HOUSTON -- TransCanada Corp. won yet another court challenge to its Keystone XL pipeline project yesterday, but its opponents promise to continue their fight against the contentious project.

Yesterday at a Nacogdoches County court, a temporary restraining order awarded to landowner Mike Bishop earlier this week was rescinded by the same judge who signed it. Judge Jack Sinz agreed with TransCanada's argument that the company should be permitted to continue with its construction work on Bishop's land.

In his request for the temporary restraining order, Bishop alleged that he was a victim of fraud, explaining that TransCanada lied when it said the southern segment of the Keystone XL line, called the Gulf Coast Project, would be used to carry crude oil. Activists opposed to Canadian oil sands development argue that the diluted bitumen produced from mining oil sands is physically and chemically different from traditional crude oil (EnergyWire, Dec. 12).

Attendees at the hearing yesterday morning said Sinz sided heavily with TransCanada's representation. Sinz apparently concluded that Bishop, a retired chemist, should have cleared up the matter when he finalized the agreement to give TransCanada access to his property three weeks ago.

Nevertheless, the fight will go on.

At a rally held outside the courtroom immediately after the hearing, a video of which was posted on the website of the anti-pipeline group Tar Sands Blockade, Bishop said he'd be heading back to court Wednesday to request an injunction against TransCanada that would force the company to again stop work.

"Today I got bogged down, but I didn't get hurt," Bishop said. "I've got troops on my side."

Bishop alleges TransCanada applied strong pressure and the threat of eminent domain to get him to sign an agreement awarding an easement for the company to construct a portion of the line on his land, a 20-acre plot near Douglass, Texas. The Gulf Coast Project is in strong demand by oil producers and Houston-area refineries to alleviate a bottleneck of crude left in storage at terminals in Cushing, Okla.

Bishop says he was awarded more than $3,000 for the right of way but complains that the company initially offered him $8,000 until he resisted. He says he is incensed that land he was using to grow a experimental biofuel crop for a potential business venture has been torn up instead to lay the pipeline.

Bishop is also challenging the Texas Railroad Commission over its smooth approval of the Gulf Coast Project. Earlier this week, he said he will have an opportunity to argue against the commission's favorable treatment of the pipeline project in front of a Travis County district court Monday.

In a telephone interview, Bishop said a judge Monday will hear his request for an injunction against the Railroad Commission. He charges that the commission failed to take into account the rights of landowners clarified in a recent Texas Supreme Court ruling against Denbury Resources. Bishop admitted that he saw little chance of winning that hearing but said it would help the broader case he was building against the company.

Jury trial?

The east Texas landowner is also pledging to force TransCanada to defend Keystone XL in front of a jury. Bishop said Texas law guarantees him the right to subpoena witnesses before a jury once the current discovery phase of this dispute is over.

"I may lose again on the hearing on the 19th," Bishop said. "What I'm not going to lose is when a jury of landowners and taxpayers in this county hear my arguments sitting in that courtroom."

For its part, TransCanada appears unperturbed.

Despite the near-constant legal battles and encounters with civil disobedience protests sprouting up across Texas, the company keeps winning in court, and officials there express confidence that they will continue to win court challenges.

Though Bishop and other landowners allege fraud or intimidation, the vast majority of landowners affected by the Keystone XL southern leg construction have quietly settled agreements with the company. In a statement issued earlier this week, the company insists it treated Bishop honestly and fairly throughout this episode.

"Under Texas law, TransCanada has the legal authority to construct this pipeline, and courts in Jefferson and Lamar counties have already confirmed the Gulf Coast Project's common carrier status," TransCanada representatives said.

"Likewise, local and state appellate courts (and the Texas Railroad Commission) have all ruled that the product that the Gulf Coast Pipeline will transport is crude oil."