She spoke with the The Dickinson Press about this week’s visit with Alberta Premier Alison Redford, officials with pipeline developer TransCanada Corp., oil sands producers and others.

From the Press story:

“Heitkamp said she believes the pipeline — which still needs State Department approval — will eventually get the green light.

“We had some pretty extensive political-type discussions about the challenges before us,” Heitkamp said. “But I think at this point, everybody is optimistic because the environmental assessment said there was no environmental impact. People are still concerned about how that might be perceived by the State Department, but people are optimistic.””