Keystone XL
TransCanada Keystone Pipeline, L.P. (Keystone), 450 1st Street, S.W., Calgary, Alberta, Canada, T2P 5H1, has submitted a Major Facility Siting Act (MFSA) application to the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) to construct and operate a 36-inch-diameter crude oil pipeline. As proposed, the pipeline would start at Hardisty, Alberta, and cross the U.S./Canada border near Morgan, Montana, and continue in a southeast direction through Montana and exit the state of Montana and continue on through South Dakota and terminate at Steele City, Nebraska.
The following map shows the Applicant's preferred route, Alternative B, and the Approved Location in Montana, 42 variations identified by MDEQ, and 48 variations identified by Keystone. Initially, 19 variations to the proposed Project route, Alternative B, were identified in Montana and described in the draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). Each variation was given the designation of MTV (Montana Variation) and a number (e.g., MTV-11). These 19 variations were evaluated in the draft EIS.
During 2010, landowners submitted requests to consider additional variations during the draft EIS public comment period and landowner field visits conducted during the summer of 2010. MDEQ studied these additional variations to Alternative B. As a result of those requests, a total of 42 variations, 23 more than initially studied, were identified in Montana, ranging in length from about 0.2 mile to about 42.0 miles. The Montana Variations were developed by MDEQ to avoid or minimize impacts to specific resources, to increase the use of public land crossed, or to avoid or minimize conflicts with existing or proposed residential and agricultural land uses. Other Montana Variations were developed in response to requests submitted by concerned landowners.
Simultaneously, Keystone also conducted their own additional studies of potential reroutes to the proposed Project route in Montana, as well as those suggested by landowners and MDEQ. This resulted in the identification of 48 Keystone realignments (KEY-1 through KEY-48), ranging in length from about 0.2 mile to about 4.1 miles. Also, shown are preliminary locations for electrical lines that would provide power to planned pump stations.
The 42 MTVs and 48 KEYs are evaluated in the final EIS (FEIS), which was released by the U.S. Department of State and MDEQ as a cooperating agency on August 26, 2011.
On March 30, 2012 MDEQ issued a Certificate of Compliance for the project. The MDEQ Approved Location is based on the referenced centerline and 250 feet on either side of the centerline. In six areas along the Approved Location, MDEQ has approved variations which are larger than the 250 feet on either side of the centerline, Appendix E of the Environmental Specifications identifies and provides the reason for these variations.
Where there are many segments in a small area, users of this mapping application are advised to zoom in and pan along the length of the segments to see the individual segment names.
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