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Stacy stressed that the ruling had nothing to do with the merits of the pipeline and everything to do with the state constitution.

“TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline has become a political lightning rod for both supporters and opponents of the pipeline, but the issues before this court have nothing to do with the merits of that pipeline,” she wrote in the introduction to the ruling.

“The constitutional issues before this court will not require consideration of the current pipeline debate, nor will the decision in this case resolve that debate.”

As it stands, TransCanada has settled with landowners in five of six U.S. states through which the pipeline is supposed to pass, as well as with more than two-thirds of the affected landowners in Nebraska.

But a minority have kept fighting, despite skyrocketing offers of compensation.

The company had been offering six times the original price for access to people’s property, presumably to line up as many easement deals as possible in the event that Obama approved the pipeline.

TransCanada, which has complained it’s been losing money as the plan sits idle, had been hoping to get building during this year’s construction season.

The southern leg of the pipeline is already operational. But oil must still be transported by rail from Alberta through the northern U.S. before it can be sent by pipeline to refineries on the Gulf of Mexico.

The issue is expected to come up at a North American leaders’ summit in Mexico, where Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said he intends to press Obama to approve the project.