South Dakota delays Keystone XL permit

South Dakota regulators have delayed a decision on whether to renew the expired permit for the Keystone XL pipeline’s route through the state.

South Dakota’s Public Utility Commission decided Monday to push back a hearing that had been set for early May until late July or early August, South Dakota Public Broadcasting reported.

TransCanada Corp. must obtain a new permit for Keystone’s route through South Dakota because the previous one expired in June.

{mosads}Regulators pushed the hearing for the new permit back because opponents’ lawyers wanted more time to process the thousands of pages of documents they requested on Keystone from TransCanada, which provided them in mid-April, South Dakota Public Broadcasting said.

The new permit process gave Keystone opponents another opportunity to fight the controversial pipeline, and the regulators’ decision gives them yet another delay.

Meanwhile, the Obama administration still has yet to decide whether to approve a permit for the Canada-to-Texas oil pipeline to cross the international border, more than six years after TransCanada first applied.