Gov. Dave Heineman

Gov. Dave Heineman says it’s time to move forward with finding an alternative route for the Keystone XL pipeline.

Heineman says TransCanada is simply following updated state law as it submits a proposed new route for the Keystone XL pipeline.

“It’s now time to move forward with that process and, eventually, it should reach my desk and I’ll make the recommendation at that time,” Heineman says.

TransCanada reached agreement with the state last year during a special session of the legislature. The company agreed to move its proposed route for the Keystone XL oil pipeline away from the Sand Hills and to avoid as much of the Ogallala Aquifer as possible. The company says the new route will go over the aquifer, but will not come into contact with it.

A spokesman for the company says it has already invested more than $2 million in the project and has obtained 90% of the easements necessary to construct the pipeline through Nebraska.

Heineman says he is glad to hear that the new route will avoid the Sand Hills and have little contact with the aquifer.

“I had concerns about the aquifer and the environmentally-sensitive Sand Hills area,” Heineman says. “That’s what the legislation required that we passed in special session.”

Gaining approval for a new route could take time. TransCanada will work with the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality and HDR of Omaha to conduct an environmental impact study of the proposed new route, a process that could take six to nine months. A change in the state law approved this past session, requires TransCanada to pay the $2 million cost of the new study.

TransCanada continues to work with the state even as it re-applies for a president permit to construct the Keystone XL pipeline from western Canada to refineries along the Gulf Coast in Texas. The pipeline will travel 1,700 miles and cost $7 billion to build.

AUDIO: Brent Martin reports [:50]

The stalled effort to find an alternative route for the Keystone XL oil pipeline in Nebraska might be re-started, soon.

The Unicameral has approved LB 1161e on a 44-to-5 vote, revising oil pipeline legislation approved during the special legislative session last year. The bill combines the two bills approved in the special session and paves the way for the work to find an alternative route that ended abruptly when President Obama denied TransCanada’s presidential permit to cross the Canadian-American border. The president has said TransCanada can reapply.

Sen. Chris Langemeier of Schuyler, chairman of the Natural Resources Committee, says the legislature has updated bills approved in the special session to address the changes in Washington.

“But, the end result is TransCanada, now with the E-clause, can go apply for a potential route in Nebraska as soon as the governor signs it, so sometime next week,” according to Langemeier.

The bill contained an emergency clause, which makes it law upon the signature of the governor. It establishes a state process for the approval of oil pipelines in Nebraska.

TransCanada proposes building a 1,700 miles oil pipeline from western Canada to refineries on the Gulf Coast in Texas. The cost of the project totals $7 billion. It must receive a presidential permit since it crosses the border. The project became embroiled in controversy last year when property owners in Nebraska raised objections to the company’s proposed route through the Sand Hills. A deal brokered during the special session cleared the way for a new route through Nebraska.

Langemeier says the legislation approved this session makes two significant changes to legislation approved last year. LB 1161e requires TransCanada to pay the projected $2 million price tag for the new environmental impact study. The state had agreed to pay for the study last year. The legislation also limits TransCanada’s eminent domain authority for building the pipeline through Nebraska to two years.