TransCanada submitted a formal plan to Nebraska yesterday outlining an alternative route in the state for the contentious Keystone XL pipeline.

The 51-page proposal sent to the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality, obtained last night by ClimateWire, delineates a preferred pipeline "corridor" for TransCanada's Keystone XL running east of the state's Sandhills, an ecologically sensitive area holding a major aquifer.

The move puts one of the most controversial aspects of the pipeline back in the political forefront a day after the U.S. House voted to overturn President Obama's decision on the project.

"Keystone employed a multidisciplinary approach to establish a comprehensive analysis of various potential corridor alternatives," states the document.

The new 173.5-mile corridor would run as much as 100 miles to the east of the original pipeline pathway to avoid Nebraska's Sandhills, a region of grassy sand dunes. The altered route would start in Nebraska's Keya Paha County by the South Dakota border. From there it would move the pipeline two counties eastward for miles and end in Merrick County.

Keystone XL's original route through the Sandhills was the chief reason cited by the Obama administration for denying a permit for the Canada-to-Texas oil conduit earlier this year.

TransCanada has said it hopes to eventually link the revised Nebraska piece with other segments of the pipeline to build an operating 1,700-mile whole from Canada's oil sands region to Texas.

Earlier this year, TransCanada announced it would begin work on the southern portion of the pipeline running from Cushing, Okla., to the Gulf Coast. Additionally, it said it would reapply for a new permit from the State Department later on for the northern portion of the pipeline.

To determine the new route in Nebraska, the company deployed advanced mapping and field reconnaissance via helicopter. TransCanada spokesman Shawn Howard said he expected the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality to outline the next steps in the review process today.

Where are the Sandhills?

The specified corridor currently is a 2,000-foot-wide "area" that would need to be narrowed to define the exact step-by-step pathway for the pipeline. TransCanada said it picked the preferred route considering a range of factors, including minimizing impacts to landowners and waterways.

The document specifies nine corridors overall running eastward of the original route that were considered as a detour around the Sandhills.

The announcement sets up a battle with environmentalists who say the state's official map of the Sandhills is inaccurate. The Sandhills region holds the Ogallala Aquifer, a huge water reservoir.

"This does nothing," said Jane Kleeb of Bold Nebraska after viewing the document. "It's as bad as the old route."

The new corridor still runs through what some academics consider to be the Sandhills, she said. TransCanada relied on a definition outlined by the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality in December.

But there are several definitions of what constitutes the Sandhills, and TransCanada is using one that is much too narrow, said Kleeb.

That means that the risk of oil spills damaging the landscape and the water supply has not been diminished at all, she said. Green groups also have slammed the pipeline for its potential to increase greenhouse gas emissions. The chief type of oil that the pipeline would carry -- from Canada's oil sands -- releases more greenhouse gases in the production process than traditional drilling.

Setup for a veto battle in Congress

Under legislation signed by Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman (R) this week, the State Department of Environmental Quality now has power to evaluate pipeline routes.

The state bill infuriated activists who said it was the latest attempt to fast-track the pipeline by shifting authority away from the state Public Service Commission, an independent body. The governor, on the other hand, has said he supports the pipeline and its job-creating impact as long as it avoids the Sandhills.

The 293-127 vote in the U.S. House yesterday to overturn Obama on the pipeline came as part of a 90-day extension of transportation programs (E&ENews PM, April 18). The language would shift authority for approval of the pipeline from the State Department to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

The House action further signals that Republicans -- fresh off of a close vote in the Senate in March on the issue -- intend to make Keystone XL their signature energy issue in hammering Obama. The Obama administration -- which supports the pipeline's southern segment from Cushing -- has threatened to veto a transportation bill with a provision fast-tracking the larger pipeline.

"The House of Representatives passed this legislation by a veto-proof margin. The president's veto threat doesn't have any teeth," said Rep. Lee Terry (R-Neb.).