Last week, President Obama rejected the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, but those who oppose the pipeline are hesitant to rejoice just yet. The Washington Post reported that an alternative plan is in the works—Obama told TransCanada Corp., the company funding the $7 billion project, to reapply, which they have done. TransCanada president Alex Pourbaix announced plans to reroute the pipeline, and expedite the approval process so that it could be built as soon as 2014, to navigate around the Nebraska sandhills rather than through as originally planned. The new route would add 30-40 miles to the existing route.
After the Obama administration halted the project—for now—Canada’s prime minister, Stephen Harper, released a public statement that Canada is considering exporting oil to other continents, including Asia and South America. According to Bloomberg, “99 percent of Canada’s crude exports go to the U.S.”
To view the National Resources Defense Council’s report on the environmental impact of the pipeline, visit http://bit.ly/bX3Qca.