Posted March 25, 2017 01:46:42

Photo: Indigenous tribes have fought a long and hard campaign to stop the project. (Reuters: Kevin Lamarque)

The Trump administration has issued a permit to build the Keystone XL pipeline, reversing the Obama administration's position and clearing the way for the $8 billion project to finally be completed.

The decision caps a years-long fight that pitted environmental groups and native America tribes such as the Standing Rock Sioux tribe against energy industry advocates over the pipeline's fate that became a proxy battle over global warming.

It marks one of the biggest steps taken to date by the Trump administration to prioritise economic development over environmental concerns.

The State Department, responsible for reviewing the project because it crosses an international border, determined that building it serves US national interests. That conclusion followed a review of environmental, economic and diplomatic factors, the department said.

It wasn't immediately clear what, if anything, had changed since the State Department reached the opposite conclusion two years ago, other than the election of a new administration.

President Donald Trump planned to address Keystone during an announcement on Friday morning, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said on Twitter.

TransCanada, the Calgary-based company that first applied for a presidential permit in 2008, called the decision a "significant milestone."

"We greatly appreciate President Trump's administration for reviewing and approving this important initiative," said TransCanada CEO Russ Girling.

"We look forward to working with them as we continue to invest in and strengthen North America's energy infrastructure."

But Greenpeace, one of the pipeline's most vocal opponents, said it sent a signal to the world that the US is "moving backwards" on climate and energy, and pledged to keep fighting it nonetheless.

"Keystone was stopped once before, and it will be stopped again," said Annie Leonard, the group's US director.

Photo: Protests against the pipeline have repeatedly become heated. (Supplied: Sacred Stone Camp)

The 2,735-kilometre pipeline, as envisioned, would carry oil from tar sands in Alberta, Canada, to refineries along the Texas Gulf Coast, passing through Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma.

The pipeline would move roughly 800,000 barrels of oil per day, more than one-fifth of the oil Canada exports to the US.

Yet even with a presidential permit, the pipeline still faces obstacles — most notably the route, which is still being heavily litigated in the states.

Native American tribes and landowners have joined environmental groups in the courts.
AP

Topics: environmental-management, world-politics, united-states