More: Keystone XL pipeline coverage.
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WASHINGTON — Sen. Mike Johanns, R-Neb., took issue Thursday with suggestions by TransCanada Inc. that changing the route of its Keystone XL pipeline could cause years of delays and potentially derail the project.
"They keep saying, 'We'll have to start from scratch and redo the environmental impact statement,'" Johanns told reporters.
"I just don't think that they have to redo the entire environmental impact statement. They would certainly have to redo some of it as it passes through Nebraska. The closer they get to the previous route, the simpler this is going to be."
Johanns supports developing tar sands oil and moving it by pipeline, but he objects to the route out of concern for the Sand Hills and the Ogallala Aquifer. Even if moving the route were to force delays in the project, Johanns made it clear that he would have little sympathy for Trans-Canada.
"At the end of the day, they caused this problem. I didn't," he said. "They picked the route.
"I told them a long, long time ago there were problems with this route. Many people did. And they're very stubborn, you know. They're aggressively stubborn. And so they believe that they're going to build a pipeline right down through the Sand Hills and the aquifer, and I disagree."
TransCanada officials have said their proposed route is the safest option available, citing a State Department analysis as evidence.
Although Johanns was an early critic of TransCanada and the proposed route through the Sand Hills, he has sought to avoid wading too far into discussion about the Nebraska Legislature's current special session, saying he is focused on his federal responsibilities. For example, he said he has not read any of the proposed bills in the special session.
Johanns has said Nebraska will have a difficult time coming up with route-altering legislation that passes constitutional muster. And although Congress has an oversight role in the process, Johanns said there is little chance that federal legislation could garner enough votes to affect the pipeline.
The pipeline's fate is truly in the hands of President Barack Obama, Johanns said.
"Now we just wait to see what the president's decision is."
Contact the writer:
202-630-4823, joe.morton@owh.com
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