Keystone XL oil pipeline gets permit

TransCanada says it will abandon previous bankruptcy claim

The company responsible for the Keystone XL oil pipeline said Friday that President Trump’s administration had signed off on the project, clearing a key hurdle for a polarizing endeavor that has rankled environmentalists and inspired hope for jobs among supporters.

TransCanada, a large pipeline company based in Calgary, Alberta, with operations across the U. S. and Canada, said it had received a Presidential Permit from the U. S. Department of State to build the project. The company said it would consequently withdraw the bankruptcy claim it filed through the North American Free Trade Agreement and end its legal fight over the Obama administration’s 2015 rejection of the project.

The authorization was expected after Trump pledged during his campaign to expedite the project. Still, the approval is far from the last word on the project, which would involve construction of a 1,179- mile cross- border pipeline to transport oil from the province of Alberta to Nebraska.

TransCanada said it must still “engage key stakeholders and neighbors throughout Nebraska, Montana and South Dakota to obtain the necessary permits and approvals to advance this project to construction.”

What’s more, oil prices have dropped considerably over the last three years, making a new pipeline less lucrative.

Trump officials authorized the project in two months after the Obama administration took more than six years to review it.