Updated: Landowner Wins, Then Loses, Restraining Order Against Keystone XL Pipeline
Photo by Terrence Henry/StateImpact Texas
Mike Bishop won a temporary retraining order against the Keystone XL pipeline today.
After East Texas landowner Mike Bishop won a temporary restraining order against the Keystone XL pipeline earlier this week, a Nacogdoches County judge reversed that order today.
Ruling in favor of the Canadian company behind the controversial pipeline, TransCanada, Nacogdoches County Court at Law Judge Jack Sinz reversed the restraining order, allowing TransCanada to continue construction on Bishop’s land. The two sides will meet in court again next week, when the County holds a hearing on December 19 to hear Bishop’s allegations of fraud against TransCanada. Bishop is also going after the state for permitting the southern portion of the pipeline.
“I didn’t pick this fight, but I refuse to sit idly by while a multinational corporation tramples my rights and that of other landowners all along Keystone XL’s path in the name of deepening its profits,” landowner Mike Bishop said in an emailed statement.
Original story, December 11:
A Nacogdoches County Court granted a temporary restraining order to Texas landowner Mike Bishop today. The order will prevent the company TransCanada from building the Keystone XL pipeline on Bishop’s land until a scheduled injunction hearing next week.
The restraining order is part of an ongoing battle between Bishop and the company behind the pipeline. Bishop is also suing the Texas Railroad Commission for granting TransCanada a permit to build.
Judge Sinz of the Nacogdoches County Court granted Bishop the temporary restraining order saying, “Without a temporary restraining order, Plaintiff will suffer immediate and irreparable injury, a violation of his Constitutional rights as delineated by the Texas constitution.”
The temporary restraining order expires the day of the temporary injunction hearing next week. At that time, a decision will be made on whether or not to further stall construction on the property. Grievances have been made in Texas and Oklahoma regarding TransCanada’s use of eminent domain to pressure landowners to allow easements on their land. Bishop maintains that TransCanada mislead Texas landowners about the project and doesn’t have the authority to use eminent domain.
Update: TransCanada will fight the temporary restraining order in the meantime, facing Mike Bishop in court Thursday.
