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the Nebraska Court of Appeals -- a process that could add months of uncertainty to the project. The case is expected to end up in the Nebraska Supreme Court, which generally issues opinions 6 to 8 weeks after hearing a case.
• The Nebraska Public Service Commission regulates natural gas and power lines, buses, taxis, limos and grain warehouses. Commission members are elected to six-year terms in partisan elections. The current commission is composed of four Republicans and a Democrat.
• Although elected by district, members serve in a role more akin to judges than politicians, reviewing evidence before making a decision, Commissioner Anne Boyle, a Democrat from Omaha, said Thursday. Companies that are unhappy with a commission ruling can file a lawsuit to challenge it, she said, so members are careful not to comment on projects that they might have to review.
• "We cannot pre-judge a case," Boyle said. "Anything we say could be translated into something (that shows favor) one way or the other. And we're not doing that."
• State law requires the commission to approve pipelines considered to be in the "public interest" -- looking at its environmental impact, the tax revenue and jobs generated, as well as the views of local governments. But the TransCanada pipeline project never went in front of the commission because it wasn't clear the state had any role in regulating major oil pipelines.
• The Keystone XL pipeline would carry 830,000 barrels of oil a day from Canada to Texas Gulf Coast refineries once completed. Heineman approved the 195-mile project leg through Nebraska -- avoiding the environmentally sensitive Sandhills region -- in January 2013, which gave TransCanada the power to use eminent domain on landowners who denied the company access to their property. Three landowners filed suit, saying the Public Service Commission should have made the decision.
• The landowners' attorney, Dave Domina, said the commission's rulings are based on evidence and offer due-process safeguards, including the ability to appeal. Its roots are in a state railway commission created in the late 1800s to prevent governors from granting political favors to railroad companies.
• TransCanada wasn't a party to the lawsuit, but spokesman Shawn Howard stressed that Stacy's decision focused on the law, not the pipeline's merits.
• "TransCanada has dealt with many Keystone XL issues in the past and we are confident we can overcome this latest hurdle," Howard said.
• Stacy's ruling could give the State Department and White House a reason to extend the long-delayed review process past the midterm elections in November, energy analyst Kevin Book said Thursday. The pipeline was first proposed in late 2008, but the Obama administration delayed a decision on the pipeline in January

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