TransCanada had been battling a legal challenge to the Keystone XL route evaluated by the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality and approved by Gov. Dave Heineman in 2013.
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The company also revealed that it was in the process of withdrawing legal actions and seeking to terminate constitutional court proceedings.
The company is expected to file its application with Nebraska’s Public Service Commission in the coming days.
TransCanada, in today’s statement, said it had “route authority” to proceed, but, uncertainty in the courts over the constitutionality of how the route was approved could continue if it did not change its prior strategy.
Harper has pressed Washington to approve the pipeline, variously describing the project as a “no brainer”, saying he would not “take no for an answer” and expressing the conviction the project will eventually get the green light.
TransCanada has announced it will abandon legal efforts to uphold a route for the Keystone XL oil pipeline through Nebraska and, instead, will revert to previous procedures for pipeline approval. “It ultimately saves time, reduces conflict with those who oppose the project and sets clear rules for the approval of the route”.
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.
Critics had challenged the law in court, claiming it violated the Nebraska Constitution which requires common carriers to go through the PSC.
We know President Obama understands that this pipeline is all risk and no reward for Americans. Federal approval is required because the project crosses the U.S.-Canadian border.
“It’s a victory for landowners”, said Jane Kleeb, director of Bold Nebraska, a landowner group that has fought the project.
The pipeline, which is an $8 billion project, will increase the supply of crude oil from western Canada to the Gulf Coast of the US. Three other judges said the property owners hadn’t established that they had suffered an injury, a step needed to maintain their lawsuit.
Once TransCanada began its eminent domain process, property owners filed new lawsuits in York and O’Neill, Nebraska.
Cooper says TransCanada concluded the shift back to the PSC would provide a quicker process to settle on the Keystone XL route.
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Cooper said TransCanada could apply to the Public Service Commission as early as Friday. “Reviews by the commission generally take seven months to a year to complete and its decisions can be appealed in the state’s district court system”.
