'Pipe Dreams' Documentary Examines Keystone Pipeline Debate

What will the proposed Keystone XL pipeline mean for Americans?

Documentary filmmaker Leslie Iwerks attempts to answer that question in her new documentary "Pipe Dreams." The film, which will be shown in states along the proposed pipeline corridor, traces the history and motivations behind the pipeline and examines its projected impact.

Interviewing government officials, landowners and environmentalists, Iwerks examines the Keystone debate: The potential for American economic growth and jobs versus the potential for environmental disaster.

At the heart of the pipeline opposition is concern for the Ogallala Aquifer, an important water source over which the pipeline would cross. Iwerks interviews a number of farmers and ranchers in Nebraska whose livelihoods depend upon clean water from the aquifer.

Looking at past leaks on the Keystone pipeline, critics likes Iwerks and some of these landowners believe the dangers of the Keystone XL extension are underestimated.

Iwerks told HuffPost, "when I spoke with many landowners that once supported [the pipeline] and did eventually sign their easement rights, they were unaware of so many legalities and personal ramifications that became clearer once the opposition gained momentum. They said if they knew then what they know now, they never would have signed."

In May, a pumping station on the existing section of the Keystone pipeline in North Dakota sprung a small leak. According to the film, the Department of Transportation determined that it was rancher Bob Banderet who discovered the leak and not any of oil company TransCanada's failsafe systems.

A former inspector for the Keystone pipeline told HuffPost last month that this and other leaks can be traced to construction shortcuts. He said he has "no faith" that TransCanada can build the pipeline properly.

A study by a University of Nebraska-Lincoln engineering professor found that "the worst-case spill scenarios contemplated by TransCanada ... are grossly underestimated -- and that hundreds of rivers, streams and aquifers are vulnerable to toxic oil contamination," reported HuffPost's Tom Zeller.

Last week, the State Department held its final public hearing on the pipeline, with over 45 pipeline opponents testifying. The Obama administration will make a decision later this year on whether to allow the Keystone XL to be built.

Iwerks said she thinks the pipeline's opponents "are winning in their battle to expose the issues, but whether the State Department chooses to listen and change America’s energy course is another matter." She believes, "lobbyists for TransCanada have done everything in their power and pocketbooks to work the system long and hard."

For more information about the "Pipe Dreams" documentary, visit pipedreamsdoc.com.

WATCH the film trailer:

Comments

[beatsvilleblog]

02:42 PM on 10/17/2011

Leslie Iwerks, Daryl Hannah! Hollywood people who cannot live without oil based products in their lives. They make more more money than I do, therefore I KNOW are much larger oil consumers and users than I am.
To talk about ruining the environment, the soil is already ruined with decades of pesticide use, our food supply ruined and our water supply is not in the best shape nor has it been for several decades.
I can only wonder who is up to what. Why should we continue to be at the mercy of the the Middle-East for oil? Why is there a push to continue to purchase oil from these countries? What exactly IS going on behind the scenes? It is always easy to get a group huffing and puffing about the environment when much more sinister things are at stake.
The environment IS ruined. We brought it on with the push for "progress". So we say no to the Keystone XL and then will we say no to oil completely? As in never touch the stuff once we shut down Keystone because that is the only logical step.
I would rather put the energy into demanding things be done correctly and paying the men to do the training and the job than whining about the environment while driving a car, disposing a cell phone, tossing out a desktop and getting a lap top etc...using oil based products. People, you have voted, you cannot live without oil.

[Bullitt08]

11:30 AM on 10/16/2011

They said that the railroads would ruin the country over a century ago and now they are considered green.

[lambdin1]

05:10 PM on 10/14/2011

Yes! Keystone pipeline is a "pipedream" fueled by greed. Man is determined that greed trumps survial!

[Vera Gottlieb]

02:32 PM on 10/14/2011

Instead of always thinking/breathing/eating money - just for a change, think of the damage being caused to the native Inuit people. The Athabasca river is being totally polluted/poisoned and already many First Nations people are experiencing severe health problems. But as usual, why be bothered by the discomforts of some natives, right? Shame on all those - in Canada and the US, who are supporting the tar sands and the pipeline, who know what damage is being done and yet don't give a hoot. Some Christians!

