Nebraska Lawmakers To Consider Keystone XL Pipeline Challenge

LINCOLN, Neb. -- Nebraska's governor said Monday that he'll call a special legislative session for lawmakers to consider challenging the planned route of a massive transnational oil pipeline.

Republican Gov. Dave Heineman's decision means Nebraska, where the $7 billion Keystone XL Pipeline project has faced some of its greatest resistance, doesn't want to just leave the matter to the federal government. The State Department, which has authority over the pipeline because it would cross the U.S. border, is expected to decide whether to approve a permit for the project by year's end.

Pipeline opponents, including a coalition of environmentalists, ranchers and landowners, sought the special session to consider a proposal that would have given the state control over the pipe's route. Lawmakers, however, said last week that the measure wouldn't likely survive a court challenge.

Heineman on Monday acknowledged the potential for a "legal minefield," but said the issue needs to be addressed and lawmakers will search carefully for a solution during the special session that will begin Nov. 1. The governor has said he supports the pipeline but opposes the 1,700-mile route, which would cut through part of the Ogallala aquifer, a massive water supply in Nebraska and seven other states.

The proposed pipeline would deliver tar sands oil from Alberta, Canada, to refineries on the Gulf of Mexico. It would cross Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas before connecting with TransCanada's existing pipelines to move oil to Oklahoma and Texas.

Supporters say it could reduce U.S. dependence on Middle Eastern oil, while environmental groups say a spill could cause an ecological disaster.

Pipeline operator TransCanada last week offered new safeguards it said would limit the effect of a potential spill, but company executives maintained they cannot move the proposed route at this point in the federal permitting process.

Comments

[Dale Lanan]

08:41 PM on 10/25/2011

I don't think people can comprehend what 'game over' means when it pertains to willfully causing a cascading event that sterilizes life from the planet, the only one known to have life..

The pain of regret unfathomable.. Human brains can turn off when shock is too great.

Several year ago people bandied about a quote from Benjamin Franklin that those that would sell out Liberty for temporary Security deserve neither Liberty nor Security. Yet here we are as a whole about to tip the balance permanently from being able to keep the Earth alive for a few coins in the purse and a chance at fat living. A false sense of security indeed and a terrible end..

I was going to write about how once started the pipeline would all but guarantee extraction of tar sand oil and be next to impossible to stop or that pressures, temperature and acidity of tar oil in pipeline would make leakage more likely but details are details and the deal I'm afraid has been struck.. Now greedy from everywhere please take a bow, I'm afraid a deal with the devil awaits.

[ray77]

01:27 PM on 10/25/2011

saying that it would decrease out dependance on foreign oil is a load of crap!. They just want to get it to the closest refinery and port, so they can ship to China and India. They give you the same line about Hydrofracking. They are not even using the natural gas for american consumption, they are shipping it to Europe. It's all about the refineries, we have the best in the world!
They don't care if they carve up this nation, poison our water supplies, kill off rich farm land, poison our cattle, it's all about the almighty dollar! remember these are not wholly American corporations, these are global energy Cabals, and they are only interested in one thing, the bottom line! WAKE UP People. The people you thought you sent to congress was bought and paid for a long time ago!

[WESmith]

09:52 AM on 10/25/2011

I wonder how the Ogallala Aquifer is being threatened by a surface pipeline. Oil and gas, even thick "tar" has a lower density (specific gravity) than water and tends to stay above water. If water cannot filter into the Ogallala Aquifer to refill it, how does oil which is lighter and thicker travel to the aquifer? If tar and oil and gasoline and diesel is a threat within a sealed pipeline, what about the massive amounts that we drivers spill on the millions of miles of concrete and asphalt highways; shouldn't this pollute the aquifers? We are always warned during light rains to slow down because of the oil floating on the surface of the highways. Once this oil is washed into the environment, we go about our merry way. Tar sands oil is actually asphaltenes. Isn't that what we pour all over the ground to provide roads and streets and highways?
Really, the only way to stop hydrocarbon pollution is for the customers to quit demanding hydrocarbon products. There would be no purpose for these companies to spend large amounts of money to construct this pipeline if there were no demand.

[beckjr2000]

10:35 AM on 10/25/2011

W E, have you seen ANY Oil and Gas Project that these people support? They're not concerned about facts.

[icwhite02]

11:56 AM on 10/25/2011

Well, I think the RAIN pretty much makes sure that it will end up in the aquifer, which is how the aquifer got there in the first place. Thousands of years of run-off finding the lowest place to go.
I don't think the corporation cares about "actual demand." They operate on a "build it & they will come" philosophy. They think if they can just find one more way to get oil & gasoline to the people & lower the gasoline prices just a little bit, the PEOPLE WILL FORGET about the environment & what they call "the lie of global warming" & the nation will get back to doing things THEIR WAY, the "good oil-fashioned way." They are looking for every way they can to keep this country from going green because they know they'll go the way of the dinosaur. Too bad it'll take several million years for them to become "oil" themselves.

