The 1,179-mile northern segment of Keystone XL will get a new environmental review to examine the pipeline's new route around the Nebraska Sandhills, the Obama administration announced today.

The supplementary environmental impact statement on pipeline sponsor TransCanada Corp.'s reapplication for a border-crossing permit, previewed today in the Federal Register, is an expected move following the State Department's January recommendation against a presidential permit for the original, longer Canada-to-U.S. pipeline.

But the official start of that extra review amounts to a starting gun for environmental and industry groups to refire their respective demands for a State process that has no chance of proceeding as quietly as the first two years of the pipeline's initial incarnation.

National Wildlife Federation climate director Joe Mendelson laid out in a statement the parameters for what greens would consider a fair review, calling on State to evaluate the potential safety risk of shipping the nearly 750,000 daily barrels of heavy Canadian oil sands crude that the pipeline would carry to the Gulf Coast.

The administration, he added, also should look at "the increased carbon emissions that will speed global warming, risks to endangered species and important habitat, protection of our vital water supply, while performing a full and respectful consultation with indigenous tribes."

TransCanada recently moved back its expected in-service date for the northern section of Keystone XL until early 2015, reflecting the administration's estimate that its review process would not come to a close until early next year (E&ENews PM, Feb. 14).

The State Department reiterated that time frame in launching a new website to coordinate public comments on the scope of its new environmental review, stating that Nebraska expects its review of the new route to take up to nine months. It adds, "We will conduct our review efficiently, using existing analysis as appropriate."

The 485-mile southern leg of what was initially called Keystone XL, running from Oklahoma to Texas coastal refineries, is now proceeding with the administration's blessing under the separate umbrella of the Gulf Coast Project.

The administration will accept public comments until July 30 on the supplementary EIS for the segment of Keystone XL that runs from Alberta to Steele City, Neb.