Environmentalists with the Sierra Club are asking a federal judge to halt construction of a $2 billion natural gas pipeline being built by Houston pipeline operator Kinder Morgan through the scenic Texas Hill Country.
Arguing that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers skirted federal environmental laws when it issued a federal permit to Kinder Morgan, the Sierra Club is asking U.S. District Court Judge Robert Pitman for an injunction to stop ongoing construction on the Permian Highway Pipeline.
Sierra Club sued the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers over the project in an endangered species lawsuit filed in April. The environmental group’s request for injunction alleges that agency officials approved the project without the required analysis of environmental impacts across 129 waterways, public participation and consideration of alternative routes.
“The Army Corps is allowing construction of the Permian Highway fracked gas pipeline despite not having considered the environmental impacts and alternatives that NEPA requires. This illegal construction activity is putting Texas waterways and communities at risk, and the court should put a stop to it immediately,” Sierra Club Attorney Rebecca McCreary said.
Kinder Morgan stands behind the project as well as the state and federal permitting processes used to approve the pipeline. The company said the pipeline is more than 65 percent mechanically complete and expected to be placed in service during the first quarter of 2021.
“The Sierra Club’s preliminary injunction filing seeks to invalidate a long-standing permitting process in order to delay critical infrastructure projects like PHP,” Kinder Morgan said. “In the development of PHP, Kinder Morgan has adhered to the rigorous verification process established by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, in addition to oversight by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Texas Railroad Commission.”
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