[IIIJFULLER]

11:51 PM on 10/24/2011

Pipelines to transport fluids are extremely safe and are used throughout the United States with extremely few problems; however, pipelines that were installed under ground back in the early 1950's or before have caused a few problems lately. Sixty-years without any problems is indeed very good and many of these pipelines are still in use today. While I agree with the Governor for forming a special committee to look into this situation, I do hope the Governor and others listen to the oil companies and realize that many safety factors will be installed along this 1,700 mile pipeline which would prevent spills, etc. These safety considerations will be monitored on a daily basis and any problem situations would immediately shut down a sector of pipe where a situation exists. Perhaps, the pipe that travels through the Ogallala Aquifer region could be double piped to reassure NE and the other states that the pipeline is safe. I also understand that the Ogallala Aquifer is currently losing a good bit of water and may be extremely low within twenty-five years or so. I do hope the Governor of NE and his special committee and all the other states in the pipeline route do indeed support this pipeline. Failure to do so could very well put the USA in danger of becoming a nation without oil reserves or distribution facilities.

[Uncle Bill]

07:45 PM on 10/25/2011

Name a pipeline that has transported the mix of asphalt and solvents that the Keystone XL pipeline will carry for sixty years and you'd have a good argument.  Why transport such a corrosive and abrasive mixture in a pipeline for thousands of miles as opposed to building refineries near the source, since advocates claim that this is such a huge source to last for many years?  Because domestic markets are not the goal- export to China and India is.  That is why tar sands consortiums are pushing for another pipeline to a British Columbia port and are pitting US workers against Canadian ones, with First Nations, ranchers and salmon fisheries here and in Canada to bear all the downside risk while they push to drive up prices for Canadian production. http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Pipelines+coast+more+important+than+Keystone+HSBC/5453565/story.html
You give away the store with your bogus claim that the Ogallala aquifer   will be dry in twenty five years-

[Uncle Bill]

08:35 PM on 10/25/2011

The Nebraska Sandhills are essentially sand dunes with a thin layer of soil and vegetation to stabilize them.  Groundwater is extremely close to the surface in much of the region, enough that wet meadows and permanent lakes form in valleys that intersect the water table.  It is hard to imagine a more susceptible area for groundwater contamination. Contrary to your assertion, there has been a recovery of water table levels in areas where groundwater has been integrated into the water appropriations system and your claim is based on projections which ignore this fact.

[Krizzol]

11:47 PM on 10/24/2011

But we can't afford going green... BHAHAHA.

[Sunwyn Ravenwood]

10:33 PM on 10/24/2011

If I was the governor of one of these states I would fight it tooth and nail and if they tried to put it thru I'd call out the National Guard to stop it.

[Berettasskeeter]

10:56 AM on 10/25/2011

Why? What is the techonological, or scientific, evidence that it will not, cannot, work? Isn't unemployment a problem? This will provide employment for a good number of folks for quite a while, at good pay!
Semper fi

[Squeezer55]

10:22 PM on 10/24/2011

" The governor has said he supports the pipeline but opposes the 1,700-mile route, which would cut through part of the Ogallala aquifer, a massive water supply in Nebraska and seven other states"
Really ? The Ogallala aquifer is being depleted at such a rate that in 20 years it won't make any difference . Even though its common knowledge that the rate is considered 'controlled depletion' , its still being depleted.
So why aren't the enviro groups protesting the depletion and eventual destruction of the Ogallala ?
Oh yeah, they're not being paid to protest the Ogallala , they're paid to protest the pipeline.

http://www.waterencyclopedia.com/Oc-Po/Ogallala-Aquifer.html#ixzz1ZeMtXr2c

And what makes the Keystone any different than the other thousands of miles of pipeline that cross the U.S. including the mid western states ?

http://www.theodora.com/pipelines/united_states_pipelines_map.jpg

[Kari Kolopapela]

09:39 PM on 10/24/2011

Although this is great news, there's an important lesson to be learned here.

The Nebraska governor is a republican, and the unofficial partisan makeup of the Nebraska Legislature is 34 republicans and 15 Democrats.

Because many of us in the environmental movement have grown to care more about protecting Barack instead of protecting the Environment, we now have been forced to turn to a republican governor and republican-controlled state senate to stop Keystone, because President Obama refuses to do it instead.

That is just sick!

Please heed Greenpeace's fourth Core Value:

"Greenpeace has no permanent friends or foes.

"In exposing threats to the environment and finding solutions we have no permanent allies or adversaries. If your government or company is willing to change we will work with you to achieve your aims. Dither, backtrack or turn around and we will be back.

"What matters isn’t words, but actions, and, as far as we’re concerned, there’s only one standard in this: The environment has to benefit."

[ILoveFiction]

09:39 PM on 10/24/2011

"If it can't go through Nebraska we'll put it under Nebraska."

I can't believe TransCanada actually said that!

Actually, I'm lying. I can believe it.