Good News?

Keystone decision delayed yet again

By ANDREW RESTUCCIA and DARREN GOODE, Politico

4/19/14 12:18 AM EDT

The State Department declined to specify how long the delay will last, saying only that it needs to extend its review because of an ongoing dispute in front of the Nebraska Supreme Court that could affect the project’s route inside the state. “We are moving ahead very diligently with all the other aspects that are necessary for the national interest determination,” a senior State Department official told reporters on a conference call.

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“It’s disappointing President Obama doesn’t have the courage to reject Keystone XL right now, but this is clearly another win for pipeline opponents,” said Jamie Henn, spokesman for the climate activist group 350.org, which staged mass sit-ins outside the White House to protest the project. “We’re going to keep up the pressure on the President to make the right call.”

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The latest delay stems from a ruling in February in which a Nebraska court, reacting to a suit by landowners, threw out a state law that had given Gov. Dave Heineman the right to approve the pipeline route.

If the Nebraska Supreme Court upholds that decision – and state lawmakers refuse to intervene – the route decision will fall into the hands of the state’s Public Service Commission. That elected body would have seven months to a year to decide after TransCanada files an application.