restricts Canada's ability to cut back on future exports.