U.S. leg of Keystone XL gets final nod

HOUSTON, July 27 (UPI) -- Canadian pipeline company TransCanada announced Friday it received the last of the permits needed to move forward the U.S. leg of the Keystone XL pipeline.

TransCanada received the last of three permits needed from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to advance its 485-mile Gulf Coast Project. The company said Friday it's in a position to start construction in the project in the coming weeks.

The company estimated the value of the pipeline at $2.3 billion to be spent over three sections. As many as 4,000 jobs are expected to be created by the project, TransCanada's Chief Executive Officer Russ Girling said in a statement from Houston.

The Gulf Coast Project represents the domestic leg of the Keystone XL oil pipeline project. TransCanada had to reapply for a section of the planned Keystone XL pipeline from oil fields in Canada after lawmakers in Nebraska objected to original route plans.

The Gulf Coast Project will stretch from Cushing, Okla., to southern Texas. Another 47-mile project would transport oil to refineries in Houston.

The section from Canada needs federal approval because it would cross international borders. No such permit is required for the U.S. section and TransCanada expects to have oil flowing through that section by the second half of 2013. The initial transport capacity would be 700,000 barrels of oil per day.