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Nebraska’s Gov. Just Found a (Possible) Way to Let the Keystone Pipeline Move Forward

Jan. 22, 2013 4:21pm Becket Adams

Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman Approves Keystone Pipeline Workaround

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Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman approved a new route for the Keystone XL oil pipeline on Tuesday that avoids the state’s “environmentally sensitive” Sandhills region.

The Republican governor sent a letter to President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton saying he would allow the pipeline to proceed through his state.

His announcement came one day after Obama promised in his inauguration speech to tackle climate change during his second term. Pipeline opponents have urged the president to deny a federal permit for the project, which is required because the Canada-to-Texas pipeline crosses an international border. The president rejected the original proposal for the pipeline last year, which forced the pipeline’s organizers to reroute its starting point to Cushing, Okla. (thus making it an interstate affair and taking the decision out of the president’s hands).

President Barack Obama arrives for a speech at the TransCanada Stillwater pipe yard in Cushing, Oklahoma. Obama’s rejection of the Keystone pipeline’s original route followed concerns spills would endanger the Ogallala aquifer underneath the permeable Sand Hills region in Nebraska. (Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images).

The project has faced fierce resistance in Nebraska from a coalition of landowners and environmental groups that say it would contaminate the Ogallala aquifer, a groundwater supply. Canadian pipeline developer TransCanada and some unions say the project is safe and will create thousands of jobs.

TransCanada’s pipeline is designed to carry tar sands oil from Canada across Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. The company also has proposed connecting it to the Bakken oil field in Montana and North Dakota.

The original Nebraska route would have run the pipeline through a region of erodible, grass-covered sand dunes known as the Sandhills. Heineman said in his letter that the new, 195-mile route through Nebraska avoids the Sandhills but would still cross over a small part of the aquifer.

Unsurprisingly, the pipeline’s most vocal critics remain firmly opposed to the project.

Demonstrators covered in an oily substance conduct a die-in as they protest against the Keystone Pipeline and Alberta Tar Sands development on May 17 in Chicago. (Scott Olson / Getty Images).

“Gov. Heineman just performed one of the biggest flip-flops that we’ve seen in Nebraska political history,” said Jane Kleeb, executive director of the group Bold Nebraska.

Gov. Heineman has previously said he would oppose any pipeline route that endangered the aquifer. In his letter to federal officials, he said any spills along the new route would be localized, and any cleanup responsibilities would fall to TransCanada. He also said the project would result in $418.1 million in economic benefits for the state and $16.5 million in state tax revenue from the pipeline construction materials.

Those favoring the Keystone XL project, including such organizations as Americans for Prosperity, the Consumer Energy Alliance and Nebraskans for Jobs and Energy Independence, have cited the nation’s need for more oil and praised its potential economic impact.

Canadian officials also cheered the announcement.

U.S. President Barack Obama talks with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper at a summit of the world’s most powerful economies in Mexico on June 18. (Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty Images)

“As we have repeatedly said, the Keystone XL Pipeline will create thousands of jobs on both sides of the border – including 140,000 in Canada,” said Andrew MacDougall, a spokesman for Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Canada exports most of its oil to the U.S. and needs a way to move its growing oil sands production from northern Alberta, which has more than 170 billion barrels of proven reserves. Daily production of 1.5 million barrels from the oil sands is expected to increase to 3.7 million in 2025. Only Saudi Arabia and Venezuela have more reserves.

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The AP contributed to this story. Featured image courtesy Getty Images.

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Comments (61)

idrathermisstotheright
Posted on January 23, 2013 at 7:57am
The county sheriff at the northern boarder should kick the Feds off his land and tell them to build it. Every sheriff along the route should do the same.

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- Major121
  Posted on January 23, 2013 at 8:56am
  The county sheriffs on the Nebraska border? No, that is not a good idea. It will not go over well at all with the people in those counties, seeing how the landowners here in the northern part of the state do not want the pipeline going through their ground.
  
  I have no problem with oil or a pipeline in general, but as a conservative, how can a foreign private company trump our rights to private property? How do conservatives miss this part of the issue? The landowners know their land better than the government, and they know that their will be serious issues both from putting the pipe in and from any leaks. This pipeline is still crossing the aquifer and the Sandhills (the NDEQ refused to designate it as such, even though it is).
  
