The U.S. State Department says TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline won’t have a major impact on Alberta’s oilsands development.

It’s a decision that might make it easier for the White House to approve the controversial project.

A State Department official says the pipeline “remains unlikely to significantly impact the rate of development of the oil sands or the demand for heavy crude oil in the United States.”

Now it’s up to the U.S. President Barack Obama to decide whether to approve the pipeline, which would transport oil from Alberta’s carbon-intensive oil sands to the U.S. Gulf Coast refineries.

It’s estimated that building the pipeline could create 20-thousand construction jobs.