IT’S relief all round for the wildlife of Nebraska’s Sand Hills. The highly controversial Keystone XL pipeline, which would ferry bitumen from Canada’s tar sands to oil refineries on the Gulf of Mexico, is on hold as the US government launches a new environmental review of the project.
A decision on Keystone XL was expected from President Barack Obama later this year. It is now likely to be delayed until 2013, after the presidential election.
The bitumen the pipeline would carry is more carbon-intensive than other forms of oil, and more corrosive, raising fears of leaks. The possibility of leaks in the Sand Hills – a system of prairie-covered dunes and wetlands – has prompted the review. The region is an important wildlife habitat sitting above the Ogallala aquifer, which provides water for drinking and irrigation.
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The review, announced on 10 November, will consider the environmental impacts of alternative routes across Nebraska. TransCanada, the company behind the pipeline, says that it previously looked at eight options, one of which avoided the Sand Hills entirely, and hopes this will help expedite the review.
Susan Casey-Lefkowitz of the Natural Resources Defense Council in Washington DC says the effects of an expansion of tar sands development on wildlife in Canada should be part of the final decision on the pipeline.
