TransCanada has agreed to reroute the Keystone XL pipeline to avoid passing through the environmentally sensitive area of the Nebraska Sandhills.
“The positive conversations we have had with Nebraska leaders have resulted in legislation that respects the concerns of Nebraskans and supports the development of the Keystone XL pipeline,” Alex Pourbaix, the Calgary company’s president of energy and oil pipelines said in a statement, reports Herald News. “I can confirm the route will be changed and Nebraskans will play an important role in determining the final route.”
The pipeline project will not be able to continue forward anytime soon. A State Department spokesman says the federal government’s review may not conclude until the first quarter of 2013, reports Reuters.
CBC News reports the TransCanada announcement to reroute the pipeline came after the U.S. federal government decided to delay the project so that proper environmental assessments could be made and other routes could be mapped. The pipeline must also be carefully placed because of ponds and lakes in the region that feed into the Ogallala aquifer, an underground water table that spreads across eight states.
As reported in a previous article, the Keystone XL pipeline is a proposed 1,700-mile pipeline created to run from the Canadian tar sands to the Gulf Coast.
TransCanada is Canada’s largest gas shipper and distributer, the pipeline will be largest project the company has ever taken on.
That’s all for now,
Cori
