TransCanada gets Keystone XL win in Texas

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HOUSTON, Oct. 1 (UPI) -- A state judge in Texas ruled that Canadian pipeline company TransCanada can move ahead with pipeline construction in the south of the state.

TransCanada aims to build its Keystone XL pipeline to carry oil derived from oil sands operations in Alberta. Part of the U.S. section of the project would move crude oil across southeastern Texas to refineries along the southern coast.

Texas landowners sued TransCanada, saying property easement bonds weren't posted according to the letter of the law. The company, however, increased the size of the bonds meant to cover potential damage and a judge gave the company consent to move forward in Texas.

"The statutory requirements for the issuance of writs of possession are now met," Jefferson County Court at Law Judge Tom Rugg was quoted by Bloomberg News as saying.

TransCanada in July received the last of three permits needed from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to advance its 485-mile Gulf Coast Project, the domestic leg of Keystone XL.

The Gulf Coast Project will stretch from Cushing, Okla., to southern Texas. Another 47-mile project would transport oil to refineries in Houston.