The energy hot potato known as the Keystone XL pipeline was back to the State Department, which announced Friday that it had received a new application from developer TransCanada that includes a reworked route through Nebraska. Environmental groups and industry quickly lined up on opposite sides, while the Obama administration said a final decision is not likely before next year. In Nebraska, Republicans had joined Democrats in objecting to an initial proposal of routing the $7 billion natural gas pipeline from Canada through the sensitive Sandhills region and over the Ogallala Aquifer.
The energy hot potato known as the Keystone XL pipeline was back to the State Department, which announced Friday that it had received a new application from developer TransCanada that includes a reworked route through Nebraska.
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Environmental groups and industry quickly lined up on opposite sides, while the Obama administration said a final decision is not likely before next year.
In Nebraska, Republicans had joined Democrats in objecting to an initial proposal of routing the $7 billion natural gas pipeline from Canada through the sensitive Sandhills region and over the Ogallala Aquifer.
TransCanada last month released a new proposal that shows the proposed route now east of the Sandhills, but environmentalists question how the map was drawn as well as the overall pipeline, which would start in Canada's "tar sands" region, where extracting the gas includes heavy mining.
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