TransCanada filed its permit application with the PUC in March 2009. The PUC conducted public input hearings across the project area and a formal evidentiary hearing was held in November last year. The PUC order attaches several conditions for construction and operation of the pipeline in the state.
The order finds that the project, if constructed and operated in accordance with those conditions, will not significantly impact the environment or the health, safety and welfare of those in the area, and satisfies all applicable requirements of the state of South Dakota, TransCanada said.
The proposed project is an approximate 1,980-mile and 36-inch crude oil pipeline that will begin at Hardisty, Alberta and extend southeast through Saskatchewan, Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska.
It will incorporate a portion of the Keystone pipeline to be constructed through Kansas to Cushing, Oklahoma before continuing through Oklahoma to a delivery point near existing terminals in Nederland, Texas to serve the Port Arthur, Texas marketplace.
When completed, the Keystone expansion project will increase the commercial design of the Keystone pipeline system from 590,000 barrels per day to approximately 1.1 million barrels per day. The $12bn system is 83% subscribed with long-term commitments of 910,000 barrels per day for an average term of approximately 18 years.
The proposal also received approval from the federal regulators in Canada this month. Applications for other US regulatory approvals are proceeding and decisions are anticipated during the fourth quarter of 2010. Construction is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2011 and the company expects deliveries of crude oil to the US Gulf Coast to begin in the first quarter of 2013.