  A better solution would have been to move the pipeline to the eastern part of the state where landowners have already welcomed one pipeline from TransCanada and would have gladly accepted another.
  
  Instead, Heineman sold us out.
  
  Report this comment
- garbagecanlogic
  Posted on January 24, 2013 at 10:32am
  Major121: Back up your facts. You touchy-feely folks have distorted every fact finding report that has come out – just like the anti-gun lobby. Why is it that the majority of Nebraskans here approve of the pipeline?
  
  The U.N. Out Of The U.S.
  Praise Be To Obama. Psalm 109:8
  
  The U.S. Out Of The U.N.
  
  Report this comment
nilo
Posted on January 23, 2013 at 7:39am
Nullify Federal mandates. This is a State’s Rights issue.

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rufusf43
Posted on January 23, 2013 at 6:35am
If the governors and industry leaders got together, they would have already have the pipeline. They can do what the commie progressives do. Find a way around. First of all, build a pipeline big enough to handle the Dakota oil and Canadian. but say it is only for the Dakota oil. Once in place all Canada has to do is get it approved for a short connection in one, maybe 2 states. You have to play by the rules these ‘Olinskyites’ use.

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Protech64
Posted on January 23, 2013 at 5:14am
Reason for the delay by Obama – the oil from North Dakota has to be transported by rail, which happens to be owned by Warren Buffet. Once the pipeline is built Buffet loses hundreds of millions. Simple as that.

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asybot12
Posted on January 23, 2013 at 4:25am
There are currently over TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND miles of pipe lines across the USA.most of them going to the large population areas along the Eastern Seaboard

Cut them all off for a few weeks, problem solved.

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fingerprintguy
Posted on January 23, 2013 at 1:11am
People panicing about the aquifir in Nebraska OBVIOUSLY do not realize there is ALREADY an oil pipeline running through it.

http://www.pipeline101.com/Overview/crude-pl.html

What is the problem with XL???

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jowettusmc
Posted on January 22, 2013 at 9:54pm
I read just the other day where Warren Buffet sold his railroad holdings which currently carry the oil; therefore, presto, let’s finish the pipeline. Buffet unloaded his railroad so he doesn’t lose any money by having the pipeline finished.

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Dano.50
Posted on January 22, 2013 at 7:47pm
I’m involved in the oil industry in Canada, and this is how it’s affected us and the U.S..

With the Keystone and BC pipelines blocked, the Canadian economy is starting to slow. Friends are simply not shipping oil.

This is not a greenie victory however.

Since oil tankers are the only other way, and American consumption has not slowed, America has been forced to purchase more, and inferior quality, oil from take a wild guess where.

Before people are even allowed to protest, they should prove they are living a life without petroleum products.

Then, and only then, would I believe they are sincere.

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- banjarmon
  Posted on January 22, 2013 at 9:21pm
  Is the Nebraska governor handing BHO The “I did it” platter on the pipe line??? You know the POS will steal ALL THE CREDIT!!!
  
  Report this comment
- hoff
  Posted on January 22, 2013 at 10:57pm
  I live in Nebraska and Dave heinemann sucks. He wouldn’t help save jobs where me and my family work but that same day he over rid a bill for us to pay for illegals to have babies.
  
  Report this comment
BaltimoreJoe
Posted on January 22, 2013 at 6:12pm
The problem with Conservatives is that they don’t think like Liberals when pushing an issue.

The Liberal path (and the one I suggested day 1) would be to build the pipeline 50′ short of the Canadian border since it requires Federal approval ONLY if it crosses it. Once built put in a request for approval to build a pipeline the last 50′. Duh. You gotta think like them and CAMPAIGN like them or STFU and sit down.

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- ALL4FREEDOM
  Posted on January 22, 2013 at 7:07pm
  That makes so much sense, it’s scary!
  
  Report this comment
54smom
Posted on January 22, 2013 at 5:55pm
I don’t think we would need to build a pipeline if we could build a refinery in ND. I know we would have to have more trucking to maybe the Great Lakes or Mississippi. I’m sure envirocoms would not like this either. I say this as I am looking at about 50 windmills(not turning). No wind today.

