The State Department said on Monday that a revised path for the long-contested Keystone XL pipeline would have no significant impact to the environment.
Instead, the new route approved by Nebraska regulators would at most have a “moderate” impact on three of the eight environmental measures the State Department reviewed, including temporary injuries to wetlands and vegetation.
The 300-page draft environmental assessment projected minor effects on three other categories, and a negligible impact on one. The State Department will open a 30-day public comment period for the environmental review before finalizing it.
The review’s publication is the latest development in a decade-long fight over the Keystone XL oil pipeline.
Nebraska regulators approved an in-state permit for Keystone XL in November, the last major regulatory hurdle facing the project, but they rejected developer TransCanada’s preferred route, approving an alternative that would move the pipeline further east.
The $8 billion Keystone XL pipeline would send oil from Canada’s Alberta oil sands to Steele City, Neb., and then on to refineries along the Gulf Coast. But it has been challenged by environmental advocates worried about spills and climate change.
The Obama State Department considered the application for seven years before President Barack Obama rejected it in November 2015, a month before signing the Paris climate change agreement.
The Trump administration granted a cross-border permit in March, but the pipeline still needed approval by the five-member Nebraska Public Service Commission to be built in the state.
The original section of the Keystone pipeline system opened in 2010. Keystone XL would be an addition of 1,179 miles to the existing 2,687-mile network.
Supporters of Keystone XL, including many labor unions and business groups, consider the pipeline an economic boon that would create jobs and transport oil more safely than train or truck.
But it has hit more than a few snags over the years, with the Nebraska route especially presenting a challenge.
TransCanada has not officially made a decision on whether to commit to investing in the project, as it debates whether it’s still economically viable for the company after years of delays.
Oil prices surpassed $130 a barrel when TransCanada first sought a cross-border permit for the pipeline in 2008, but crude prices are now less than $80 per barrel.
Energy Secretary Rick Perry, speaking Monday at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, predicted Keystone XL would finally be built.
“It needs to be,” Perry said, noting a shortage of pipeline capacity in the Permian Basin, America’s most prolific oil and gas region.
