Opponents of TransCanada Corp.'s proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline argued on Tuesday that regulators in Nebraska had no authority to approve the line's "alternative" path through the state and that the project should be considered dead.
The Nebraska Public Service Commission issued an approval for the line to pass through the state in late November, removing what appeared to be the last big regulatory obstacle for the long-delayed project, which has been backed by President Donald Trump.
But the commission's approval was not for the route TransCanada had singled out in its application, but for an alternative that shifts it closer to an existing pipeline right-of-way down the eastern side of the state.