TransCanada announces withdrawal from lawsuit filed by Nebraska landowners

Cooper said the company intends to seek approval for the same route that was approved by the governor, but reapplying through the commission provides “the clearest path to achieving route certainty”, given the lawsuits that sought to overturn Nebraska’s 3-year-old pipeline-siting law.

TransCanada needs presidential approval of the pipeline before construction begins because the project crosses the Canada/U.S. border. “It reduces conflict with those who oppose the project, and it sets a few pretty clear rules for approving the pipeline through the state”, Cooper added.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said on Monday he would keep aggressively pushing the merits of TransCanada Corp’s Keystone XL pipeline, which U.S. President Barack Obama appears likely to veto soon.

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.

The Calgary-based pipeline company made public its strategy shift Tuesday in a statement and in interviews. Under Nebraska’s constitution, the commission has the authority to regulate “common carriers” such as pipelines and railroads. Many Republicans and businesses support the project, arguing it supports US energy independence and would create jobs.

“This is a major victory for Nebraska landowners who refused to back down in the face of bullying by a foreign oil company”, said Jane Kleeb, director of the anti-pipeline group Bold Nebraska. Opponents responded by filing a almost identical lawsuit with landowners who were directly affected.

TransCanada has waited seven years for US permission to build the line, which would carry crude from Alberta’s oil fields to refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast. The suing property owners needed at least five high court votes to have the law struck down.

“The vast majority of Nebraskans along the route have signed voluntary easements to get the project constructed”. But the Obama administration has delayed a decision for the past seven years, often using ongoing reviews in the states as a reason not to act. He said the use of eminent domain – or the compulsory sale of land – for a few Nebraska landowners was a “last resort for TransCanada, but an important tool” that allows for key commodities to be transported.