Ruling from state supreme court clears one of the last remaining obstacles before President Obama is forced to make a decision on the pipeline

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

A Nebraska court has signed off on the proposed route for the Keystone XL, bringing the controversial project a crucial step closer to reality after six years of legal and political fighting.

The Nebraska supreme court said the state’s governor, Dave Heineman, had indeed acted within his authority in January 2013 when he approved the pipeline’s route. Four judges on the seven-member court agreed with the landowners, but a super-majority of five was needed to strike down the plan.

“The legislation must stand by default,” the court said.

A lower court had ruled that Heineman should have consulted Nebraska’s public service commission, an obscure body which regulates grain bins, taxi cabs, and mobile homes among other things.



The state supreme court ruling clears one of the last remaining obstacles before Barack Obama is forced to render his decision on the future of Keystone, a controversial pipeline designed to deliver crude from the tar sands of Alberta to refineries on the Texas Gulf coast.

The decision is one of the most loaded of his presidency – and Obama has repeatedly deferred his determination, claiming he wants to let the process play out.

Now, after six years of delays, that procedure is all but exhausted. With the Nebraska route settled, the State Department is expected to come out with its final decision on whether the pipeline is in the national interest.

Then it is down to Obama.

The Senate energy committee voted 13-9 on Thursday in favour of a bill that would force construction of the Keystone XL, moving the measure towards the Senate floor.

The committee vote all but ensures that the pipeline will be the first substantial order of business for the new Republican-controlled Congress. Obama has said he would veto any legislation that attempts to circumvent the process now under way in the Nebraska courts and the State Department.

The White House said it was studying the decision on Friday.

“The State Department is examining the court’s decision as part of its process to evaluate whether the Keystone XL Pipeline project serves the national interest. As we have made clear, we are going to let that process play out,” White House spokesman Eric Schultz said in a statement.

House speaker John Boehner said the ruling means Obama can no longer delay the project.

“President Obama is now out of excuses for blocking the Keystone pipeline and the thousands of American jobs it would create,” Boehner said in a statement.

TransCanada said it hoped that Obama would render his decision quickly – possibly within the first quarter of the year – and that he would approve the pipeline.

“The delay is getting to the point where there is no longer any reason for delay in reaching a decision,” said Mark Cooper, a spokesman for TransCanada, the company building the pipeline.

“Our hope is that the decision will be made quickly and that the decision wil be positive because not only has this project been studied totally, it has the consistent support of two-thirds of Americans,” he said.

The court decision was a disappointment to the coalition of landowners and environmental campaigners who have fought for six years to block the pipeline.

But Jane Kleeb, director of Bold Nebraska, said the court ruling did not mean the end of the line for pipeline opponents.

She said she was confident that Obama would reject the pipeline on climate grounds, because it would expand production from the tar sands pipeline.

She also suggested that the Environmental Protection Agency and the Interior Department could still come forward with objections to the pipeline – on climate grounds or because of its route through Indian reservations – which would put more barriers in Keystone’s way.