Canadian energy giant TransCanada announced on Wednesday that it has submitted an alternative route for the tar sands-pumping Keystone XL Pipeline in Nebraska that would "support the safe construction and operation of the pipeline." But environmental groups said the new route still threatens water resources and habitat, and that the only safe way forward is to "ditch Keystone XL entirely and embrace clean energy solutions."
The company says it "has listened to Nebraskans" and boasts that the "Keystone XL will be the safest pipeline built in America."
But Jane Kleeb, Executive Director of Bold Nebraska, a group that's been fighting the Keystone XL, says that the new route still fails to protect the water and people of Nebraska.
"The new route still risks our land, water and property rights. The new route still crosses high water tables, sandy soil which leads to higher vulnerability of contamination and still crosses the Ogallala Aquifer, the lifeblood of Nebraska's economy," stated Kleeb.
"We will not allow middle American to be the middle man for a foreign tarsands pipeline wanting to export their extreme form of energy to the highest bidder."
"We can not trust TransCanada to treat landowners fairly and we cannot trust TransCanada to treat our natural resources--especially our water the backbone of our state economy--fairly either," says Kleeb.
Joe Mendelson, National Wildlife Federation climate and energy policy director, says that the whole pipeline needs to be ditched.
"The reason TransCanada needs to keep rerouting the Keystone XL map is because it's just a bad idea. Each new map amounts to a catalog of which property owners will suffer, and what habitat will be placed at risk. The best approach is to ditch Keystone XL entirely and embrace clean energy solutions that don't spill or explode," stated Mendelson.
