WASHINGTON—Nebraska’s senior senator might now be convinced that the U.S. State Department is adhering to appropriate protocol before deciding on a thumbs up or down for a multi-billion dollar, controversial Canada-to-Texas tar sands oil pipeline.

In a statement issued Friday, Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson said a Dec. 9 letter from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton assured him that "the department won't consider the pipeline permit application until the environmental study is done and the department has taken into account all state and federal views about the proposal."

But the environmental community is far less confident. Green organizations are calling for the Secretary of State to recuse herself from the decision—expected in 2011. Public statements she made in California in October indicate Clinton was already inclined to approve TransCanada's Keystone XL project, and the groups also now claim there's a potential conflict of interest involving a TransCanada lobbyist who previously worked for her presidential campaign.

Due to the international nature of Keystone XL, the U.S. State Department is in charge of Calgary-based TransCanada's request for a presidential permit to build and operate a 1,702-mile pipeline to carry heavy crude oil from oil sands mines in the province of Alberta and across six states to refineries in the Gulf of Mexico.

Nelson and other Nebraskans are worried that almost 300 miles of proposed pipeline through 14 counties in their home state has the potential to irreversibly damage an aquifer and a most fragile and scenic landscape.

Almost two months ago, the Nebraska senator wrote a letter to Clinton challenging remarks she made about the pipeline after an October speech at the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco. Nelson was concerned the State Department was endorsing the project before completing a federally required environmental impact statement.

Now three watchdog groups are seeking any correspondence between the State Department and Paul Elliott, a former presidential campaign manager for Clinton. Elliott is the chief Washington, D.C. lobbyist for TransCanada.

"One of the concerns is that Hillary Clinton has already made up her mind on this pipeline," Stephen Porter, director of the climate change program at the Washington office of the Center for International Environmental Law told Solve Climate News in an interview. "Naturally, we are curious to know what kinds of communications there have been. At this point, we don’t know whether there is any connection. If there are connections that aren’t quite right, we want to make those known."

Terry Cunha, a TransCanada spokesman, dismissed those allegations.

"The presidential permit process is spelled out by a presidential executive order, includes more than 10 federal agencies and involves the input of a myriad of state and local governments across the country," he wrote in an e-mail to SolveClimate News. "To suggest that the decision to grant a presidential permit for Keystone XL might be based on anything other than merits is laughable."

Porter's organization joined Friends of the Earth and Corporate Ethics International in submitting a Freedom of Information Act request to the State Department Monday.

The relationship between Clinton and Elliott—who served as the Clinton campaign committee's national deputy director and chief of staff for delegate selection—is the "latest in a series of developments casting doubt on whether the State Department is fulfilling its obligations to conduct a thorough and transparent review of the environmental and public health dangers" of the proposed pipeline, Friends of the Earth wrote in a statement.

As director of government relations, Elliott is the principal lobbyist for TransCanada in the nation's capital and in New York. A native of New York, Elliott also has served as deputy press secretary to New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg.

Waiting for Clarity on Environmental Impact Statement

Speculation in Washington is that a decision on the next step for pipeline review could come any day now.

However, a Natural Resources Defense Council specialist who is tracking the issue carefully said in an interview that word from Capitol Hill and the State Department is that early January is the more likely timetable.

"It's not as if there’s a firm deadline," said Susan Casey-Lefkowitz, director of the international program at NRDC. "The State Department can take as long as they want to do their final analysis."

In her letter to Nelson, Clinton explained that her agency is now reviewing public comments on the draft environmental impact statement and editing that document. The State Department hasn't decided whether the next iteration will be a supplemental draft document or the final version.

That decision makes a huge difference in the timing of a final pipeline decision, explained Casey-Lefkowitz, because releasing a supplemental draft environmental impact statement requires a new public comment period of one to three months and a new analysis. That could add several months to the process.