HOUSTON -- A north Texas farmer fighting TransCanada's plans to build the Keystone XL pipeline vowed today to continue her battle against the project in court, despite the company's announced plan to proceed with construction.

Julia Trigg Crawford, a Lamar County property owner, is suing TransCanada over its use of eminent domain to lay a section of pipeline through her corn farm. Crawford has won allies among environmental groups and tea party organizers looking to defend private property rights.

The company this morning announced that it would start building a section of the project from Cushing, Okla., to Houston as it prepares to resubmit an application for a permit to construct the pipeline that would stretch from Alberta's oil sands region to refineries on the Gulf Coast (Greenwire, Feb. 27).

Earlier this month, Crawford won a restraining order in Lamar County Court to prevent construction of the pipeline while her case against TransCanada works its way through court. A jury trial is scheduled to begin in late April.

But the court decided Friday to dissolve the restraining order.

Crawford's allies today warned TransCanada not to move forward until the jury trial ends.

"Hopefully, they haven't forgotten since last Friday that they have a jury trial set for April 30 with Ms. Crawford," Crawford spokeswoman Anita Beving said. "Those cities and landowners that are concerned about their arrogance and the way they are treating Texans remain."

Terry Cunha, a TransCanada spokesman, said the company has already obtained 95 percent of the easements it needs to build the pipeline in Texas. The company, he said, plans to seek a Clean Water Act permit from the Army Corps of Engineers for the project. He said the permit could be issued later this year.

Last August, the Texas Supreme Court ruled in favor of a landowner challenging a company's claim of eminent domain in its effort to survey a pipeline route for carrying crude to Houston. The industry is asking the Supreme Court to revisit that decision, arguing that it could halt pipeline construction and crimp the oil and gas industry.

The petroleum industry is eager to see pipelines built or reversed to move crude out of Cushing, as a stockpile glut there depresses domestic oil prices relative to more expensive international crude oil prices.

Building the Cushing-to-Houston segment allows TransCanada to work without the Obama administration's approval to build Keystone XL across the Canadian border.

Though experts say a Cushing-to-Houston link would be profitable for the company and stand on its own, environmentalists blasted today's announcement as an effort by the company to bypass the administration's recent rejection of the project.

Calling it "a scheme to circumvent President Obama's rejection of the Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline," Friends of the Earth issued a statement condemning the move.

"Desperate to placate shareholders, TransCanada is trying to dodge a robust environmental review process," said campaigner Kim Huynh. "No matter how TransCanada tries to slice and dice it, the Keystone XL pipeline would be an environmental disaster."