I don't really give a shit about the pipeline but it's obvious you have no experience with the workings of a state-level project. More often than not it's a total clusterfuck of town, county, city and state interests working against each other to get the best slice of the pie. Usually the state has the most sway in this, but even then there's going to be someone who is recalcitrant, retarded, or both holding the project back somewhere along the line. With hiring policies these days you're lucky if it's just one. Having a project cross state lines only exacerbates those problems (and an interstate pipeline ain't going to work in pieces), especially when it comes to funding allocation. And this is also largely ignoring the political aspects involved.