By Cheril Lee
Omaha, NE – The Keystone XL Pipeline was the primary focus of Senator Mike Johanns' weekly conference call last Thursday.
Senator Johanns said he was pleased to hear that TransCanada had agreed to work with state government to reroute the pipeline. Johanns previously expressed concerns about the original route.
He complimented the efforts of House Speaker Mike Flood and Governor Dave Heineman in addressing the routing issue during the special session. He said the State Department has pledged to work with the state of Nebraska to develop the new environmental impact statement.
"My hope now is that respecting the process of the state of Nebraska, which is going to take into late summer/early fall of next year, there isn't any reason at that point why this pipeline can't go forward with what I hope will be approval, assuming that the routing occurs as we anticipate."
A decision on the Keystone XL Pipeline is not expected until early 2013.