New Nebraska Keystone Pipeline route to miss Ogallala Aquifer?

What about the other pipelines that already cross Ogallala? And what about other threats to the enormous subterranean reservoir?

Plans for the Nebraska portion of the pipeline were rejected by the White House earlier this year because there was not enough time to review the environmental impacts of the original route before a Republican assigned deadline in Congress passed. This has left the door open for Transcanada to submit a revised route for the 35 inch pipeline that would avoid the Nebraska Sandhills. Judging by comparing the maps below, it seems that the pipeline would still cross over the aquifer. Nonetheless, something else really pops out: all of those other pipelines which also traverse portions of the aquifer as well as a peppering of natural gas pipeline compressor stations, which were made infamous in Erin Brockovich.

Keystone Pipeline construction to begin in June

Keystone XL Pipeline construction on southern leg to begin by June.

TransCanada Corp. has been given the go-ahead to begin construction on part of the Keystone XL pipeline that will run from Cushing, Oklahoma to highly industrial south east Texas. This $2.3 billion portion of the pipeline is considered to be in more urgent need.

The White House gave their approval on Monday: "As the president made clear in January, we support the company's interest in proceeding with this project, which will help address the bottleneck of oil in Cushing that has resulted in large part from increased domestic oil production, currently at an eight year high ... Moving oil from the Midwest to the world-class, state-of-the-art refineries on the Gulf Coast will modernize our infrastructure, create jobs, and encourage American energy production."

A documentary to keep your eye out for: Spoil

I recently came upon the trailer for Spoil, a documentary that shows the Keystone XL Pipeline project is bigger than what is going on in America.

In Alberta, Canada, activists have been trying to prevent a massive pipeline from being built, which would carry oil from the Alberta tar sands and through the pristine Great Bear Rainforest on the coast of British Columbia. The film focuses upon the Spirit Bear, a rare bear than only inhabits the Great Bear Rainforest. Spoil has won quite a few awards this year, including the Best Environmental Film in the Vancouver Film Festival and 'Best Environmental Film', 'Best Photography' & Merit Award for Musical Selection (CINE International Film Festival).
 
Check out the trailer.