BISMARCK - The North Dakota Public Service Commission plans more hearings on the TransCanada Keystone Pipeline on Nov. 27-28, after voting 2-1 Wednesday to reopen the case and grant the city of Fargo intervener status.
The PSC also voted to consider many other late-filed comments that arrived in its office after the last hearing day concluded in September, including from the North Dakota Water Users Association.
"The commission finds that public interest requires reopening of the proceedings," said Commissioner Kevin Cramer in making the motion Wednesday.
The additional hearing days will cover only "safety and public health issues relating to the water supply of the city of Fargo from Lake Ashtabula and the Sheyenne River."
The crude oil pipeline's North Dakota section is to be built next summer between Walhalla and Oakes, part of a route from northern Alberta to Illinois and Oklahoma refineries.
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Keystone spokesman Jeff Rauh said after the meeting that the company is disappointed in the delay and that the commission had a strong case to reject Fargo's motions as untimely. He and other company officials have maintained that the hearing record would show the water quality assurances Fargo seeks already have been addressed by expert witnesses earlier in the case.
Rauh said the delay likely will cost the company an additional $65 million to $100 million.
Commissioners Tony Clark and Cramer said reopening the case and granting Fargo status as a party is the still the fastest way to resolve the case because they would likely end up in court if they denied the requests.
State law allows the PSC to reopen a case if it benefits the public interest.
Clark said courts would be more sympathetic to a case appealed because it was reopened to gather more information than it would be to a case appealed because it wasn't reopened.
Commissioner Susan Wefald argued that the commission could consider Fargo's late information without granting intervention status.
"Let's put aside the fact that it's Fargo," Clark told the other commissioners, noting that the commission had received many letters in recent days alleging that "Fargo's throwing its weight around." He said any municipality that set forth specific concerns such as Fargo has in its motion would get the same consideration.
Clark said a decision still can be made on permitting the pipeline by early January. The original deadline was Nov. 2.
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Fargo Mayor Dennis Walaker wrote to the PSC Oct. 4, saying Keystone's hearing testimony did not consider the safety of city's drinking water from the Sheyenne River and Lake Ashtabula.
The letter came nearly a month after the last scheduled day of hearings, which was Sept. 6. City officials maintain that they were not given adequate notice of the hearings, which were held over four days in July and September.
Commissioners noted that they twice ran legal ads in The Forum about the hearings, which included maps.
The pipeline is to run parallel to and a few miles from the river and Lake Ashtabula, which is a reservoir of Sheyenne River water.
