A reroute of the Keystone XL pipeline through Nebraska still crosses a key aquifer in the state, regulators said today in a final report delivered to the governor.

Gov. Dave Heineman (R) now has 30 days to review the report from the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality and issue his recommendation. The governor's input will inform an ongoing review by the State Department, which is evaluating a request from pipeline operator TransCanada for a permit to build the pipeline across the U.S.-Canada border to carry crude from Alberta's oil sands to refineries in Texas.

"I appreciate the feedback that we have received from citizens, and the hard work of the Department of Environmental Quality in addressing this issue in a thoughtful and deliberate manner," Heineman said in a statement. "I will now carefully review this report over the next several weeks."

The 2,000-page DEQ report does not contain any explicit recommendation to the governor on whether the pipeline should be approved, but it outlines a range of potential benefits and concerns culled from months of review and thousands of public comments. Overall, the report says, construction and operation of Keystone "could have minimal environmental impacts" in the state.

"Our intent was to provide the Governor a very thorough, objective evaluation of the proposed project, but it does not contain recommendations," Brian McManus, a DEQ spokesman, said in an email this morning.

President Obama gets the final say on whether to approve the pipeline and is expected to announce his decision within the next few months. Obama last year denied an earlier permit sought by TransCanada over concerns related to its route through Nebraska, spurring TransCanada to propose the new route, thereby triggering the new evaluation from the state's regulators.

In its final report, Nebraska DEQ said the new route would avoid Nebraska's Sand Hills region, an area that activists were concerned was vulnerable to groundwater contamination from an oil spill due to its loose soil, but the department found the pipeline would still "cross the High Plains Aquifer, including the Ogallala Group," according to an executive summary of the report.

The report found that the new Keystone route "avoids many areas of fragile soils" and steers clear of a shallow groundwater area west of a protected wellhead area. It also says that a spill's effect on any aquifers "should be localized" and that the company would be responsible for any cleanup.

But activists say the final report supports their case that the pipeline should not be built.

"Governor Heineman asked President Obama to deny the pipeline permit because the route crossed the Ogallala Aquifer. We continue to stand with Gov. Heineman and his valid concerns on the risks of this pipeline route to farmers' and ranchers' livelihoods and our water," Jane Kleeb, head of the anti-Keystone group Bold Nebraska, said in a statement this morning. "We look forward to the Governor denying the route since it still crosses the Aquifer and the risks to our state's economy and identity remain at the forefront of this fight."

Building and operating the pipeline would result in $418.1 million in economic benefits for Nebraska and create 4,560 jobs in the state, according to DEQ.

In a statement, TransCanada said it was still reviewing all the details of the report but emphasized its efforts to avoid the Sand Hills region, while stressing that the new route crosses less endangered species habitat, "considerably fewer miles of erodible soils" and avoids wellhead protection areas.

"We have made significant strides to work with Nebraskans to identify the safest route possible for this pipeline project and we look forward to hearing from Governor Heineman regarding this report," the company said in the statement. "Safety remains our top priority. We will maintain a Nebraska-based emergency preparedness program with a response team in place, ready to react should an incident occur. The safety of the entire pipeline is our responsibility for as long as it operates. It's a responsibility we take very seriously."