Heineman Approves New Keystone XL Route

Posted: 22 January, 2013

LINCOLN (AP) - Gov. Dave Heineman has approved a new route for the Keystone XL oil pipeline that avoids the state’s environmentally sensitive Sandhills region. Heineman sent a letter Tuesday to President Barack Obama confirming that he would allow the controversial project to proceed in his state. The pipeline has faced strong resistance in Nebraska from a coalition of landowners and environmental groups who claim it would contaminate the Ogallala aquifer, a massive groundwater supply. The original route would have run the pipeline through a region of erodible, grass-covered sand dunes. The new route skirts that area, going through portions of Holt, Antelope, Boone and Nance Counties.