The nonprofit environmental law organization Earthjustice has been staunchly opposed to the project and represented a coalition of groups — Riverkeeper, Catskill Mountainkeeper, Clean Air Council, Delaware - Otsego Audubon Society, Delaware Riverkeeper Network and the Pennsylvania and Atlantic chapters of Sierra Club — in pipeline approval proceedings before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC.) (globalpossibilities.org)
Oil sands players, as well as U.S. producers in North Dakota, have been clamouring for pipeline approvals, claiming that all of the political foot dragging around pipeline projects weakened pricing power and critically hampered their operations. (jeffrubinssmallerworld.com)
Energy security has been one of the key issues in the discussion over the Keystone XL pipeline approval in the US — if you've not been following this, here's a great primer from CFR's Michael Levi. (andrewleach.ca)