May 21--The state Public Utilities Commission has extended a deadline to apply for party status in a case involving an oil pipeline in western South Dakota, but did not extend the deadline as much as one advocacy group requested.

Dakota Rural Action had requested that the PUC extend the deadline to file for party status to June 10, almost a month past the original deadline of May 11. The PUC on Wednesday announced it will extend the deadline, but only until May 31.

"They made a claim in their filing that there was confusion out in the field from landowners about when they could participate in the process," PUC Chairman Dusty Johnson said. "The commission did- n't believe that the arguments made by the DRA had a lot of strength to them but, just to be on the safe side, we did extend the deadline to the end of this month."

Applying for party status allows an area municipality, county, governmental agency, nonprofit organization or individual to cross-examine witnesses and participate in the discovery process, as TransCanada works to earn a permit to build its Keystone XL pipeline.

The line, if built, will extend 313 miles across South Dakota. A one-page application must be filled out and submitted to the PUC to be considered for party status.

As of Tuesday, 13 applications for party status had been submitted, including one from the city of Colome. Johnson said there have been almost 150 similar applications submitted in the process for the other Keystone pipeline in South Dakota, which is being built on the eastern edge of the state.

It's a sign that TransCanada is doing a better job of public relations this time around, Johnson said. However, there's still work to be done, he said.

"The (PUC) doesn't have its questions answered yet and we're going to be asking a lot more tough questions as we move forward," Johnson said. "Our process has really just begun."

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