LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – A lawyer who is working with opponents of the Keystone XL oil pipeline says Nebraska lawmakers could move the proposed route away from the Sandhills.
Omaha attorney Brian Jorde suggested Thursday that lawmakers establish a 100-mile-wide corridor that pipeline builders would have to follow.
Lawmakers are set to meet in a special session related to the project starting Tuesday. The pipeline would pass through the Nebraska Sandhills and over the massive Ogallala Aquifer, a source of irrigation and drinking water.
TransCanada spokesman Shawn Howard concedes that state law would apply to projects that haven’t proceeded as far as the Keystone XL. But he says the company has worked on the Keystone XL project in good faith and followed the existing rules.