Los Angeles Times reported that the Canadian pipeline company TransCanada has quietly begun construction of the southern leg of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, installing segments near Livingston in Texas.

TransCanada spokesman Mr Shawn Howard told the Los Angeles Times that "Construction started on August 9th 2012. So we've now started construction in Texas."

The southern section of the pipeline received government approval in July 2012.

The first in a series of protests also was launched on August 16th 2012 as opponents of the pipeline, designed to eventually carry diluted bitumen from the tar sands of northern Canada to refineries on the Texas Gulf Coast, unfurled protest banners at two equipment staging yards in Texas and Oklahoma.

TransCanada hopes to construct a pipeline from the Canadian border to Texas. But President Barack Obama in January rejected the company's application for an international permit to build the entire structure, saying it needed further study particularly of any route through the sensitive Sandhills of Nebraska, which lie atop a massive agricultural aquifer.

TransCanada has agreed to reroute the northern portion of the pipeline in Nebraska and has launched a new application. In the meantime, the company, with Obama's endorsement, has moved to begin construction of the southern half, from Oklahoma to Texas. This portion does not require an international permit.

Source - Los Angeles Times

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