Neb. governor protests pipeline plan

Gov. Dave Heineman of Nebraska has written a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton raising concerns that the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry tar sands crude oil from Alberta, Canada to Texas and span some 300 miles through his state, could leak and contaminate the nation’s largest and most important aquifer.

He writes:

Almost 300 miles of the proposed pipeline will come through Nebraska and be situated directly over the Ogallala Aquifer. This aquifer provides water to farmers and ranchers of Nebraska to raise livestock and grow crops…This resource is the lifeblood of Nebraska’s agriculture industry. In 2008, cash receipts from farm marketings contributed over $17 billion to Nebraska’s economy and 5 percent of the United States total. Nebraskans are concerned that the proposed pipeline route could contaminate Ogallala aquifer and I share that concern.

The pipeline has yet to be approved by the State Department, but Clinton has said that it is almost certain to be approved soon. It has become controversial largely because of the Calhoun County oil spill in July, which spewed one million gallons of the same kind of heavy tar sands crude oil into the Kalamazoo River.

Tar sands crude is higher in heavy metals than regular crude and requires enormous amounts of water and energy to extract and refine. When sent through a pipeline, it also results in thousands of false pressure warnings on a daily basis, making it far more difficult to distinguish a possible leak from a false alarm.