President Donald Trump has not spoken directly with Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts about the Keystone XL pipeline. | AP Photo 'I'll call Nebraska,' Trump promised, but the phone never rang

President Donald Trump has not yet spoken to Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts about the Keystone XL oil pipeline despite repeated efforts by the staffs of the two men to set up a conversation, according to sources and documents obtained by POLITICO.

When Trump announced Keystone's approval last month, he seemed surprised when TransCanada CEO Russ Girling told him "we've still got some work to do in Nebraska" before construction could start on the project.


“I’ll call Nebraska,” Trump told Girling at the March 24 Oval Office ceremony. “Nebraska has a great governor. Peter is a fantastic governor who’s done a great job, and I’ll call him today.”

It’s not clear what a conversation between Trump and the Republican governor would yield for Keystone XL. The Nebraska Public Service Commission that will vote on whether to approve the pipeline’s route consists of five independently elected officials, not Ricketts appointees.

Nevertheless, Trump's televised statement caught the ear of Ricketts' chief of staff, Matt Miltenberger.

“The President mentioned during the KXL signing that he was going to call Gov. Ricketts today,” Miltenberger wrote to White House staff member Douglas Hoelscher minutes after the ceremony ended, in an email acquired by POLITICO through a state public-records request. “Is that something you all will be setting up or will the President just reach out?”

Hoelscher responded within seven minutes asking when it would be possible for Trump to reach the governor. He and Miltenberger traded emails discussing times for a possible cell phone chat between the governor and the president later that day.

But Trump and Ricketts never connected, according to a spokesman for the governor, Taylor Gage.

“Conversations have happened at the staff level, and we are working to facilitate a conversation between the Governor and President in the near future,” Gage wrote in an email.

Neither Hoelscher nor Miltenberger responded to questions.

The Nebraska Public Service Commission plans to hold public hearings on the Keystone XL route in May and expects to make a final decision after September.