TransCanada Corp., based in Calgary, Alberta, received permission on March 11 from Canada’s Energy Board to build the 327-mile Canadian portion of the Keystone XL expansion pipeline, which will be the first pipeline to take Canadian crude oil to the U.S. Gulf Coast. The 36-inch pipeline will be 1,980 miles long, beginning in Hardisty, Alberta, and going through Saskatchewan, Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and finally into Texas. The $1.66-billion pipeline will carry the equivalent of 1.1 million barrels per day. Applications for U.S. regulatory approvals are proceeding, and decisions are expected late this year. TransCanada says construction is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2011, and the pipeline is expected to be in service in the first quarter of 2013.