Keystone XL Case Heard by Nebraska Supreme Court

The Nebraska Supreme Court heard oral arguments today over a constitutional challenge to the Keystone XL pipeline, the Journal Star reports.

The issues in the case include:

* whether a 2012 statute giving the governor authority to approve the route can be upheld; 

* whether three landowners have standing to challenge the law because their properties are near or would have been near the path of the pipeline route;

* whether the pipeline is a common carrier that only the state legislature and the Nebraska Public Service Commission are allowed to regulate and whether the legislation violated the state constitution "by allowing TransCanada, the company developing the Keystone XL pipeline, to bypass the state’s Public Service Commission and have its route reviewed by the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality and approved by Gov. Dave Heineman," the Journal Star also reports.