Rail cars arrive in Milton, N.D., loaded with pipe for the first Keystone Pipeline project.Eric Hylden/The Associated Press
TransCanada Corp. has again rerouted its proposed Keystone XL pipeline in Nebraska in the face of local opposition to the $7.6-billion project to carry Canadian oil sands crude to the U.S. Gulf Coast.
In a statement Wednesday, TransCanada said it filed a supplemental environmental report to the Nebraska state government, with a 32-kilometre jog that would take a bigger detour around the sensitive Sandhills area and avoid crossing groundwater sources for two towns.
The new route "was developed based on extensive feedback from Nebraskans and reflects our shared desire to minimize the disturbance of land and sensitive resources in the state," TransCanada chief executive officer Russ Girling said.
TransCanada has begun construction of the $2.3-billion southern leg of the Keystone project, which would take crude from the Cushing, Okla., terminus to the refining hub on the Gulf Coast. But it is stalled on the $5.3-billion, Alberta-to-Oklahoma section until Nebraska approves its route and the U.S. State Department issues a permit. TransCanada hopes to receive that permit and begin construction early next year.
It still faces public hearings in Nebraska, amid opposition from landowners and environmental groups.