[Huffy108]

11:48 AM on 10/14/2011

Friends of the Earth president, Erich Pica—

Friends of the Earth’s investigative work has uncovered just how far the State Department has gone to load the dice in Big Oil’s favor -- coaching, rooting for and teaming with oil firm TransCanada instead of conducting an impartial, probing review of the pipeline’s dirty and dangerous impacts.

So I asked, “Are these hearings simply a farce? Are they a parody of the governing process and a parody of the rule of law? Are you … just clearing the way and making excuses for TransCanada?"

I fear the answers to my questions are “yes.” But our investigation has sparked media scrutiny that's rattling some nerves at the State Department -- and it may just be our best opening yet for stopping this pipeline.

The scandal is growing. Last weekend, the New York Times revealed how the State Department “flouted the intent of a federal law” by hiring contractor Cardno Entrix to conduct the environmental review of the pipeline. Cardno Entrix -- who heralds TransCanada as a “major client” -- has a blatant financial interest in the production of the pipeline.

Simply put, the State Department hired the fox to guard the hen house.

In Nebraska, Friends of the Earth is holding the State Department accountable for breaking the law. We joined the Western Nebraska Resources Council and Center for Biological Diversity to sue the State Department for allowing TransCanada to begin illegal construction work along a 100-mile stretch of the pipeline’s proposed route.

[mnyegele]

11:00 AM on 10/14/2011

Infrastructure.

That's one element that this report forgot. The Keysonte project, like fracking, will require vast qualitities of supplies. You will need an infratructure, both road and rail to transport those supplies.
In addition, global climate change will wreak additional stress on our infrastructure.

Yet, almost every Congressmen in the KeyStone corridor opposes Obama's Jobs Now Bill.

As a result, the cost of the Keystone project will escalate way beyond the subsidies that oil companies already receive. That will mean higher gasoline prices for everyone.

According to Californians for Clean Energy and Jobs, the Air Force just tested an F-22 that broke the sound barrier and that ran on biofuel produced in Montana. The Defense Department is also buying biofuel from Solazyme.

That's where we need to invest our money.

[baxtron]

05:23 PM on 10/13/2011

If there is pollution, the fed govt(you the taxpayer) will probably be forced to try and clean it up. I wonder what the delayed effects of ground water pollution on wheat or the animals who eat polluted feed will be.

[BlackRabbit]

03:23 PM on 10/13/2011

"Interviewing government officials, landowners and environmentalists,"

No petroleum or energy experts interviewed? Nobody who can speak with authority on America's oil requirements over the next 10 years?

[KarlaElisa]

03:44 PM on 10/13/2011

i'd bet the farm they all 'declined to be interviewed at this time'. they prefer to use MSM and the back room deals they cut behind closed doors to push their agenda.

besides which, they're nothing but liars and thieves.

[BlackRabbit]

04:53 PM on 10/13/2011

Well at least you've maintained a balanced viewpoint.

But should another oil shortage hit America, you may wish those "liars and thieves" were listened to a little more closely.

[Linus521]

03:55 PM on 10/13/2011

Do you believe the only consideration in this ecological holocaust is petrol and energy? What of the multi-thousands of ecosystems that will be sliced and diced for the construction of this ecological nightmare?

The real experts are the scientists whose discipline is the science of ecology. They maintain, man is killing himself when he kills ecosystems. Perhaps, they have more insight into science than the seekers of a few pieces of silver. Now, we are discussing oxygen, the life giving of the atmosphere, fresh water, the climate, the nitrogen cycle, the entirety of the Earth's biogeochemistry and the very life zone of the Earth, the biosphere.

Energy tycoons have only one objective and are scientifically illiterate as to all the reasons Earth creates and sustains all life.

[BlackRabbit]

04:50 PM on 10/13/2011

The only consideration? No.

But it is A consideration, one that I hope the film got in to.

And no, this pipeline should not be approved for the sake of "energy tycoons". It should be approved because it's good for all Americans.