Cooper said TransCanada could apply to the Public Service Commission as early as Friday.
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Jane Kleeb, director of pipeline opposition group Bold Nebraska, said TransCanada’s decision to pull out of the latest legal battle in the state shows the odds are stacked against Keystone XL.
The company is expected to file its application with Nebraska’s Public Service Commission in the coming days.
The existing route was approved by former Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman in 2013, after a review by the Department of Environmental Quality.
Democratic American presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, that prolonged prevented a business on the supply, a while back said this lady contrast it.
The $8-billion Keystone XL project, which would expand the amount of Western Canadian crude oil could reach the U.S. Gulf Coast by 830,000 barrels per day, has been in regulatory limbo in the US for seven years.
The company said it was moving its petitions to the state regulator after withdrawing from a lawsuit filed by Nebraska landowners challenging the company’s claim to eminent domain for land intended for the Keystone XL pipeline.
Opponents argued in court that the law was invalid because it allowed TransCanada to circumvent the commission and receive approval from Heineman, who supported the pipeline. That victory was based on a legal technicality as four of the state’s seven Supreme Court judges in January agreed with the challengers that the law underlying the approval process violated Nebraska’s constitution.
“You know, that process was likely to carry on”, according to Cooper.
“It ultimately saves time, reduces conflict with those who oppose the project and sets clear rules for approval of the route”, Cooper said.
“We believe that going through the PSC process is the clearest path to achieving route certainty for the Keystone XL Project in Nebraska”, Mr. Cooper said.
He added that the company has followed every process put before it, and 91 per cent of landowners signed voluntary easements for the construction of Keystone XL.
Keystone opponents in Nebraska cheered the decision, saying the company was facing mounting legal expenses and the potential of losing in court.
Kleeb pledged to continue fighting the Keystone XL before the Public Service Commission, if President Barack Obama doesn’t nix the project first.
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However, current Nebraska Republican Governor Pete Ricketts sent a letter to the President in July urging approval of the pipeline so the state “can reap the economic and other benefits”.
