Lancaster County District Judge Stephanie Stacy ruled Wednesday, February 19th, that the 2012 law improperly gave the governor authority to approve the pipeline route, said David Domina, an Omaha attorney who represented plaintiffs in the case.

Nebraska's most vocal pipeline opponents — along with several close watchers of the Canada-U.S. relationship — say the inevitable outcome of the new legal entanglement will be long delays, perhaps as much as another year, before the issue is settled one way or another.

"We don't see how the State Department possibly move forward when there is no certified route in Nebraska," said Jane Kleeb, director of Bold Nebraska, the state's largest anti-pipeline group.

Lancaster County District Judge Stephanie Stacy said regulatory control over pipeline companies rests with the Nebraska Public Service Commission. She granted a permanent injunction to prevent Gov. Dave Heineman and the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality from taking further action to advance the pipeline.