The Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality announced today that TransCanada has submitted a Supplemental Environmental Report to the agency that provides detailed route information for the Keystone XL pipeline through Nebraska. TransCanada had submitted a preliminary report to the state in April, 2012, and NDEQ had responded in July with an initial feedback report.

The Supplemental Environmental Report submitted today by TransCanada will be the basis for the state’s Evaluation Report. It is expected that a draft of the state’s report will be completed and made public in the fall of 2012. At that time, DEQ will announce a public hearing. Public comments continue to be accepted, and will be considered as the agency develops this evaluation report. After comments from the comment period and hearing are considered, the report will be finalized and submitted to Governor Dave Heineman. The final Evaluation Report could be submitted to the Governor by the end of this year. The Governor will have 30 days to indicate his approval or disapproval of the submitted reports.

“This is an important step in the process, and NDEQ and our contractor will conduct a thorough review of TransCanada’s environmental report,” said NDEQ Director Mike Linder. “An initial scan of the report indicates that it responds to some of the comments raised by the NDEQ and the public, but a full evaluation will now begin.”

NDEQ is making TransCanada’s environmental report available on its web site for public review and comment. In addition to TransCanada’s Environmental Report, detailed maps of the route will also be posted on the site soon. To view the report, select the link at NDEQ’s main page at https://dee.nebraska.gov/home, or you can go directly to NDEQ’s Pipeline Project page at https://ecmp.nebraska.gov/deq-seis. The web site also provides the public the ability to submit comments and view other documents related to this state review.