TransCanada says it has submitted a proposal

for a new route through Nebraska for the disputed Keystone XL oil

pipeline.

The company said in a statement Wednesday that it has submitted

a planned route for the pipeline to Nebraska officials. The state

has become a focus of concern for the 1,700-mile pipeline, which

would carry oil from western Canada through Kansas to the Texas

Gulf Coast. President Barack Obama blocked the pipeline earlier

this year, citing uncertainty over a planned route intended to

avoid Nebraska’s environmentally sensitive Sandhills region.

Details of the new route were not immediately available. A

spokeswoman for the State Department said officials had not

received notification of a new route. State Department approval is

need because the $7 billion pipeline crosses a U.S. border.

TransCanada says the pipeline will accept crude from Montana and

North Dakota’s Bakken shale formation.