The pipeline giant TransCanada has offered to alter its Keystone XL oil pipeline to avoid environmentally sensitive areas on the route between the Alberta tar sands and Texas. President Obama had rejected initial plans for the Keystone XL pipeline earlier this year, but later pledged to fast-track approval of the southern portion stretching from Oklahoma to the Gulf Coast. TransCanada says its new proposed route takes into account public concerns and feedback from environmental officials in Nebraska. Opponents say the Keystone XL pipeline will poison local communities and further harm the environment through the increased greenhouse gases of extracting tar sands oil. On Wednesday, activists with the Tar Sands Blockade in Texas held their third action against the pipeline’s construction by locking themselves to TransCanada equipment near Sulphur Springs.