At yesterday’s Senate hearing on the Keystone XL pipeline, one leading critic claimed that the congressional effort to override the Obama’s administration’s delay tactics and approve the project through legislative means was premature because, she noted, there is presently no approved route through Nebraska.

Well, you can go ahead and cross that objection off now.

This morning, the Nebraska Supreme Court rejected a challenge to the permitting process for Keystone XL’s proposed route through the state. In 2013, then-Gov. Dave Heineman had approved a revised route designed to avoid ecologically sensitive parts of the state’s Sandhills region.

Pipeline opponents – sensing that the governor’s action would advance the project – contested the move in court, claiming the governor lacked the authority to bypass the state’s Public Service Commission in determining the route.

Their objection gave the Obama administration an excuse (albeit a flimsy one) to continue delaying a decision on a project that not only was introduced an astounding six years ago, but has withstood an unprecedented amount of scrutiny from regulators (including five environmental reviews by President Obama’s State Department).

Today’s decision settles the matter in Nebraska, and ought to settle the controversy over the pipeline for good.

With the state Supreme Court’s action, there really can be no more excuses for the Obama administration not to proceed with final regulatory approval of a project that is estimated would create more than 20,000 construction jobs and more than 118,000 spin-off jobs for local businesses along the pipeline’s route.

Hours after the Nebraska court decision, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 266-153 in favor of legislation approving Keystone XL.

The Senate will follow in the coming weeks.

The Obama administration recently expressed its intent to veto such legislation, in part because of the Nebraska case.

But with Nebraska no longer a question mark, the administration should short-circuit Congress and do what it should have done years ago. To advance the nation’s interest and to strengthen ties with our Canadian neighbor, the Obama administration should go ahead and approve Keystone XL immediately.