Calgary-based Enbridge Inc. has received approval from the National Energy Board to proceed with its $2-billion Alberta Clipper oil pipeline. 

The 1,600-kilometre project approved by the NEB Friday will begin at Hardisty, Alta., run through Saskatchewan, cross the Canada-United States border near Gretna, Man., and continue to Superior, Wis. About 2/3 of the pipeline will run through Canada.

Construction on the 450,000-barrel-per-day, 36-inch (914 millimetre) pipeline is expected to be complete by the end of 2009.

A number of groups and organizations raised concerns about the Alberta Clipper, but according to the NEB, the Manitoba Pipeline Landowners Association and the Saskatchewan Association of Pipeline Landowners reached settlements with Enbridge.

Three Saskatchewan First Nations — Red Pheasant, Keeseekoose and Poundmaker — also reached settlement agreements with Enbridge before the public hearings were held in November.

The board attached conditions to its approval, including the requirement that Enbridge conduct an emergency response exercise at its South Saskatchewan River crossing near Outlook, Sask.

NEB's announcement comes on the heels of its approval of another $2 billion Enbridge pipeline project. The Southern Lights project will also run through Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. In the U.S., it will go through North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois.

The 180,000-barrel-per-day pipeline is designed to move "dilutents" to Alberta so output from the oilsands can be made to flow through a pipeline.

The Southern Lights project also includes construction of a 288-km section of oil pipeline — from Cromer, Man., to the border near Gretna — to transport light sour crude oil to the U.S. Midwest.