WASHINGTON — All five members of Nebraska's congressional delegation recently gathered around a cafeteria table in a Capitol Hill basement following their weekly breakfast with visiting constituents.
The topic of the unusual bipartisan meeting: TransCanada's proposed Keystone XL pipeline, which that would cut through the Nebraska Sand Hills.
“We all agreed to keep digging and keep asking questions,” Sen. Mike Johanns, R-Neb., told The World-Herald on Tuesday. “We're all just trying to figure out what is this and what is it all about.”
What has everybody concerned, he said, is the presence of “a very, very nontraditional federal department engaged in a pipeline initiative.” That department — the State Department — typically handles diplomacy.
The State Department has oversight of the project because the pipeline would cross the U.S.-Canada border.
The department announced Monday that it's adding 90 days to the comment period for other federal agencies to consider whether the pipeline is in the national interest.
The comment period had been scheduled to end Sept. 15. It now will extend until 90 days after the State Department has issued an environmental impact statement on the pipeline. The department didn't say when the environmental statement would be finished.
Johanns and other members of the delegation have expressed concerns about the pipeline and its potential effects on the Ogallala Aquifer.
Johanns recently sent letters to the State Department, the Office of Management and Budget, and the Environmental Protection Agency asking about coordination between the federal agencies on an environmental impact study of the pipeline.
Johanns said he wants to be assured that the pipeline has received a thorough review.
“If it doesn't give adequate time, I would not hesitate to seek an additional extension,” he said.
This report includes material from the Associated Press.
Contact the writer:
202-662-7270, joe.morton@owh.com
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