Keystone Pipeline Snag: Local Taxes Higher Than Thought

The Keystone Pipeline Project to the U.S. has hit another P.R. snag. This time it deals with local taxes.

SALINA, Kan. (AP) — Leaders from six Kansas counties are questioning whether a crude oil pipeline that is to run through their counties and end in Oklahoma is eligible for millions of dollars in tax waivers.

The Kansas Department of Commerce says the pipeline owned by Canadian energy company TransCanada does qualify for $55.49 million in tax credits.

The pipeline would go through Washington, Clay, Dickinson, Marion, Butler and Cowley counties on its way from Steele City, Neb., to Cushing, Okla.

At a meeting last week in Abilene, officials from five of those counties said they want to challenge whether the pipeline qualifies for the tax exemptions. They say the tax waivers will cost local governments almost three times as much in lost property taxes than previously announced.