Prince Albert’s right-leaning federal and provincial representatives say they’re pleased with a recent executive order from newly inaugurated President Donald Trump that officially jumpstarts the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipeline projects.

Trump signed the executive orders on Tuesday, according to a report from Reuters, which breathed new life into the project that was rejected by the Obama administration in 2015.

On Tuesday, Prince Albert conservative MP Randy Hoback called the decision a positive one, and expressed relief that the project was moving forward.

“We’d heard rumours of this ever since the election, and ever since President Trump was elected, that he was going to approve Keystone,” he said. “It’s nice to see the executive orders are now signed.”

Although the White House never released an official press briefing, Trump confirmed the decision with a tweet from his twitter account.

Hoback said he expects there will be a few minor issues left to resolve, especially in Nebraska where landowners fought off an unsuccessful lawsuit from pipeline constructors TransCanada. However, he said the biggest impediment to construction was now in the past.

“From what I understand, all the permits, all the processes that TransCanada had to go through have been met and are still in place,” Hoback explained. “There are no issues from what I can see as far as negotiations with the government or anything like that. The only issue I see is down in the states, in Nebraska.”

For more on this story, please see the Jan. 25 online or print edition of the Daily Herald