LINCOLN, Neb. – Canadian energy giant TransCanada Corp. will move its planned Keystone XL oil pipeline out of the environmentally sensitive Sandhills area of Nebraska.
The company announced the decision late Monday at a news conference at the Nebraska state legislature.
Earlier, a bill was introduced that would move the proposed project forward but divert the line away from a sensitive water area in the midwestern American state.
“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.
“I can confirm the route will be changed and Nebraskans will play an important role in determining the final route.”
The decision to move the pipeline follows the U.S. government’s announcement last week that it would delay a decision on a federal permit for the project for more than a year.
Get daily National news
The delay was meant to give regulators more time to study new potential routes that avoid the Sandhills areas of Nebraska and the Ogallala aquifer, a vast underground water supply.
The proposed 2,700-kilometre pipeline would carry crude oil from the northern Alberta oilsands to U.S. refineries along the Texas Gulf coast.
- Attack on Iran triggers global flight disruptions, impacts Canadian travellers
- Queen’s University students stranded in Doha after Iran attack shuts down airspace
- Carney calls for protection of civilians as U.S., Israel strike Iran
- WWE Hall of Fame ring belonging to wrestling legend recovered after stolen
The delay threatened to kill the project and led the Canadian government and other pipeline supporters to say Canada will seek to seek new markets in Asia for Canadian oil exports.
Currently Canada exports 2.1 million barrels of oil a day, almost of that to the United States via a network of pipelines that already cross the border and feed American refineries in the Midwest and other parts of the country.
But diverting the expanded oilsands production expected from Alberta over the next few years to China, Japan and other Asian markets is difficult to do.
That’s because other pipelines need to be built to the West Coast, where oilsands crude can then be loaded onto tankers and sent across the Pacific.
Other east-west pipeline proposals in western Canada could take years to get off the ground because they also face environmental worries.
TransCanada is Canada’s largest natural gas shipper and the biggest gas distributor in the country. It is growing its other energy businesses including power generation and oil transportation, with Keystone XL one of the biggest projects in the company’s history.
With files from The Associated Press
Comments
Want to discuss? Please read our Commenting Policy first.