Nebraska lawsuit challenging oil pipeline

Several landowners and opponents were granted a hearing in Holt County District Court Monday.

In January TransCanada filed legal papers in nine Nebraska counties to invoke eminent domain for land that’s needed to construct, operate and maintain the pipeline.

They’re challenging a state law that allowed former Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman the right to grant eminent domain to TransCanada, the company behind the pipeline.

Many landowners, Native-American tribes and environmental groupings are opposite the pipe since pundits fear it may contaminate groundwater and subscribe to smog.

Proponents say pipelines are safer than trains for transporting oil, and that the Keystone XL could create jobs and tax revenue.

That pipeline would take oil from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, passing through South Dakota along the way.

The pipeline, first proposed in 2008, still requires presidential approval because it crosses an worldwide border. Ricketts, who has long supported the pipeline, said then that it was time for Obama to approve the project. The president vetoed the bill, and the GOP-run Senate failed to override the veto in March.