As the $7 billion Keystone XL oil pipeline becomes increasingly mired in a thicket of political tension, the project's friends and foes alike are turning up the volume on their public messaging.

Nine nonprofits, including the Nebraska chapters of the League of Women Voters, Sierra Club and National Farmers Union, aligned yesterday on a weeklong TV ad campaign urging Cornhusker State lawmakers to force a rerouting of the pipeline during a special session on Keystone XL that began Tuesday. The state-level resistance to the path of the pipeline -- which crosses the ecologically sensitive Nebraskan Sandhills -- has taken on a uniquely bipartisan character.

"At the end of the day, they caused this problem," Sen. Mike Johanns (R-Neb.) said yesterday of the company behind the XL link, Alberta-based TransCanada Corp. "They picked this route."

Adding that many Nebraskans warned the pipeline company against constructing XL through the Sandhill, Johanns said TransCanada is "very stubborn. They're aggressively stubborn."

The new TV ad is spearheaded by Bold Nebraska, a progressive advocacy group that has helped marshal opposition to the pipeline and features local landowner Randy Thompson, who has become an icon of sorts to Keystone XL critics. Speaking to the camera, Thompson heaps political pressure onto state legislators, one of whom hopes to unseat Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) next year, to secure a new route for the project (E&E Daily, Oct. 25).

"Now it's time for our state legislators to pony up and do whatever is necessary to protect the citizens and resources of our state," he says, slamming TransCanada for "wanting to add more lipstick to this ill-conceived idea."

Executives at the pipeline company suggested this week that a delayed State Department ruling on Keystone XL might not derail the project but took direct aim at the two-to-three-year delay they estimated would result from passage of a Nebraska state rerouting law (E&ENews PM, Nov. 1).

While TransCanada continues to take a prodding in Nebraska, its allies in the GOP and the oil industry also emerged yesterday to promote Keystone XL. Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce panel delivered coordinated floor speeches to highlight the job-creation potential of the pipeline, which stands to nearly double U.S. import capacity of Canadian oil-sands crude if approved.

In addition, the American Petroleum Institute touted new polling data that showed 80 percent of respondents agreeing that promotion of Canadian oil and pipelines to carry it are valuable for the nation. The survey of 924 registered voters, conducted by Harris Interactive, also showed a notable 35 percent public familiarity with Keystone XL.

Click here to watch the Nebraska ad.