Chris Nelson, the chair of the commission, concluded TransCanada could still meet all the conditions of its expired permit. The fact TransCanada was denied a needed presidential permit to cross international borders was not a reason to deny certification because the next president could grant it, the PUC chair said.

He stated that the lawyers representing the Intervenors — indigenous tribes, the grassroots group Dakota Rural Action, and individual landowners — did not make a case proving TransCanada was unable to meet any of the conditions required to build the pipeline, despite a nine-day hearing last summer at which Intervenors presented reams of evidence and allegations to the contrary.

“I can’t change that we have different world views,” Nelson said to his “Native American friends” before the vote was taken. He thanked the “natives” for explaining to him why they vehemently opposed the pipeline. His decision must be based on the law, not emotions, he told them.

After the decision was made, Joye Braun, a member of the Cheyenne River Lakota Oyate broke out in a protest war cry. She deemed the Keystone XL a “zombie pipeline.”

VIDEO: Joye Braun protests the decision to renew TransCanada’s Permit for the Keystone XL in South Dakota.

The hearings that the PUC based its decision on were marred with questionable actions from the start.

Lawyers for the Intervenors questioned the PUC’s impartiality before the hearing began. Many who wanted to testify against the permit renewal were unable to do so because they failed to meet deadlines for filing pre-trial testimony. And much of the evidence those who did pre-file testimony wanted to cite was precluded from the proceedings.

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