Texas farmers urge appeals court to block keystone pipeline

TransCanada Corp. (TRP) should be barred from building the Keystone XL pipeline to transport Canadian tar-sands crude to Gulf Coast refineries, pipeline opponents urged a Texas appeals court, citing a new state-court precedent.

Landowners opposing Keystone XL argued in a state appellate court in Beaumont today that TransCanada doesn’t meet the definition of a “common carrier” under a 2011 Texas Supreme Court ruling and shouldn’t be allowed to use state eminent- domain laws to obtain easements across their properties.