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- WYCowboy
  Posted on January 23, 2013 at 12:53am
  I dry land farm in Wyoming and I’m going broke trying to pay 4 dollar a gal diesel. I pump water out of the Oglala for my hay pivot, if they can’t shut down a spill before it soaks thru 185 ft of dirt they better wake the guy up who’s running the off switch.
  
  Report this comment
mountainbiker
Posted on January 22, 2013 at 5:28pm
You can’t argue facts with liberals so don’t waste your breath trying. Kudos to the Gov. for defying stupidity.

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- Chuck7884
  Posted on January 22, 2013 at 5:41pm
  You still trust the oil companies not to spill Oil on the ground? It does not take much oil to contaminate the aquifer. Just because you do not have to drink the water or use it does not make it right.
  
  Report this comment
proudrepublican
Posted on January 22, 2013 at 5:23pm
Those who oppose it are probably takers, not givers. They cannot stand the thought of anyone making money but themselves, even if it means more jobs. The majority of Democrats believe in “paying” voters, one way or the other. Obama will think of some way to stop it. Goodness, don’t let the U.S. get ahead in anything! I wish he would take his prayer rug, and go home.

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juanitad
Posted on January 22, 2013 at 5:11pm
What is a mess is this governments spendimg of money it does not have. The federal government mandating the states to spemd money they dont have. As im every household you soon eill not be able to buy the thimgs you need because your paying yesterdays debt. Than what will happen to our basic needs programs?

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shammo
Posted on January 22, 2013 at 5:09pm
Environmentalists are firm believers in the flat earth theory. One politician + one environmentalist = Abstract Facts = protection of the aristocracy

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- Chuck7884
  Posted on January 22, 2013 at 5:50pm
  Rigid pipeline verses the moving crust or ground which one will you bet on winning ?
  
  Report this comment
gyro
Posted on January 22, 2013 at 5:00pm
fingers crossed

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- strawberry411a
  Posted on January 22, 2013 at 5:06pm
  Why should he help Americans out…he hates this country and every non-minority within it’s borders.
  
  Report this comment
Dismayed Veteran
Posted on January 22, 2013 at 4:55pm
I live in Nebraska and am pleased the Gov has approved a route around the Sand Hills.

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- Chuck7884
  Posted on January 22, 2013 at 6:41pm
  Wait A Few years they will have a huge spill and say oops so sad to bad (Happened on the Alaskan pipeline) when you no longer have potable drinking water and the farmers can no longer use water for there Crops due to oil contamination. I live in Kansas Dry farming area of the state we depend on rain and the aqua-fir’s.
  
  Report this comment
- supermansdad
  Posted on January 22, 2013 at 9:14pm
  You mean, a natural product that breaks down by a natural process and has more natural leaks and man caused can become a toxin that can’t be resolved?
  
  It’s NATURAL and it breaks down NATURALLY! More oil is leaked NATURALLY every day than ever from the Alaska pipeline or Valdez. And if you really were a farmer in Kansas you would know that by the time most anything reaches the deep aquifers it’s been cleaned naturally. In Alaska they don’t have deep aquifers, different scenerio, same liberal ignorance.
  
  Report this comment
Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on January 22, 2013 at 4:52pm
Obama will find a way for this project to be discredited and never to be finished, unless he has it seized for the benefit of his and Soros’s Cronie Capitalists.

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Gonzo
Posted on January 22, 2013 at 4:52pm
If we had a POTUS genuinely concerned with jobs and growth, it would already be underway.

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MiCurmudgeon
Posted on January 22, 2013 at 4:52pm
Obama can’t be stupid enough to think this country can thrive on Mid-East oil when there is oil available from our friends in Canada. Or can he? States should challenge him ASAP on this.

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AllPeopleFreePeople
Posted on January 22, 2013 at 4:50pm
If they don’t put the oil in a well-protected pipeline, they’re going to put the oil on Warren Buffets
freight train. Don’t suppose anything could go wrong there, cause trains never wreck.

Do you suppose that misguided girl in the photograph realizes her sunglasses are made from oil?

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- Anonymous T. Irrelevant
  Posted on January 22, 2013 at 5:05pm
  These people are SO stupid it befuddles the mind. They don’t know their medication uses petroleum, or their iPads, laptops, SMART-cars, and a thousand other products use petroleum, which, by the way, is a NATURAL by-product of the earth, just like water and dirt.
  
