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TransCanada is moving forward with the southern leg of its $7 billion Keystone XL oil pipeline, skirting a full-blown U.S. review, and hopes to begin construction by mid-year, the company's President and CEO Russ Girling told “The Kudlow Report” Monday.

Mark Ralston | AFP | Getty Images The Syncrude oil sands extraction facility near the town of Fort McMurray in Alberta Province, Canada.

The Canadian pipeline and energy company[TRP  42.42        ] also plans to reapply for a Presidential Permit to run the pipeline from Canada to Nebraska, with only slight changes from its original application.

“Fundamentally it will be exactly the same route as we originally applied for, with the exception of a reroute around the sensitive areas of the sand hills of Nebraska,” Girling said.

Girling expects to use the same environmental review, and notes that the company has already acquired 90 percent of the right-of-way for the route.

President Obama rejected TransCanada’s initial Keystone XL application in January after more than three years of study, saying it needed more environmental review than could be completed before a tight deadline that had been set by Congress. More On This Article At CrewHotSpot.com