"New Keystone XL Route Could Still Threaten Ogallala Aquifer"

"Map used to define Nebraska Sandhills doesn't include nearby areas also vulnerable to contamination, InsideClimate News has learned."

"'A relatively modest jog around the Sandhills' -- that's how one TransCanada executive describes the Keystone XL oil pipeline's new route through Nebraska, which is expected to be released in the next few weeks.

But while the path will avoid the Nebraska Sandhills—a region of grass-covered sand dunes that overlies the critically important Ogallala aquifer—it could still pass through areas above the Ogallala, where the water supply is vulnerable to the impacts of an oil spill."

Lisa Song reports for InsideClimate News March 14, 2012.