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| credit: Matt Wuerker |
In 2012 the State of Nebraska adopted a law allowing the Keystone XL pipeline project to pass through the state; LB 1161 was passed by the state's unique unicameral legislature and effectively allowed the governor to bypass the state's Major Oil Pipeline Siting Act to select pipeline routes. However, a state district judge in Lancaster County found that stripping the power away from Public Service Commission was a violation of the state constitution (Article IV-20). The governor and other defendants in the case have filed an appeal with the state's supreme court. The revised route of the
controversial and
damaging Keystone XL pipeline passes through the state near enviramagingonmentally sensitive areas including the Niobrara River, a segment of which is federally designated wild and scenic, and the Ogallala aquifer beneath the Sand Hills.