South Dakota Hearings Start On Crude Oil Pipeline

The commission already has tens of thousands of pages of information on its Web site related to the first pipeline, and Johnson said it can use the hearings to build upon that knowledge.

"That being said, this is a different project, and it's going through a very different geographic area with different topography different soil types, different landowners issues," Johnson said. "And although our first experience is going to be instructive, to me it's not a foregone conclusion how this ends up."

The Keystone XL project spanning nearly 2,000 miles would pass through eastern Montana, continue through South Dakota and into Nebraska. It would end near the Nebraska-Kansas border. There it would connect to a pipeline that is set for construction in 2010 and would end at Cushing, Okla. A proposed pipeline from Cushing would go through Texas, to the Gulf Coast.

TransCanada Keystone Pipeline, owned by affiliates of TransCanada Corp. and ConocoPhillips Co., filed its siting application with the PUC March 12. People who want to take part as formal parties in the case have until May 11 to file as interveners.

Johnson said he doesn't expect many landowners to need to apply for legal party status, which would allow them to call witnesses.