New plan would add 50-65 kilometres of extra pipe to avoid Sandhills region and an aquifer.
TransCanada Corp. has agreed to something it probably should have months and months ago – a plan to reroute the Keystone XL pipeline around ecologically sensitive areas in the great state of Nebraska. Company representatives told the state that they would soon undertake an environmental assessment for the new route, which TransCanada says will be between 50-65 kilometres longer than the old route and would necessitate another pumping station, too. (We’re sure Nebraskans are just devastated over giving themselves more jobs to construct the pipeline). The new route would bypass the Ogallala aquifer from which much of the state gets its drinking water, as well as the Sandhills region, a part of the state home to diverse flora and fauna. TransCanada’s new offer follows a move by the State Department to delay a decision on whether or not to allow the pipeline until after next year’s presidential election. The 2,700-kilometre-long pipeline, once finished, would deliver raw bitumen from the oil sands of Alberta to the Texas coast, where it would be refined.
