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Public addresses Keystone XL Pipeline concerns
News Articles | Lincoln Journal Star | Art Hovey | May 10, 2010
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YORK — The second of three public comment sessions on the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline attracted a much larger audience than the first, and comments from those weighing in over the first hour showed decidedly more concern than support.
Much of the concern directed at the 254-mile portion of the route of the underground petroleum line through Nebraska involved the Ogallala Aquifer.
“For the life of me,” said Randy Thompson of Martell, “I can’t see how they can even consider this pipeline and take the chance of it ruining the groundwater in Nebraska.”
Thompson owns land in Merrick County near the Platte River that is on the pipeline route.
The Monday night session at the York Auditorium attracted about 100 people. Those who attended a similar event presided over by the U.S. Department of State in Fairbury last Thursday estimated the attendance at closer to a dozen people. The state department is involved because the line crosses an international border.
The third and final opportunity for Nebraskans to offer input on a draft environmental impact statement released last month is Tuesday night at the Atkinson Community Center.
TransCanada’s Keystone XL project would carry Canadian crude from Alberta through Nebraska and other states to Gulf Coast refineries in Texas. The 254-mile Nebraska segment would enter the state in Keya Paha County, come through the Lincoln area west of York and connect with the Keystone line already in place along the southern border.
That can’t happen until the state department and its partners approve a final environmental impact statement on the 36-inch Keystone XL line.
Elizabeth Orlando, coordinator of the department’s National Environmental Policy Act, said the final version will be prepared after a comment period closes in mid-June and the draft document is adjusted to reflect public views.
“We’re shooting for fall,” Orlando said before picking up a microphone to start the York testimony.
Jeff Rauh, Keystone’s project representative, listened in to what people had to say Monday night. Although he did not testify, Rauh tried to respond to some of what he heard.
Of the Ogallala Aquifer, in particular, Rauh said: “TransCanada agrees absolutely that it’s a very critical resource for the state of Nebraska. And that’s why we’re taking steps to make sure we don’t jeopardize it with this pipeline.”
That includes what he described as “an integrated set of leak detection systems” that can pinpoint problems as hard to track as “a seep on an intermittent basis.”
Phillip Wallace, a pipeline union representative from Arkansas, did testify Monday.
“I think TransCanada is second to none on safety and environment,” he said.
He referenced involvement by members of his union in constructing the earlier Keystone line through Nebraska and the Seward area. “That was done as good as anything I’ve ever seen in my life,” he said.
Also listening in Monday night were York County Commissioner Pat Bredenkamp and state Sen. Annette Dubas of Fullerton.
“I’ve been impressed,” Bredenkamp said. “I think they’re a good company. I trust them to do the job.”
Dubas said the pipeline crosses property her family rents. “I’d say I’m reasonably comfortable,” she said, “but I still have questions I’d like answered.”
But others headed to the microphone sounded less comfortable, and several of them referenced the ongoing oil spill from an off-shore rig in the Gulf.
Jim Condon, who identified himself as a professional engineer from Lincoln, said what’s happened in a saltwater setting is “just a fraction of what would be transferring through the pipeline” TransCanada wants to build.
Reach Art Hovey at 402-473-7223 or ahovey@journalstar.com.
Tagged with: keystone xl, transcanada, pipeline, nebraska, ogallala aquifer, landowners, lincoln journal star
