Advisers to Donald Trump are exploring ways he can greenlight the Keystone XL oil pipeline on the day he is sworn into office, including by rescinding a 48-year-old presidential order.
Two people familiar with Trump's transition planning say the issue is actively being discussed, as the incoming president looks for ways to jump-start infrastructure development and deliver on a campaign promise to approve the pipeline that would connect Canadian oil sands with U.S. Gulf Coast refiners.
Although details are still being developed, the strategy hinges on Trump rescinding a 1968 executive order that put the State Department in charge of permitting border-crossing oil pipelines, said the people, who spoke on the condition they not be named discussing internal deliberations. That directive, issued by President Lyndon B. Johnson, assigned the State Department responsibility for determining whether proposed projects serve the "national interest."
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