  Report this comment
Ghandi was a Republican
Posted on January 22, 2013 at 4:47pm
Why not just end the pipeline at the Canadian border and then connect it with an extension foe 100 yard and name that extension something else? That’s the kind of alinsky thing obama would do If he WAS FOR IT! Then obama would have to come up with some of his BS to counter that. Rename oil “Purified water” for that matter. The loons on the left do it all the time.

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- Anonymous T. Irrelevant
  Posted on January 22, 2013 at 5:12pm
  I don’t understand why they just don’t ship it by barges down the Mississippi river. Surely it is wide enough by the time it reaches Nebraska.
  
  Report this comment
Southernsoul
Posted on January 22, 2013 at 4:36pm
I see a trend beginning here. States are finding ways to work around obama’s government. I can see a time when they start breaking away all together. This communist is the worst thing to ever happen to this country. He does nothing but divide and feed distrust between the groups he creates.

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- Anonymous T. Irrelevant
  Posted on January 22, 2013 at 4:46pm
  That’s what Community Agitators do.
  
  Report this comment
- Ghandi was a Republican
  Posted on January 22, 2013 at 4:49pm
  You mean like Satan would? This thing walks like a duck, quacks like a duck…
  
  Report this comment
- RaydocX
  Posted on January 22, 2013 at 4:56pm
  If the states develop stronger infrastructure and leave their dependence upon the federals behind it will ultimately be a good thing, albeit the opposite of what Herr Leader wants.
  
  it is sad that the states are being forced to do this for the good of the country.
  seeing resistance from local politicians and state, though, is i believe ultimately a good thing… it may be the only thing that saves us from this President’s negligent or willfully damaging policies.
  
  Report this comment
Cavallo
Posted on January 22, 2013 at 4:32pm
Cheap efficient energy is the antithesis to their plans. They must destroy the prosperity and quality of life of the average American subject, make him more dependent on government than ever before.

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Jezreel
Posted on January 22, 2013 at 4:26pm
Obama will make up one of his executive orders to try to stop it.

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- Supah_Patriot
  Posted on January 22, 2013 at 4:40pm
  Hope so.
  
  Report this comment
Supah_Patriot
Posted on January 22, 2013 at 4:23pm
I hope Obama stops the pipeline. The thing is a mess.

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- spfoam1
  Posted on January 22, 2013 at 4:43pm
  Your comment has no basis in fact. Based on this and other comments, I think you bob your head between the legs of the Saudis.
  
  Report this comment
- skippy6
  Posted on January 22, 2013 at 4:50pm
  They will stop the pipeline but they will still get the oil through Warren Buffets railroad…Warren will make billions more with Obama on his side…..
  
  Report this comment
- Anonymous T. Irrelevant
  Posted on January 22, 2013 at 4:52pm
  It’s a mess? How so?
  
  Report this comment
- RJJinGadsden
  Posted on January 22, 2013 at 4:53pm
  Please explain
  
  Report this comment
- Supah_Patriot
  Posted on January 22, 2013 at 4:59pm
  Explain? It leaks like hell. But you know, conservatives love a good oil leak.
  
  Report this comment
- Anonymous T. Irrelevant
  Posted on January 22, 2013 at 5:01pm
  STUPOR_PATRIOT
  It hasn’t been built yet. I guess it’s futile to ask which universe you live in.
  
  Report this comment
- rawmilker
  Posted on January 22, 2013 at 5:04pm
  SUPAH, aka ENCINOM, better rethink your handle. You’re no patriot, just another soros paid communistic troll.
  
  Report this comment
- The_Woofster
  Posted on January 22, 2013 at 5:06pm
  He/she can’t explain, they’re programmed droned that respond in idiotic ways that make no sense, only to them. $4.00 plus gas is no problem obviously, unless you’re sitting in your gov’t apartment, with the rest of your lemming libo-turds, waiting for your electric car to recharge, so you can go to the next phase of your lobotomy session.
  
  So keep giving your money to OPEC, they drive high dollar gas guzzling SUV’s and limos and that’s
  ok?
  
  YOU my friend are a pre-programmed idiot.
  
