BILLINGS, Mont. – After a U.S. energy boom and strong backing from President Donald Trump propelled a major expansion of the nation’s sprawling oil and gas pipeline network, mounting political pressures and legal setbacks have put its future growth in doubt even as the pandemic saps demand for fuel.Two major oil pipeline projects suffered courtroom blows this week: The U.S.
Supreme Court upheld the cancellation of a key permit for the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline from Canada, and a federal judge ordered the Dakota Access Pipeline shut down more than three years after it started moving oil across the U.S.
Northern Plains.The rulings came a day after utilities cancelled an $8 billion natural gas pipeline through West Virginia, Virginia.