WASHINGTON - The U.S. government has indicated that it plans to proceed at full speed with its review of the Keystone XL pipeline -- despite the new legal uncertainty shrouding the project.
There are several signs that the federal regulatory process will continue amid the confusion created by a Nebraska court ruling.
One of those signs apparently came Monday directly from President Barack Obama.
Speaking after a meeting between the president and state governors, Oklahoma's Republican governor Mary Fallin, a Keystone supporter, said she'd pressed Obama for details and he'd indicated he would have a final decision on the pipeline in the next "couple" of months.
The president has publicly avoided offering such a firm timeline for a final decision, so that kind of statement inevitably drew attention.
It also arrived in the midst of a dispute over the current status of the project, following a court decision that threatens to rip up the proposed pipeline route. A district court last week tossed out a law that gave the state governor the power to force landowners to allow the route through their property.
Without that power, not even a presidential permit would force landowners to make way for the pipeline. In fact, Keystone opponents even argue that the entire application process has to start over because it's based on a state law voided by the court.
The federal government has admitted that the verdict has created some confusion. A State Department official conceded last Friday that lawyers were examining the Nebraska ruling to determine what it meant for them.
However, the department indicated in a statement Monday that it would proceed.
"At this time, the State Department is continuing its review of the presidential permit application for the proposed project," a departmental spokeswoman said in an email.
"We are monitoring the ongoing litigation in Nebraska."
A spokesman for the president was asked to elaborate Monday, and he deferred to the State Department: "Its impact on the decision-making process and the review here would have to be assessed by the State Department, which is overseeing a review," Obama spokesman Jay Carney said.
The Nebraska verdict has led to haggling between Keystone opponents and supporters over the legal fallout.
TransCanada Corp. says that because the decision is being appealed by the Nebraska government, the disctrict-court verdict must be stayed. However, the anti-Keystone lawyers involved in the case say that's an erroneous reading of the law and they argue that the process is stalled.