  Report this comment
- DEFCON4
  Posted on January 22, 2013 at 5:07pm
  @supah- Here’s a Real Mess
  :President Obama’s failed ‘green-industry’ incentives….
  1.Evergreen Solar ($25 million)*
  2.SpectraWatt ($500,000)*
  3.Solyndra ($535 million)*
  4.Beacon Power ($43 million)*
  5.Nevada Geothermal ($98.5 million)
  6.SunPower ($1.2 billion)
  7.First Solar ($1.46 billion)
  8.Babcock and Brown ($178 million)
  9.EnerDel’s subsidiary Ener1 ($118.5 million)*
  10.Amonix ($5.9 million)
  11.Fisker Automotive ($529 million)
  12.Abound Solar ($400 million)*
  13.A123 Systems ($279 million)*
  14.Willard and Kelsey Solar Group ($700,981)*
  15.Johnson Controls ($299 million)
  16.Brightsource ($1.6 billion)
  17.ECOtality ($126.2 million)
  18.Raser Technologies ($33 million)*
  19.Energy Conversion Devices ($13.3 million)*
  20.Mountain Plaza, Inc. ($2 million)*
  21.Olsen’s Crop Service and Olsen’s Mills Acquisition Company ($10 million)*
  22.Range Fuels ($80 million)*
  23.Thompson River Power ($6.5 million)*
  24.Stirling Energy Systems ($7 million)*
  25.Azure Dynamics ($5.4 million)*
  26.GreenVolts ($500,000)
  27.Vestas ($50 million)
  28.LG Chem’s subsidiary Compact Power ($151 million)
  29.Nordic Windpower ($16 million)*
  30.Navistar ($39 million)
  31.Satcon ($3 million)*
  32.Konarka Technologies Inc. ($20 million)*
  33.Mascoma Corp. ($100 million)
  
  *Denotes companies that have filed for bankruptcy.
  
  Report this comment
- The_Woofster
  Posted on January 22, 2013 at 5:11pm
  It leaks? Where, specifically? You mean the Alaskan pipeline, a success story, leaks too? Show me the data.
  
  Report this comment
- The-Monk
  Posted on January 22, 2013 at 5:37pm
  Oh lookie… a new wanna-be pretend troll based on a comic book hero.
  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SuperPatriot
  
  SuperPatriot was once Johnny Armstrong, a soldier in World War II. Captured by the Germans, Armstrong was used as a guinea pig for scientific experiments and gained superhuman powers. He destroyed the base at which he was being kept so the Nazis could not replicate the process on their troops and donned an American flag-styled costume to become SuperPatriot. SuperPatriot later joined the superhero group called the Allies, working with such figures as Supreme and Mighty Man, and protected the innocent for many decades. He also worked with the WW2 version of Die-Hard and Glory as the group ‘Allies’. [1] His World War 2 career also included a stint in Africa in 1943, chasing Rommel’s ‘Afrika Corps’. [2]
  
  However, in the 1990s, SuperPatriot was faced with more brutal and intense supervillains than ever before and began to have difficulty dealing with them. Eventually, he was overpowered by members of the Vicious Circle, a group of supervillains organized by Chicago crime-boss Overlord. SuperPatriot was savagely attacked by his foes, with the shark-man Mako biting off his limbs and much of his face. Left for dead, SuperPatriot’s body was taken by Cyberdata, a corporation of subversive scientists, and transformed into a powerful cyborg.
  
  Report this comment
- BaltimoreJoe
  Posted on January 22, 2013 at 6:15pm
  You should look up a map of existing pipelines. You would be supprised by the number, they are everywhere… That’s why you can drive your narrow butt to the store when you want and heat your home as you please.
  
  Report this comment
- earache-my-eye
  Posted on January 22, 2013 at 8:22pm
  @THE-MONK, thanks again for the history lesson.
  
  Report this comment
- supermansdad
  Posted on January 22, 2013 at 9:20pm
  “They leak like hell”
  
  You mean, like the earth naturally does everyday? More oil is naturally leaked every single day than from all man-made disasters. And yet it seems to break down naturally all the time causing little to no harm.
  
  I could take you right now to an active leak that has been active for at least 300 years and every bit of the land around it is perfectly healthy. It’s even on federal land and is a “protected historical site.”
  
  Report this comment

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